USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The Congress of Women : held in the Woman's building, World's Columbian exposition, Chicago, U.S.A., 1893 : with portraits, biographies and addresses > Part 31
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Columbus and his braves knelt on the sod; They heard God's rosy, fragrant silence breathe; They kiss'd the earth, and lifted souls in prayer.
To muse alone he left his joyful crew, And went some paces deeper in the glow Of fragrant woods. Approaching this deep joy, He would all earthly sandals leave.
Hard by A velvet plot of moss, that ne'er had thrill'd To human touch -- this took his weary form, While thrilling thought, and lofty hopes yet breathed Their music to his soul.
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Down tangled heights The crystal waters fell o'er mossy cliffs, From broken urns of sea nymphs who had lost Their way and fled from sight. A hoary limb Midway the lucid pool, and, tendril twined, Let fairies cross to wayward paths in joy; And od'rous breadths of land kiss'd tuneful lips Of flowery waves. Arcadian vales were fed By pearly streams and purple winds, and clouds That held no gloomy thoughts of cold or storms. Thro' spicy groves came lissome dusky forms, Night-phantoms fleet, with wonder-sparkling eyes; Dusky sons, whom beauty in shadow veil'd And stealthy, to view the pale-faced men, Borne on white pinions of the clouds, they thought.
In awe Columbus mused: "Alas for her, My loved one lost! the cruel waves that claimed Gives now me this for bride, my fair world-bride! Ah, would that she, our queen, they two might smile On me this hour, as doth th' morn and heav'n." List'ning, he turned to note strange, lovely birds, And heed his New World's song from scented groves An' cooler depths of green, where sunbeams slept Or held lost moon-rays of fair evenings gone. The air was balmy soft, enticing life,
As though of roses made, or lover's sighs, low breath'd In moonlight yester eve. Silent he gazed, Like one of old on Patmos Isle, Seeing hid realms not lawful earth could see.
"Now doth there pass before my prophet soul, Some vision swift, prefigured as a dream, Soft glowing on the rose-gray mists of sleep. Of this New World's fair future! blest of peace, Blest of all nations' praise-of Liberty,
Whose flag shall take the azure dome and stars; Whose mighty mountains, streams and forests grand Shall move to Freedom's hymn, and ope new gates To larger life, to highest truth for men?" Saw he the mighty ships? Heard he the roar Of vasty cities, labor's thunders loud; As Toil and Art wore garments radiant In Time's fresh loom for this fair virgin world That, like a star, should light the voyageur From stormy Wrong to God's wide seas of Peace?
He dwelt on spirit truths that dome this life; Of ancient lore, of inspiration new, For he had delved in wisdom old, once hid By seers Iberian, the Greek, and Egypt's wise, Who called the stars and grouped the Zodiac, And with the Hebrew learn'd the steps of God In solitudes of space, afire with worlds. What means that fable old of Orpheus, Of Amphion sweet, if not to symbol forth, This fair world shall to heavenly place be built
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By harmonies of wisdom, and the pow'r Of Justice-these two, flowing into Love, Gives back our earth complete into His hands.
Long, long alone he wrestled, planned and dreamed, Of what this giant young world held for man; Saw with prophetic, deeper sense, more plain Than he of Bethel fame, new angels come And go along the secret steeps of God,
With banner'd thoughts, and hymns, he only read And heard of his New World's fair destiny. By joy and thought oppress'd beyond all speech, Still from the eternal, hearing melodies Shipward, he grandly moved and faced the sea.
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MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS.
1. Mrs. Mary C. Bell, Florida.
4. Mrs. Charles H. Olmstead, Georgia.
7. Mrs. Richard J. Oglesby, Illinois.
10. Mrs. Virginia C. Meredith, Indiano.,
2. Miss E. Nellie Beck, Florida.
5. Mrs. Anna E. M. Farnum, Idaho.
8. Mrs. Frances Welles Shepard, Illinois.
11. Mrs. Whiting S. Clark, Iowa.
3. Mrs. Wm. H. Felton, Georgia.
6. Mrs. Joseph C. Straughan, Idaho.
9. Miss Wilhelmine Reitz, Indiana.
12. Miss Ora Elizabeth Miller, lowa.
HOUSEHOLD ECONOMICS.
