Evening star., 1933-02-19
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has had but two pre-occupations-h
home and her job. She has retained
| her maiden name, not because she is
a feminine, but because at the time of
| their marriage her husband was sec
retary to Mayor John Purroy Mitchell
and she felt that if she used his name
! her activities in Albany might be en-
barrassing to him They have one
daughter, a charming girl of 18, now
| in her last year at Brearley School In
New York and looking forward to COL
! lege at Bryn Mawr.
While Frances Perkins herself Is nat
| urally gregariouS, she has not the time
| to enter too actively into society She
| entertains quietly at small dinners and
| supper parties in her home on the upper
| East Side. With wide and diversified
circle of friends. she may dine one
! evening at the home Of the Governor or
| at that of some prominent financier or
| industrialist, and the next evening be
! sitting at table with group Of working
| people
While hewing closely to the line that
| all human beings have the right to use
| full employment, she does not always
| favor the thought 4 married women
working outside of the home when they
| do not have to do so. Not long ago a
woman 1 know went to her for advice
about getting job.
Can you earn enough to pay thor
| oughly competent woman to take your
! place at home?" asked Frances Per-
| ktns. And by competent don't mean
just a cook or housekeeper, but a train
ed, educated woman who can take care
, OF your children and watch over them
when they come in from school. who
will have your home in order and a
good dinner on the table when you and
your husband come back from the
office?"
The woman was not sure that she
! could afford such a person.
Then" came the advice, you have
no right to take a job"
1t would be difficult to find any one
| whose clothes SO closely define a per-
sonality as do thoSc G. Frances Perkins.
With tailor made mind, she is a tai
tornado woman. In the day time she
always wears well-cut jackets and skirts
of the very best quality of tweed or
serge in oxford gray or dark blue with
silk blouse. Her hat seldom varies
from the eternal tricorn, because she
feels that it is becoming to her and sets
easily on her head. In such an outfit
she is always ready for an occasion or
an emergency. Eer evening frocks are
of the same pattern, made simply but
eXpertly, and trimmed, perhaps, with a
bit Of mink or squirrel. She wears no
jewelry.
Mood Reflected by Eyes.
She is not pretty woman in the
sense of cameo features and tea-rose
complexion, but to those who see beauty
in character Frances Perkins Is more
than satisfying to the eyes. She has
smooth olive skin touched with
healthy color Her hair is soft brown
with a suspicion of wave, and she
wears it straight back from her fore
head catching it in a graceful knot
at the back of her well-rounded head
Her mouth is mobile, turning up at
the corners with definite humor. But
it is her eyes that tell her story. Large
and dark and vivid, they take their ex-.
preston from her mood. If she is
amused they scintillate with little
points Of light. If moved to sympathy
or compassion, they cloud over. At the
slightest suspicion Of insincerity or in
justice they can become keen and
searching.
A cons ant reader, she is interested
more In philosophy. sociology. eco
nomics and biography than in fiction.
Sine likes drama If it Is authentic. In
fact, it was the reading of two books
% years ago which marked the turning
point of her career.
Born in Boston of an old Colonial
and Revolutionary family, one in which
the women had been important figures
in education, she went through finish
ing school and Mount Holyoke College
with the idea Of taking up teaching
as a profession. She majored in eco
nomics and sociology, and after being
graduated from Mount Holyoke took
ost-graduate work at the Universities
of Columbia, Pennsylvania and Chi
cago. Later she accepted teaching
position in fashionable girls school
at Lake Forest, ILL.,
She had been there a little more
than a year when she met group OF
social welfare workers at the Chicago
Commons, a settlement house in the
industrial district. Graham Taylor
was its director and Raymond Robins
and Charles Hallinan were among
those Who cften congregated there for
discussions. Jane Addams. too, some
times Joined them. Frances Perkins
became their earnest disciple. Bernard
Shaw's Man and Superman" and Vida
Scudder's "A Listener in Babel had
just been published and were often
brought up in argument. When Fran
ces Perkins returned to Lake Forest
those two books were under her arm.
They made a tremendous impression
en- her, for through them she began
to see the relation Of man to his en-
vironment and it's effect upon him.
For the first time she saw social science
in the large-not as a sentimental prof.
ect but as an effort to raise the health
and mental standards of the race by
raising the standards of living through
adequate wages, good housing, santa
ton and decent working conditions for
labor.
At Hull House Several Months.
At the end Of the term she resigned
from the school and went to Hull
House for several months, under the
direction of Jane Addams. In the Fall
she went home to Boston. where she
announced that she was going to New
York to work with the National Con-
sumers' League. Her plan met with
concerted objection. If she wanted to
teach-that was different. But social
welfare work was impossible; 1t took
che into such sordid surroundings
But her declaration of independence
was made. and Frances Perkins was of
to New York minus an allowance and
with her watch as her best friend. To-
day she enjoys telling how 1t went In
and out of the pawnshop with the
regularity that her washing went to
and returned from the laundry.
Thus began the most important