Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-30
BY CHARLOTTE C. ROWETT.

vHERE is theory that las been
.. more or less persistent down
the ages that mans work is
from sun to sun, but womans
work is never done.
This has been generally and almost
lavishly accepted and commented on in
the literature of our own and earlier
times, and the thought that there may
in certain cases be a triae Of deviation
from this rule must, l am aware, come
upon the more conservative OF us with
something not unlike a shock.
Yet 1 have been led Of late to question
whether this theory, which bears upon
its surface so high a tribute to the
softer, gentler and yet more enduring
sex, may not have some exceptions as
hereinbefore limited at
There is no doubt that. so far the
jewellers in our larger centers OF popu-
lation are concerned. the theory is
good theory.
In the cities, where the lights shine
after dark and the merry whiZ goes on
from sun to sun. father does indeed
often take his evenings off and go for
a walk.
But the careful course OF investigation
in which j have been engaged a s To the
actual state of the case among my
neighbors in the suburbs, in the smaller
cities, in the larger towns, and even in
the few elf-acknowledged villages OF
this broad land leads me to opine that
1t is not entirely the case that father
belongs, by divine right, to the anti
housework union nor has he Joined as
one man the happy band of his fellows
who consistently decline to take care OF
the baby after office hours. / have even
had occasion to conclude that there are
seversl-not to say many-cases where
father conducts a large and thriving
neWspap per, bank, dry goods store or ONCE
throughout the usual working hours,
or is employed by some one In the bust
of conducting one of these affairs,
mops his fevercd brow at the end of the
day, shuts up his desk with a sigh OF
relief and hastens to his happy home
there to be met at the door by his at
fectionate wife and a large parlcr rug
measuring seventy-fve feet from tip to
tip, and having within its meshes the
myriads of microbes gathered through
a long and severe contact with the fam
lily and other shoes, skirts and similar
means of carrying and oepositing mi
crobes.
I'VE are SO pleased to have you with us.
George, DEAR" cooeS mother, because It
takes large, srtons and highly Intelligent
man like you to handle this rug Of ours,
the entire proposition having been sim
cerely declined by Ezra, the handy man,
who says he knows nothing about such
things, that they are beyond him. But
you will know
Whereupon father, kindly American man
that he is, draws long breath Of joy
because now that his idle day Is over, he
is about to have some enjoyable and
healthful exercise and recreation; fits
lightly into the house to reappear short
~ in habiliments of an earlier vintage
with a towel or other household necessity
bound tightly across his mouth, to hinder
if it may, the interior march of sufficient
germs to render him permanently insani-
tary: seizes upon the wire carpet beaten
as upon the hand of some friend of his
childhood who is thoroughly able and
may be willing to lend him money, and
proceeds into the backyard and settles
into that regular k-WEack
which we have SO often heard proceeding
from this portion of the premises of even
our first families and failed, mayhap, to
connect with sufficient accuracy with
father.
have also observed the hlithe and joy