The Washington herald., 1911-05-16
She Is Aide to EGduTe Mere
Usually.
SHE CAN WORK MUCH HARDER
II the Ordinary Man Did Half the
Things in q Day that the Average
Woman Does 1t Would XIII Him,
Yet the Woman Is Misnamed the
Weaker Sex of the Two.
By DOROTHY DIX.

To begin with no man can stand ur
under as many hours work a day as
the ordinary woman does. 1t has been
asserted that the men who work from
twelve to fourteen hours a day in the
steel mills are old men at forty, but
every mother of a family, in moderate
circumstances works from sixteen to
eighteen hours a day and is still young
ct sixty
Nobody appoints a commission to look
into her case. Nobody passes any laws
to shorten her hours Of labor, or relieves
the strain under which she lives, because
everybody is perfectly sure that she's
amply able to bear the burden that has
been laid upon her shoulders.
Nobody thinks of woman being over
worked who does the cooking. and wash
ing, and sewing, and mending, and baby
tending for her family. Nobody thinks
it's any hardship for her TO get up an
hour before her husband in the morning
to get his breakfast. and TO sit up an
hour after he has gone to bed. patching
his trousers, or ironing him clean shirt:
or to get up a dozen times in the night
to give TO the baby a drink. and see
that the other children are covered up;
for the woman is splendidly equal TO do
ing all of this never ending labor.
But no mere man would be able to
fellow any occupation that got him up
SC cary in the morning and kept him
VI so late al night, and had him on the
jump in between times, and that broke In
upon his rest and required him to get
what sleep he had in fitful snatches. He
would have a nervous breakdown inside
Of a week
Homework Not Easy.
mr. M in win haf
woman's work in the home is a light and
easy occupation. Any man who tries to
take care of the baby and keep the other
children occupic for a single Sunday
afternoon, while his wife goes to visit
her mother, will admit that four or five
hours of 1t frazzles him out worse than a
week at the office or pile driving
Observe also how much stronger is the
female constitution than the male.
Why, any little. frail ninety-pound girl
can do things without turning a hair that
would be the death of Sandow or Jeffries,
No man could strip all of his fiannels
in the midst of winter and sally gayly
forth to the opera or ball with no pro-
lection over the upper part of his body,
except a string of pearls, without having
pneumonia. 1t takes a woman to stand
severe exposure like that without ever
getting a bad cold.
Nor could any man have the strength
to do a lick of work If he was clothed
rs women are. Take the huskiest prize
fighter and pin on his head three pounds
of puffs, with forty-Seven hairpins sepa-
rately and individually digging into his
scalp. Lace on MIN straight front that
feels like a case of iron and cuts off most
Of his breathing space. Perch him up on
stilt-like heels that make every step
r.-t, l. t,o.
crib, cabin, and conftne at every point,
and then send him forth to labor.
Could Not Stand 1t.
The result would be that he would
be brought home by noon in an ambu-
lance, after having been picked up in
a swooning state at his desk. But
myriads of women, similarly garbed,
stand all day long behind counters, or
work at typewriters without ever a
murmur of protest passing their heroic
lips.
Consider, also the different ways in
which men and women endure pain.
There are tens of thousands of women
who never draw a we'll breath. who
are continual martyrs. year after year.
to suffering, yet who go about their
daily work without making COM
plaint. or even taking advantage of the
medical skill that might possibly cure
them
Mammals headache" My wife's
nerves." ''Marys insomnia" become so
much a matter of course that nobody
pays any attention to them. and the
poor victim even gets to be apologetic
about her sufferings.
But, my, its a different story when
it's papa's head that aches, or hubby's
nerves that are out of tune, or John
cao't sleep. Then there are doctors
and trained nurses and sanatoriums
and everybody in the family is ex-
pected to be up and doing, because
men can't stand pain.
1t takes a woman to grit her teeth
and smile while she is enduring agony.