By MRS. LAURA S. WILKINSON.
When the woman's branch of the World's Congress Auxiliary was formed, and a committee was appointed to take charge of Household Economics, I was asked to act as chairman. I am here today to report what has been done in our short history, and what are our hopes and aspirations for the future. The National Columbian Household Economic Association is a direct outgrowth from one of the committees of the World's Congress Auxiliary.
The objects of this association are, as the consti- tution announces, "To awaken the public mind to the importance of establishing a bureau of information, where there can be an exchange of words and needs between the employer and employed in every depart- ment of home and social life. Second, to promote among its members a more scientific knowledge of the economic value of the various foods and fuels, a more intelligent understanding of correct plumbing and drainage in our homes, as well as need for pure water and good light in a sanitarily built house; also to secure skilled labor in every department of woman's work in our homes."
The work of the association was to be done through seven committees. It was not our intention MRS. LAURA S. WILKINSON. to confine our work to Chicago, and for this reason we adopted the name of "The Columbian Association of Housekeepers." Since, the word " National " was added to it, and by the end of the first year, our secretary's book showed that we had members all the way from San Francisco to Boston, and Texas to Duluth.
The Columbian Association of Housekeepers has held meetings regularly since its organization in 1891. No special program is prepared beforehand; but the secretary announces on her postal what will be the most interesting feature of the meeting.
Essays have been read, plans discussed, in hope of solving the vexed question of " domestic service." We had one small excitement, when at one of our meetings it was announced that all women who belong to the Columbian Association of House- keepers were to be boycotted by the hired girl. Exactly why, we never have been able to understand. But, in point of fact, we could not find anyone who had refused to work for a member of the association.
The one thing that has been most persistently discouraged in our meetings has been that of relating of personal experiences with the family domestic. As some one has most wittily said: "We have avoided those experience meetings where each one
. Mrs. Laura Starr Ware Wilkinson is a native of Deerfield, Mass. She was born June 20, 1843. Her parents were Edwin Ware and Harriet S. Ware. She was educated in Deerfield schools and Mrs. David Mach's school, Belmont, Mass. She has traveled in England, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and America. She married John Wilkinson, Esq., of Syracuse, N. Y., November 20, 1867. Her special work has been in the interest of domestic economy. During the World's Fair she was chair- man of the Congress of Household Economics, and organized the National Columbian Household Economic Association, which proposes to have a vice-president in each state, and a chairman of Household Economics in each county in each state. In religious faith she is a Unitarian. Her postoffice address is No. 482 La Salle Avenue, Chicago.
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is cager to relate her own personal grievance, and never willing to listen to another's tale of woe."
Our aim has been to consider the condition of the girl at service, her limitations, her hours of labor, and constantly to ask ourselves if we, in her place, without a special training, could do as well. Failing in our efforts to improve the intelligence offices, we next turned our attention to what could be done toward establishing schools where instruction could be given for housework, and to see what could be done to induce girls to take a three months' course of training before she went out to service.
We found that there were no such schools. To establish one would demand trained teachers, salaries, buildings, etc. And then, where could we find the girl to take this preparatory course when every kitchen is open to her to learn at the employer's expense ?
We have brought the topic before the association, committees have been appointed; but the fact is slowly but surely being. impressed upon our minds that the fault lies with the housekeeper. Recognizing this, we decided to have a course of lectures on domestic service. These lectures were given by Prof. Lucy M. Salmon. of Vassar Col- lege, who brought before us, in a most historical and scholarly way, the condition of domestic service as it now is and has been since carliest time. This was a most valu- able course of lectures for those who had made a sociological study of the question, but few women and fewer housekeepers realize the importance of adjusting themselves to the condition of the era they now live in.
Not succeeding in arousing enthusiasm for our school of household science, we next turned our attention to what could be done in the way of establishing a house- keepers' emergency bureau, which is, as its name indicates, to supply temporary help, the employe returning to her home each day. A committee of ladies have charge of this work, look up the references of those who apply for the work, and a book of regis- tration for employer and employe is kept at the office.
On these books are found women wishing and willing to do all kinds of work; sewers, menders, housekeepers, teachers, stenographers, caterers, nurses, scrubwomen and daily governesses, etc.
