The San Francisco call., 1913-09-17
Women AS
. Slaves 3
To An Idea
By DOROTHY DIX

seldom seem to reflect thaf
they themselves forge the fetters
against which they chafe. They ARE
slaves all right, but are mostly slaves
to an idea
Take the idea of neatness. for In
stance. Once let a woman get bitten
by that particular mania and she is
a downtrodden serf who is chained
TO broom and scrubbing brush for
the balance of her life.
She can't be just ordinary clean and
comfortable and let it go at that.
Nor can she divide out her housekeep-
ing labors. because she soon gets to
the place where nobody else can dust
room or sweep under a bed to suit
her.
She makes her house a place of
torment for herself and everybody
who comes in it. Her husband
wipes his feet on the door mat be-
9 fore he dares enter He feels his
wife's lynx eyes on him at the dinner
table for fear he will drop something
on the tablecloth. He has to seek
thu back porch to smoke because she
doesn't allow tobacco where it can
scent up the curtains.
He never dreams OF lying down on
the couch, because the sofa cushions
are sacred ornaments that are not in
tended for use. He even sits uneasily
IN his chair because he knows he has
moved it out of its proper place. and
his wife is hdgeting to put it back
again
Her children have no liberty in
their own home because their mother
can't bear to have her floors tracked
ub and playthings scattered about
. and so they escape to the street, or
the nsighbors. and are offered up
as a living sacrifice to their mothers
guest in such a home is on needles
and pins because he has always an
awful foreboding that he Is mussing
up things, and that his hostess is
waiting with brush, pan and broom
10 sweep up after him.
Then there is the woman who makes
assiave Of herself to the idea of order.
Everything has got to be done on a
certain appointed day and hour.
though the heavens fall. and though
IL could be done twice as easily and
with half the trouble at some other
time. There are women who must
wash on Monday. and iron on Tuesday.
and clean on Wednesday, and bake on
Thursday. and sew on Friday. and
darn on Saturday. and who are so alb
solutely dominated by this cut and
dried routine that they simply go to
pieces If anything happens TO up
set it
You might invite one of them to
go to the most delightful party on
sarth. but If 1t CHANGED to be on the
Gay that was set apart 10 baking or
ironing she would refuse. There might
BE tears IN her eyes. and bitter disap-
pointment in her voice, but she would
still refuse.
sTo such women to have dinner Is
minutes late is a tragedy, and to be
asked to receive an unexpected guest
or to do anything to break up their
castiron order of doing things is to
have the impossible demanded of
them. They sacrifice even natural
affection to it, and love no one well
enough to be willing to make a
change for his or her sake
I was acquainted with a woman of
this kind once who refused to go
to the bedside of a dying daughter
swho was calling pitifuIly for her,
because the telegram summoning her
came on the day on which for 80
years she had always swept the par
lor
. It is because women get these f1ved
ideas, which are really a phase of in
sanity. about the Importance Of trifies,
and the necessity of doing the same
thing at the same minute every day,
that they complain of the monotony
Of housework and call themselves do
nestic slaves. They could make va
riety for themselves by doing things
differently. in different ways and at
different times. and thus keep out of
getting into ruts.
IN reality housework lends itself
to this more than any other kind Of
work There Is no reason why, If
Monday is a bad day, that the wash
shouldn't be done Tuesday, or why on
q matinee day a woman shouldn't
put off her baking IL she feels tired
and blue and go to the show. and
bake another day. It's a good thing
to change about in work just merely
to keep from getting TO be the slave
Of the idea that you have got to do
things at certain time and in a
certain way. Order may be heavens
first law, as the poet says. but it
isn't all of them, and it's fun to
break the law just to show that you
are free.
Break up this slavery to your ideas.
you who complain Of the tyranny Of
the home. Rebel. Make strike for
your freedom. Dominate your work
instead of letting It dominate you.
Run your house. Don't let 1t run you.
Don't get in a rut. Thus will you
save yourself from growing old and
getting wrinkles In your face and
your temper.