The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-03
Mrs. Gait, Mrs. Laidlaw
and Others Find
Public Life and Home
Making Do Not
Clash
~ YOUNG.

- to the ource OF his w
fear?
! did. I trailed him all around the
hoise-from parlor to kitchen. In the
parlor he murmured pleasing plati-
tudes about woman being an angel,
mans guiding star. his source Of in
spiratlon. his main hope Of heaven.
In the kitchen he brought up ruefully
before the range and pointed to 1t with
a dramatic gesture. III ON get
20 voting who'll keep house? We've
got to eat" he cried, and with that his
real hearts concern was laid bare.
Nothing seems SO to have treasured
the men voters "up State" as tasting
Jane Thompson's cake. Jane Thompson
Is a young woman voter from Chicago
who Is working for the Empire State
campaign committee in Rochester n
other cities. Somebody in one Of her
audiences once told her he bet she
couldn't make biscuit" 1t gave her
q clue to his hearts concern about
suffrage. She wondered II there
weren't other men in her audience
who needed re~assuring as to a sufra-
Eist's capacity to make biscuit. Since
then she has been giving cooking ex-
htbitions wherever she goes to prove
that q suffragist can cook.
The truth IL they go together,
woman suffrage and housekeeping
ability. I am familiar with the homes
Of the women voters Of the West and
Z know. And working for the vote,
which takes up q great deal more
time than actual voting. also o with
>a-~SxAnl~- oft1tk., ~ MT thn mat.
ter to the test locally I made some
burreptitious inquiries as to who
Among our suffragists had regulations
~ ho~usekeepers. II was interesting
TO sec how the housekeeper's reputa-
ton lined up to match the s~uffragist
reputation.
For instance. there is Mrs. Gait.
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait. sufra-
Eist. organizer Of women of many
nations, Is known all over the globe,
but Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait. house,
keeper, Is known to only an intimate
circle, and It is something Of a revela-
ton when this foremost leader Of
women grows confidential over her ia
vorite recipes among a group Of inti-
mates, as she did one day when ! was
privileged to hear her. The talk had
turned upon the new cookbook is
sued by the Pennsylvania Woman Suf-
frage Association.
DO you know" began Mrs. Gait.
shat a good many Of Il suffrage
campaigns have been financed by cook
books? The campaign in the State
Of Washington. for one. At least a
dozen good cookbooks have been
brought out with a suffrage imprint.
Suffragists are notably good cooks
and good housekeepers, and they look
TO the vocation they know best as
most likely to help them turn a penny
for suffrage"
do you like to keep house, Mrs.
Catt?"
Every much. And ! have kept
house constantly for bou thirty
years. with the exception of the two
years ! spent in going around the
world with DR.. Aletta Jacobs"
Ard even az a bride, it seems she
Gid not have to victimize her husband
by her experiments in cooking. Sha
IA a good cook n a good house
keeper before she married.
my mother" she said, IVA one
Of the old fashioned housekeepers who
believed in training their daughters
to cook and sweep and sew. l learned
It all at home. Later / took a course
In domestic science. l have a diploma
from the University Of Iowa that tes-
tifies to that, and ] am proud Of that
Hploma."
When Mrs. Gait was asked IL she
thought an active life outside OF The
home was likely to lessen a wonan's
appreciation Of home, she negatived
tho idea emphatically. 1T certainly
has not been my experience. l ON
fort myself with my housekeeping.
Nothing rests me 70 much when
things go wrong on the outside as 10
70 into my kitchen and cook"
"Oh. won't you tell us your favorlte
tecipes?' asked a housekeeper, OF no
mean ability herself. who happened
to be a suffragist.
"Well,'' said Mrs. Gait, 1T think !
make very good strawberry short
cake"
"And don't forget you prune souf-
ne" chimed in n Of the inmates Of
the little group. "And she is also
famous for her lemon jelly cake"
And then Mrs. Gait gave a word
Of explanation as to 10Y she manages
90 do all that she does in the honle
and all the things she does outside OF
the home too. ITS all in system.
! think there is something wrong with
q woman's executive ability II she
can't manage her home n have time
for a great deal besides"
Mrs. Cats various claims 10 fame
as suffragist, organizer of women po-
litical leader, &C., dwindled to ins!g-
nifcance In comparison with the dis
tinction revealed In her next words,
words that she spoke quite casually as
II she were saying nothing unusual:
81 hear a good deal about the SER
want problem. | have never had n
servant problem. My s~ervant stay
with me until they marry. As each
new servant becomes a member Of my
household she is given a list Of her
tain days. the silver IS cleaned on a
certain day, the sweeping Is done on a
certain day, the laundry is done on
Monday-hccause my grandmother al
ways did ii on Monday. Things are
run by system. ! DON have any
trouble and the servants don't seem
TO have any"
In a very businesslike room in her
Office OF the Empire State campaign
committee headquarters another well
known suffragist discussed prisply