The monthly reports for the housekeeper's Emergency Bureau constitute one of the most interesting features of our regular meetings, and we have many testimonials testifying to the ability of those who constitute a corps of workers for the Bureau, and we have also had many complaints because we cannot find trained girls. But who will give the time to the work? We need more helpers in our work.
Owing to a continual storm, the attendance was not large at any one meeting; but it was a most enthusiastic audience, and it was voted that another convention should be held the same time and place the next year, it being the sense of the meeting that the Conventions of Housekeepers should be a yearly occurrence.
Early in 1893 the chairman of the food supply committee began her market reports. When these reports were read at our regular meetings, they proved so accept- able that it was voted that the association print them in pamphlet form for distribu- tion. These reports make a general survey of the condition of the markets, both East and west, and contain many valuable hints in regard to purchasing food, as well the most practicable suggestions all the latest improvements in prepared foods are mentioned; and it is usually the case that these preparations have been tested by the one who prepares the report, so that they go out with the recommendation of the association.
The question of what is the advantage of becoming a member of the National Columbian Household Economic Association, is constantly asked.
The first is, because it brings those women who are most interested in the real study of economic problems in closer relation with each other.
We aim to put everything upon a scientific and hygienic basis, to understand what is the true economy of time, material and strength, to find out the best ways of per- forming our daily routine of housework, and to thoroughly understand what is good housekeeping. It is not to be learned in any one course of lessons in cookery.
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While the cooking schools have played a most important feature in the revolu- tionizing of the preparation of our daily food, still, they have not solved the prob- lem. They have rather added to the complications. However, we wish to do full justice to the work that these schools have done.
The difficulty in this department of women's work is that many of those women who are the best housekeepers do not join with us and give us the benefit of their long years of experience.
If one has found a better way of doing some part of housework, why not share this knowledge with those who are wasting their strength and time by going on in the old way? It is the little things that count in the wear and tear of housework, and the trouble is, so many have not the time to give to the investigation of some shorter and easier way. It is the reporting of these small items which add to the usefulness of an association like ours.
We do not endeavor to suddenly change the existing order of things in our kitchens. The work of the association is not in any sense revolutionary. We do not establish, or try to establish any set rules as to how this work should be done; but, what we do hope to bring about is a more intelligent understanding of the existing condition. First, we must fully understand the case before we can suggest any changes, or make any efforts to remove the cause of dissatisfaction. Each woman in her home, not comparing her method with that of another, has little or no chance of getting out of the dull routine. That there is this routine we think no one will ques- tion.
Spasmodically, in our newspapers and in our magazines comes up this outcry of what can be done to obtain a better class of domestic service in our homes. This wave of inquiry goes over the country periodically; but dies down with little or no sat- isfactory answer.
The justice of the remarks, the correctness of the criticisms made upon the queer way women conduct their household affairs is justly merited. Occasionally, remedies are suggested; but, very little advance is made, and the interest dies down at the end of the year to be taken up by another set of writers before the next ten months have run their course.
It is the hope of this association that the next ten years will bring about quietly and steadily a better state of affairs. For this reason we have adopted the constitu- tion and by-laws. We have carefully considered every line in this long constitution and by-laws, and we feel convinced that no one can question the importance of the objects for which we are organized.
This is said to be an era of women's clubs. But we find it would be easier to organize art clubs, Browning clubs, classes in the study of medieval art, or even the study of Sanscrit, than to start housekeeper's clubs in our various towns and villages.
The explanation for this state of affairs is, women are willing to let housekeeping drift along in the old way, not recognizing that housekeeping is one of the fine arts, and can only be acquired by study and patient work.
In summing up the year's work last October, one thing which we had pledged ourselves to take hold of, was to establish a school for household science. We had made a study of the plans outlined in the Pratt Institute, of Brooklyn, N. Y. We found this the best of any we had heard of, but with our limited means could do nothing to establish such a school; yet nothing short of that would be satisfactory to us.
In the meanwhile, Armour Institute was started on Thirty-third street, with Dr. Gunsaulus as president, and we soon learned that Armour Institute was to be modeled after Pratt Institute.
