Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-26

Woman'S sphere is the home. This die
tum is accepted both by those who sup
port the modern woman in her broadened
activities and by those who would have
her return to the narrow circle from
whence she SO lately emerged. The diff
ference Of opinion is based not upon the
character of woman's sphere. but on the
definition of the word home
Those who oppose the modern activity
Of women would define 'home" as a place,
bounded by four walls. beyond which no
womari's voice should be raised. The
modernists and the feminists define
"home" to mean all Of those influences.
circumstances and conditions that affect
the life OF husband. wife and children,
whether these influences. circumstances
and conditions are to be located within
four walls or whether they are as broad
as the nation.
1t is not the woman's fault that her
relation to society has changed, and is
still changing. 1t is the mans fault II
fault 1t be- For the domestic revolution
now in progress In all the western world
Is but the necessary and inevitable result
Of the Industrial revolution that a century
or more ago took industry out OF the
home and planted 1t in the factory.
These two revolutions, industrial and
domestic, that were set on foot by the in
vention of labor
Important Bearing saving and time
.4 saving machinery
portant in their effect upon mankind In
general than any political revolution,
bloody or bloodless, ever staged in the
worlds history.
For thousands and untold thousands
Of years woman stayed at home, kept
house, reared children, and carried on
manufacturing enterprises. Man hunted
and fshed and titled the ground, often
with the help Of his women. It was
the woman who spun yarn and wove
cloth; 1T was the woman who tanned
hides and made shoes. OF course, there
were artisans and handicraftsnen who
worked in metal. wood and stone, but
even these did their work in the house
where they lived and hourly called for
the physical aid their women would give
them.
century things began to change. Watts
invented the steam engine, Hargreaves
and Arkwright invented the spinning
jenny, little later Whitney produced
the cotton gin and multiplied the avail
able supply Of raw material for the new
textile mills. Thus, for the first time
since Eve spun, men began to weave. A
woman spinning by hand could not pro-
duce as much yarn in whole day as
could a man at a single spindle in sin
gle hour in the new factory. A linen
sheet, which required months labor In
the home, could be made in the factory
in a few hours. This was the beginning.
The industrial revolution swept on un-
til it has all but abolished the domestic
industries Now all
Work Now Done spinning and weav-
ing is done in the
Ny Aa9AAnoy' factory, and most of
the sewing. Even cooking is no longer
a domestic industry. Bread comes from
the bakery. vegetables and fruits from
the canning factory. cereals and break
fast foods appear on the table ready
cooked from the factory.
The economic advantage of employing
mechanical rather than human power to
accomplish laborious work will not be
disputed at this late day. But it has
forced the modern woman to face new
questions Of supplying her own need for
employment, and frequently of providing
the necessaries of life for herself and
those dependent upon her. The ability
which enabled her ancestor to direct all
the activities in the home which supplied
the needs Of the family Of the eighteenth
century, must be utilized by the modern
woman to meet her own obligations,
which are not less onerous because en-
tirely different. Since by mans usurpa-
ton of the province which was formerly
her own, she no longer is able to occupy
herself within the four walls which she
called homo. she must needs turn to