Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-04-20
WHAT KIND OF
WOMEN ARE YOU?
Unless All Signs Fail, 1t Ap-
pears as if Cooperative
Housekeeping Were to Be
the Next Step in Our Prog
reSS.
MRS. WILSON WOODROW

sponse to the question 1 asked IN my
article on Home Making. Which
would you rather be called. "a bright,
cultured little woman" or "a mighty
efficient housekeeeper," and why can
not one be both
Tho consensus of opinion STANDS
about equally divided between the
Upright, cultured little woman, and
both" The mighty efficient house
keeper" is left at the post.
These letters seem to me particu-
larly valuable, because they represent
the very definite mental attitude OF
the modern woman; ana that attltuue
ia certain to affect the whole social
organism.
1t looks, indeed, as if one general
call were ringing through all ranks
of women;
Come out of the kitchen"
Unles sail signs fail, it appears as
if cooperative Housekeeping were to
be the next step in our progress. And
that might not be such an unmlXed
evil after all.
one woman writes: "If we must
choose, those with good sense will
choose the bright, cultured little
woman for these reasons If one is
bright, one nacGrally grows into the
efficient housekeeper. She has the
necessary brains to see how and why
she must do this, 1t is not so easy
TO become bright and cultured from
just being housekeeper, no matter
how efficient one may be"
In this last sentence is my cores
pondent not looking at the trained
housekeeper as a mere drudge? To
be mighty efficient housekeeper"
takes brains and executive ability OF
high order.
She goes on to say: Our men are
growing and they grow fast, and it is
b almost impossible to keep up if one
has been taught housekeeping too
strenuously. How many brilliant
girls marry of whom people say, She
is a wonderful girl, but what will he
do for his meals?' Yet almost with
out exception these girls have made
perfect housekeepers."
This is an encouraging experience
and it should be a word of cheer to
a young girl who writes me of the
perpleXities of her problem. She is
employed in business house from 3
o'clock in the morning until 6 in the
evening, When she goes home at
night. her mother has supper ready
for her, and after that she either
rests or reads or goes to photo play
or for a walk-all very necessary rec
reations, by the way.
She has had no time in her busy
life to learn anything about house
keeping, and this troubles her mind,
for sch is engaged to be married to
q young man whose mother is an eX-
p llent homemaker. She longs for
home of her own, but is afraid to take
the decisive step of marriage because
of her limitations.
Where is her spirit of adventure?
If, when she marries, her husband
does not prove himself an entirely
stupid and exacting person, he will
not expect her to compete with
Mother all at once, nor will he ever
spring the deadly parallel. They will
agree to treat her mistakes as a joke,
and her early efforts as one of the
amusing adventures in the great ad-
venture, Life.
Girl Will Learn
But for her to hesitate to marry the
man she cares for and who cares for
her because she is ignorant of house
keeping is absurd. All things are pos
sible to q willing heart, and the girl
who really sets her mind on learning
a thing will learn it. After all, house
keeping is not one of the Eleusinian
Mysteries.
Another girl, also in business, says
rather dolefully that although her
tastes are domestic, the young men
she knows do not care for a home
body who likes to cook, claiming that
they can always get square meal in
a restaurant.
/ think she will find that this is
a purely temporary opinion ON their
part, an ideal of RASH unthinking
youth. 1t is like claiming that one
can live happily on an exclusive diet
of candy, since chocolate is nourish-
ing and sugar supplies necessary cal
ories. The restaurants may lure for
a season, but that girls, hour is sure
to come.
From all the letters have received
I have gained a distinct impression
that women in general have a very
definite mental picture of the bright,
cultured little woman" She is
drawn in firm outlines and stands in
the clear initiative, charm and ac-
complishments. She is armed cap-a-
pie, and holds the golden key to the
door of opportunity.
But the phrase, efficient house
keeper" evokes a vastly different pic
ture-a bowed and Careworn drudge
amid the murky shadows of the
kitchen with the foggy steam of the
wash-tubs rising about her The
drawing is uncertain ;the picture is
lacking in clear conception, blurred in
our minds by tradition.
Is it any wonder that women shrink
from such a destiny? The instructive
cry of every woman's soul Is for
beauty and order. IF l had two
loaves of bread, l would sell one and
buy white hyacinths."
But ii would be foolish to sell both
loaves of bread ;one cannot live on
white hyacinths alone.
We women do not seem to have
grasped what man has had to learn
the necessity of conducting his busi-
ness in a business-like way, thus
finding time for recreation sand the
improvement of his mind outside of
business hours. In the business of
housekeeping, at least, the old saw In
most cases still holds good:
Man works from rise to set of sun,
A woman's work Is never done"
Woman Has Solved Problem
Yet there are an increasing num-
Der of women who seem to have
solved the problem. Here Is a letter
from one who unhesitatingly an
swered Both" to my question. What
she has to say is so practical, 80
modern in it's point of view and stlmu-
lating in it's optimism. that feel sure
it will be as helpful to you as 1t was
to me:
Il have lived under various condi-
tions, and I took many deep plunges
before 1 could keep above water. I
was nearly drowned more tsan once
and this made me see the necessity of
swimming lessons and life-preservers
] used every means of obtaining these
But must say that I never knew how
to keep house until I had a business
to organize. Then applied the
same principles to my house that 1