Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-10-22
SOME CHANGES DURING
ONE HUNDRED YEARS
Domestic Duties Have Been Wen
derfuIly Lightened In the
Past Century.
SKILL OF OLD-TME MATR0NA
Our Grandmothers Were Capable ~
Doing Everything, from Making
Candles to Spinning Silk.

To-day the whirr Of a thousanA
looms hum in a spot hat once echoed
to the treadle of one. The man who
sheared his sheep, and his wife who
carded and spun and wove the WOOL.
are asleep on yonder hill. h card
ers have fallen into rust, the spinning
wheel Is silent. Another generation
wears WOODEN garments woven Int
shape by knitting mills, and fne lin
ems and silks that have come from
power looms in mammoth factories
What il the thread is more brittle and
the color less enduring than fingers
In the past were wont to spin and
dye? Fair and ine and frail are the
lilies Of to-day. The woman wh0
wears them thrusts rosemary u Of
sight with her last seasons E0wAA
She does not want the things hat IN
dure.
The woman who by the pressure Of
an electric button Eliminates almost
an entire house seldom recalls the
method which her grandmother en-
ployed for furnishing light to her
household by e OF candles fash
toned by her own hands. She. per-
haps, was able to procure beef tAllOW
and wax from the beehives stocked
with bees more for the purpose Of sup
plying comb than honey-theA %
largely used in place OF sugar. But
her mother, doubtless, depended upon
the tallow shrub, bayberry bush and
c~andelberry tree to furnish a meager
quantity OF waxy substance which she
might boil to a stin consistency and
into which her row of candle wicks
might be dipped.
The innumerable inventions to SIM
plify work in the kitchen, and which
to do practically everything except CON
sumo the food, are considered indis-
pensable by the modern housewife, but
would have been gazed upon with o
dering awe by h housewife Of .
hundred years ago. who thought her
self lucky indeed If she owned a Dutch
oven in which to bake her cakes and
bread. and a twisting string, clock
jack or turnspit dog to keep her roast
revolving before the fire.
Things women Did o Years Age.
A hundred years have wrought -
many changes in other respects. The
belle OF to-day who numbers her toilet
soaps and face powders and creams by
the scoro can scarcely realize that her
grandmother made a preparation q
starch or eggshells and cologne = Q
face powder. and collected grease and
manufactured I've Of wood and ashes,
with which to boil soft soap for house.
hold purposes, some of which wac 70
fined for personal usage. Nor do the
families who respond to the call OF
soft chimes or al announcing butler
at the dinner hour think upon the
time when their ancestors were sum-
n1oned by the sound Of drum, a horn,
blown conchshell.
In the long ago women had few
spare hours for idleness, for reading
or amusement. There we're stockings
t. knit, undergarments to stitch, rugs
to braid and weave, jellies and fruits,
pickles and preserves to put up In
season Knitting mills have relieved
IoilluS uu6eiS VI LAc idpoi VI SOA-
structing stockings and underwear;
rugs and carpets are wrought cheaply
In factories, embroidery is done by
machinery. and If a housewife prefers
to continue canning vegetables and
fruits for her table the work is made
light for her by porcelain lined pre-
serving kettles, air tight, rubber sealed
lars. mi patent 1ifterS. holders and
sealers for filling and sealing the Jars
with boiling hot fruit with a rapidity
that makes it possible to put up fifty
Jars Of fruit, with less effort than U
grandmothers expended r preserve
Ave.