The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-12-04
Women Still
Center Lives
on Homes
Despite Changed World,
Mate and Children
Most Important.
BY GRETTA PALMER
Times Special Writer.

NEW YORK, Dec. At is one
4 ' coIumnist's cnches that if the
modern woman were to meet her
own grandmother the two women
would find themselves with hardly
a word to say. The difference in
point of view, one is given to under
stand. is so great that each would
regard with a certain horror the fact
that so contrary and unreasonable
a person should ever have diSfigured
the family tree.
We columniStS have perhaps ex-
aggerated. The women of all gen.
erations could find a common meet
ing ground in their interest in the
home. They might disagree with
some violence about the proper way
to cook a steak or fold a diaper. but
they would, at least. feel a deep and
personal interest in the subjects.
WomanS primary concern. no mat
ter what the feminists may say. is
still the welfare of her husband and
her brood.
Liberality Crowns
The distinctive quality of the
modern woman-the thing which
sets her apart from grandmamma
and all the good housewives who
went before-does not lie, in the
least, in the fact that modern wom-
an has shifted her enthusiasm from
the home to the office or the
rostrum.
For the vast majority Of modern
women have done no such thing.
They are as completely wrapped up
in their families-as imperviouS to
ambitions in the arts of the indus
tries-as the women of the old
Stone Age.
And yet the emancipation Of
women is no myth. Woman today is
a more liberal person, a creature of
greater gusto than the women Of
any respectable class have been for
many centuries. 1t is not her en-
trance into business offices which
has effected the change. It is far
more aptly traced to the changes
in the social system which permit a
woman to emerge, quite unescorted, /
from her home.
The woman Of former years knew
men, but they were the men of her
own class. She knew servants. but
her acquaintance with them was
limited to the formalities of giving
orders and receiving thanks. She
had none of the opportunities which
life vOuchSafeS the modern girl be-
fore she is we'll out of her teens for
finding out what people very diff
ferently situated think about.
Knows Many Classes
The old-fashioned woman knew
all there was to know about the
mental operations Of the men of her
clan. But had she ever sat at mid
night with a large party who dis
cuSsed the ways of life with Pete
across the counter of the hot dog
stand? Had she ever entered into
long, involved political conversations
with a taxi driver while the lights
were red?
The modern girl has emerged from
the cotton wool of aristocracy
which safeguarded her grand
mother from life. She has found it
possible to talk to people of twenty
different classes on plane of true
equality, simply because the con-
ditionS of modern life make such
gadding about as hers necessary.
She no longer looks upon men
who do not have a additionally
society" background as so many
potential buffers. She and her
friends have found that Jake, the
bartender, is something Of
philosopher in his way.
And the knowledge that all in
telligence, all wisdom and all
chivalry are not restricted to the
limited circles of her friends has
done the modern girl world. of
good.
That is true emancipation. And
that is something which the girl Of
u L.