Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-06-10

- AhSt VlAi. ttbI |, DAt MON L. under
stand their husbands that so many mar
rlages are-wen, not conspicuous sue
ceSSeS.
And. oh. what lot of husbands are
forever longing 10 he understood by their
wives, alas in vain, If any of them
i,G .1 10 any of my lady readers they
WIZ perhaps see that Il chance offers
now mat l have pointed it out. 1t is GER
t"iuly one which any wife wE0 wants 10
oe happy, but isn't will be foolish TO
In9!!ssfs.-Harriett Prescott Spafford, III
Fittsburg Leader.
-o..o-
A Woman Lawmaker. 3
In Indiana lives a woman who does
not write plays. or poetry, or novels. but
VINO as an author is fast coming abreast
On Iame's patch with that states best
itefary pioneers" says writer in
i1ampton's Magazine. 'She has written
only one work, but that has placed her
IN the front rank. She is the author of
housing bill that is revolutionizing tene-
ment conditions in Indiana
Mrs. Albion Fellows Bacon is a little
Slip of woman. the mother of four chill
dfeh-Wlth one daughter inches taller
tHah herself-who lives quietly at Evans
NlHe Some years ago, she came to the
conclusion that in many cities the tene-
lheht conditions were just as impossible
as III New York. This, and that four
walls never make home. she discovered
by friendly visits to her native town
The SUM conditions of the smaller cities
We're she found, deplorabe. And then,
beng woman of sincerity and energy.
she set about building up
W 18th her, charity began at lone.
Evansville was fertil eiield She ia.
terested her townspeople by personal ap
peal, and with the Monday Night club at
her elbow, engineered q city ordinance to
40 away with SUM conditions in Evans
vile, With alacrity the city council
plgeonholed it. Mrs. Bacon rescued it,
and hnally it was made part of the city
building law. Then she began to look
around; she began to write letters to
everybody who could help. from the $50
secretaries of associated state charities
to Jacob A. Riis. All this in her own
home, and with a family to care for. At
last her labor lowered i'll january, 1909,
her bill to alleviate tenement conditions
was presented i'll the Indiana Legislature.
It attracted little attention, and was
about to be shelved quietly when Mrs.
Bacon appeared in person before the
Legislature, and made such an eloquent
plea for it that the bill was passed. One
of her sentences became a battle cry:
We protect men in mines and Ill rail-
roads, and in factories, but we do not
protect them in the homes
The bill covers the tenement question
in a remarkable way. The tenement
problem in city of $4,000 demands en-
tirely different handling from the tene-
ment problem in n large city. Mrs.
Bacon's bill declares. for instance, that
no tenement hereafter shall occupy more
than 30 per cent. of a lot or more than
50 per cent. of corner lot, and that it
must not be higher than once and a
half the width of the street on which it
stands. 1t also provides that the build
ing must have rear yard at least 10
feet deep, and that no rear tenements
shall be erected. In the future in every
tenement erected in Indiana there must
be one room of 120 square feet, while
other rooms IN st contain Mt least 40
square feet of floor area, and must not
be less than 8 feet high. Sanitary pro-
visions are also arranged for.
Work and Health.
Among the many methods which have
Teen suggested from time to time, by
which an individual may get and keep
health and strength, there is one which,
it seems to me, has not been sufficiently
emphasized. My own experience is that
one of the best means for preserving the
mind and body III sound and healthful
condition is some definite form OF labor.
As rule, l think it will be found that
the people who are constantly sick in
body, just as the people Who are sick
in mind and weak in morals, are the
people who have little or nothing to do.
I never remember of seeing n pro-
fessional tramp or loafer who seemed to
me to be in thoroughly good condition
physically, and | have noticed that among
the Weather classes of people those who
are constantly complaining, who break
1,ayFyag1Slv onH buUn 70 hn
stantly travelling about from one place TO
another III search of health. are usually
people who have nothing to absorb their
thought and attention; IL short they
have no work.
L never knew or heard of a case Of
neuraSthenla among people who worked
with their hands, and particularly not
among those who worked IN the open
air.
l do rot overlook the fact that under
the new and complex conditions OF mod
ern life there have sprung up kinds of
In Dor that are specially dangerous to hui
man life 1t is the duty of the public
and of the government to perceive these
dangers and improve these conditions.
But aside from Improvements and safe
guards the man who works has in him
self a means Of overcoming these dan
gers and difficulties; men who labor
show a marvellous ability to adapt them
selves to new conditions, to make them
selves strong enough TO resist these adj
verse conditions and overcome them. The
very effort that is put forth to do a
piece of work gives the strength and
vigor to withstand hardships and resist
diseases
There is one kind Of disease. if may
refer to it in that way, which rarely at
tacks the man who works, no matter
whether his labor is with the head or
with the hand. The disease | refer to is
pessimism. So long as man has some
thing to do which absorbs all his thought
and attention, he remains hopeful and,
as whole. cOntented. If he sees evils.
no matter how great they seem. he is
pretty likely to be reasonably happy if
he finds he is overcoming them, no mat
ter bow slowly.
1t is when the laboriHg man goes on q
strike or gets cut Of a JOB that be be-
comes dangerous to himself and to so
ciety.
In my opinion there is nothing that is
50 certain to make a man or woman
healthy in body, in mind, and in spirit
as to find somewhere in the world a kind
of work that he or she can DO, something
bv which 10 make himself or herself use
| full to the people around.