Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1920-10-20
AMERICAN WOMEN
DOING FULL SHARE
FOR THE COUNTRY
Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, Wife Of
Republican Nominee, Praises ,
Her Sex.
DISCUSSES HIGH LIVING COSTS
Declares In an Interview That
, Present High Prices Can Be
Reduced by Votes.
BY EstelIins Bennett.

Mrs. Coolidge sat in day coach on
slow local train between Boston and
Northampton and talked about her
husband. her children, the high cost of
living and the domestic problem. The
conductor and the brakeman stopped
as they went through the car to talk
to her. She had made friends with
them In her frequent journeys back
and forth to keep in touch with her
children In school In Northampton and
her husband at his duties In the state
capitol She knitted diligently as she
talked During those trips she knits
all the winter stockings and sweaters
for her two boys--John, aged four
teen, and Calvin, twelve.
"Too many people are afraid Of
work." she thinks is the fundamental
reason for the high cost of living and
the much discussed domestic problem.
II think the only thing the women
Of the country can do now" she said,
with the quiet conviction Of one who
has thought It all out, els to vote for
the men whom they think win make the
right laws and see that they are en-.
forced. They have done all they can
IN the home. / think the reason there
is SO much sugar on hand now Is be-
cause people are doing without It In
their homes.
Women Have Done Their Share.
american women have done, and
still are doing their full share. They
have sacrificed and saved and substi-
tuted and made over. But that isn't
enough. They'll have to vote the high
cost Of living down.
"Hers in New England. where II Is
little hard for US to give up pie" she
laughed at the tradition that has be-
come a joke, I'VE have learned to use
all kinds Of cheaper substitutes for
butter and lard, and In my own house
hold we have experimental with DIFF.
ferent fruit combinations to find some
thing we like and that will take the
least sugar. Apples must be tart to
make good pies. but we have found
that blueberries take less sugar and
the combination Of apples and blue
berries, half and half, is delicious, re-
quires less sweetening than apples and
has more character than the blueber-
ries alonef' A
Knows No Domestic Problems.
The domestic problem, which Is clos
ing homes all over the country and In.
creasing the hotel population, is some
thing of which Mrs Coolidge thinks
she has no personal, practical knowl.
edge. She never keeps but one maid,
and she never has been without one.
In the fifteen years Of her married life
she has had only two. The first one
she inherited with the furnished house
into which she and Mr.. Coolidge
moved when they were married and
took with her when she moved. The
second came when the first left to go
and live with her sister.
There must be reason for their
staying, 1t was suggested to Mrs. Cool
idge, and she thought possibly there
were several. She thought the type of
maid had something to do with It.
Hers both have been American wo-
men old enough to have a sense of re-
sponsibility to their work and intelli-
gent enough to respond to reasonable
courteous treatment.
"A good many women who keep only
one maid have trouble in their house
holds because both mistress and maid,
but chiefly the mistress, are afraid Of
work. A woman expects one maid to
do the cooking and scrubblng and ev-
erything else and still be dressed up In
black dress with white cap and apron
ready to answer the doorbell any min.
ute. II isn't humanity possible. al
ways answer my doorbell myself.
do II for two reasons. In the first
place. there Is no one else, and, In the
second. like to greet my friends al
the door myself"
Have Home Orchestra.
Mrs. Coolidge is of medium height,
with brown hair, hazel eyes that hold
good deal of merriment and a very
quick sense Of humor. At home she
and her children have little orches-
ira. Mrs. Coolidge plays the piano
John the violin, and Calvin, after con.
siderable discussion. In which he IA
vored bass drum. compromised on a
banJo-mandolin. They play hymns and
war songs usually-the hymns they
learn in the Congregational church and
Sunday School of Northampton. They
avoid difficult and unfamiliar music
because the object Of the orchestra is
entirely recreational and not educa.
tional. That is part of Mrs. Cool.
idge's educational pollcy-that chill
dren should work when they work and
play when they play and keep the two
separate. That was why she sent her
boys to the public schools of North.
ampton when they were Eve years old
Every morning when she is IN North
ampton. Mrs. Coolidge takes her Bos
ton bag and goes to market. II the
nelghbor next door Is going Mrs. Cool
idge goes with her In the car. Other
wise she walks. She has no domestic
policy. She buys, she says, what the
family need and can afford"