The Washington herald., 1912-02-29
By JULIA CHANDLER MANI.

So many letters have come to me OF
late from young business women, asking
me IL 1t is my opinion that marriage and
career are comptible, that / am con-
hdent You will be interested in set OF
lectures by Orrin c. Cocks, secretary OF
the Laymen's League, who has been
talking TO the young men OF New YORK
on this very subject in the Fifth Avenue
Baptist Church.
In the beginning of his series of talks
Mr.. Cocks took the stand that the mod
ern woman's relation TO industry creates
one of the most confusing factors in the
economic end of the domestic problem.
He blames the bachelor girl that S,2OO
= year is not sufficient to meet the needs
of a young married couple.
THE typical bachelor girl has an apart
ment of her own or shares it with some
other bachelor girl he explained, going
on to say that she more often than
otherwise gets her meals in a chafing
dish. The girl ] have in mind" said
Mr.. Cocks, may belong TO this class or
she may be living at home with her
parents, but in either case she has an
independent income, with no one on
whom to spend IL but herself.
Now, when this young woman marries
a man whose income rs N.200 a year
she can AFFORD only a little fiat and al
low herself somewhere around 81 a day
with which to supply the family larder.
and a modest allowance for clothes and
recreation. But she will have TO cook
the meals, do all the housework except
the toughest cleaning. help with the
laundry work, and make her own frocks.
She can't have a maid. To a girl who
has not been in the habit of doing such
tasks the prospect is not altogether al
Turing. She thinks the matter over, and
frequently comes to the conclusion that
il would be more sensible to supplement
her husbands modest earnings with her
own salary.
Her Place in the House.
And I disapprove of such a course"
declared Mr.. Cocks, with emphasis.
"woman's place is in the home. She
should be the home maker as the man
should be the breadwinner. Every young
couple should establish home as soon
as they are married. The home is the
very basis of our American civilization,
for without it there can be no family
life in any but the most superficial sense.
The home is not the four walls of the
apartment and the furniture they in
close. II is that plus a lot more. For
want of a better term We call II atmos-
phere.
TT is Just this indefinable difference
between a home and house that ap-
peals to a man when he comes home af-
ter his days work 1t is the wife's func-
tion to provide this. But is il quite fair
to expect a woman who has been spend
ing the entire day in an Office or a school
room TO retain enough poise and vital
energy to create an atmosphere that is
at once stimulating and restful?' ..
The main points OF Mr.. Cocks argu-
ment are undoubtedly true. Any woman
who tries to fill the positions of two
women will find herself at times verging
on the breaking point
The place for the married woman is in
the home under ordinary circumstances,
and We are not talking just now of the
ones.
The assertion that the business girl is
entirely independent and has only her
self to support is far from true Many.
many young women who are filling re-
positions have others depend
ent on them as the incentive for their