The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-09-15
Editorial
of the Day
WOMEN ON THE FARM.

(From Anadarko American Democrat)
If statistics were collected TO show
whether the farmer or the farmers
wife was most in favor OF leaving the
land and moving to town we might get
some startling information concerning
the urban drift of our population. The
drawbacks OF the farm are certainly
greater for the feminine than for
the masculine end of the family. The
daughters are usually more distressed
than the sons at the lack OF social life.
The sons can make their way about
without the aid of chaperones and So
cial affairs. If there is nothing going
on in their neghborhood they can
always travel few miles TO find
amusement. Not so the girls. They
must stay at home conventionally and
wait or forfeit measure Of that wo-
manly reserve which is a great part
OF their charm. And they have no
fancy tor blushing unseen. Therefore
town is sort Of paradise of the blest
to q maiden who has been imprisoned
within the confines OF prairie farm.
But for the mother of the family as
the Monthly Labor Review points out.
the difference between agricultural
and city life is the difference between
drudgery and luxury. AL the comforts
and conveniences which are implied in
the word modern" must be made up
for in the lonely farmhouse by extra
work and steps on the part Of the wo-
man whose job it is to do the cooking
and keep the premises in order. In
most cases she has no better imple-
ments to work with than her fore.
mothers had in the fifteenth century.
She has no vacation; she works from
dawn TO dark. No wonder she looks
forward with relief to town cottage
as soon as her husband can scrape
together enough capital to pay their
fares as EAR as some industrial centre
where running Syater an electric lights
are customary. According 10 the re-
port Of the Department OF Agriculture;
The lack of modern equipment
makes many of these farmhouses CEN
tres of drudgery and explains in part
why women object 10 farm life. The
average farm woman, according to
the survey, works 11.3 hours the year
round, and in summer 1912 hours
over so per cent of these farm wo-
men have no regular vacation during
the year. Fifty per cent start work
at u. m. Approximately GO per cent
must og to the pump or spring for
70, ipht h..
rooms. Ninety six per cent do the
family washing, and only half of these
have washing machines. Seventy-nine
per cent have Kerosene lamps TO fill
and trim. and "a per cent care for two
coal or wood stoves.
Many q man. having tasted exist
ence in a manufacturing town and
found it less desirable than following
the plough and the binder, would fain
return to his acres If only an agree
ment could be reached in the domes-
tic council. But the wives, once they
have glimpsed freedom from the
traditional serfdom of female labor on
ed back. When the choice lies be-
tween isolation at hard labor and so
cAy with ease the decision is not
long in the making.
The only way out is to modernize
the farms. Electricity, running water,
bathrooms, washing machines, power
churns and separators and a hundred
other devices await the purchaser.
When the new labor-saving machines
for outdoor work appear on the mar
liet the farmer must buy them to keep
up with the times. His barn is a.
ways moro modern than his house. II
this discrimination were ended life
on the prairie would hold more at.
traction for housewives.