Dr. Gunsaulus has recognized the importance of a school of household science, and added that to their curriculum, and in their institute will be given the opportu- nity for our young girls to become fully instructed in scientific housekeeping. The Columbian Association of Housekeepers is recognized on their advisory council.
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THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
We know what has been taught in the domestic department of Pratt Institute, and will be in Chicago in the Armour Institute.
Those of us who remember all the opposition when training schools for nurses were started take heart, and ask why not do for domestic service what has been done for the sick?
We must stand by our own convictions, and ask women to come forward and furnish the money for the dormitories, where the girls can live while receiving instruction.
When we recognize the fact that the girls in domestic service need the same thoughtful consideration as the girls in shops and offices, then shall be found college settlements springing up to help the servant girls, by establishing clubs and study classes.
It will not break up cur homes to have our cooks and our maids come at regular hours to do their work and depart. But it will occasion a more systematic arrange- ment of all housework, and will ultimately end in establishing a system of co-operation differing from those plans of co-operation which have been tried and found wanting; because, in this new era of co-operation, skilled labor will be demanded in each depart- ment, and the work will be done by those who really like the work. Each department will be filled by the workers choosing the work.
Women, as a rule, do not object to housework, but to its many complications; and to be mistress of one occupation demands a long training, while in every home the woman at the head must know how to do fifty things equally well. In point of fact, she does not, and becomes discouraged. She cannot do the things she likes to do, and has to waste her time and strength in doing those things for which she has no aptitude.
It is my conviction that two-thirds of the trouble in having housework done is because the majority will not make a study of the dainty ways of doing the work. There is always a great enthusiasm to receive lessons in cooking; but few or any are willing to learn to wash the dishes and cooking utensils in the most skillful and artistic way.
Artistic way of washing dishes I know will cause a smile; but still, it can be done, and if the methods are carried out it is not drudgery, but a delightful occupation. The simple rules embodied in the kitchen garden manuals, if put in practice in our kitchens, would establish a new order of things, and housework would be done with the least possible friction.
When business methods shall have been established in the kitchen as in the shop, none will be selected for any line of labor save those educated in that line.
A bookkeeper in accepting a situation in a store takes no thought of the duties of a porter, and as little should a person employed as cook those of a chambermaid.
LOOKING BACKWARDS.
By MISS KIRSTINE FREDERICSEN.
Woman's demand for her rights is generally considered as a revolutionary move- ment. I, for my part, do not object to revolutionary movements; I believe that the world cannot do without them. But truth must have her say; and, to my mind, the Woman's Rights' move- ment may as correctly be called conservative, for, in a certain sense, it means going back to a more simple arrangement of the relation between the sexes, which have been artificially separated by a differentiation, carried too far. This is the lesson I read on the pages of history, and which I would like to impress on the mind of my kind audience.
The subject of which I will treat to this end, is the influence on the position of woman of the general evolution of mankind, especially of the development of industry. I remember, when quite a child, I saw a picture in some cheap almanac, which struck my eye and set me thinking on the strange fate of woman. Two pictures of family life were there: First, an Indian chief adorned with beads and feathers, march- ing proudly onward, followed by his wife, who carried heavy burdens-the children, the tent that sheltered the family, and a great many other articles belonging to the household. The other picture was MISS KIRSTINE ELSEBETH FREDERICSEN. meant to show modern family life. Here it was the wife who marched in front, and who wore the beads and the feathers, while the hus- band worked hard, wheeling the babies and carrying the dinner-basket for the family picnic.
To my childish mind the last situation was as little becoming to woman as the first, and since then I have often had occasion to reflect on the two phases of woman's life depicted on that rough sketch; for, although caricatures, these pictures showed one side of the change which historic evolution has brought to woman.
In the barbaric age, man did not think it fit for him to do anything but hunting and fighting, and woman had to do outside as well as inside work, to dig the ground, to build the houses, to look after the cattle; in fact, all those things are done still by women, not only among Indians and Greenlanders, but, to a certain extent, also by women belonging to civilized peoples, as, for instance, by some of the inhabitants of the smaller islands in my fatherland, Denmark, where the men are occupied, not, to be sure, by hunting and by war, but by ploughing the sea and fighting the storm.
Now these women are by no means subjugated. On the contrary, they are very independent, really much more so than their sisters in the city. As far as I under- stand the story told by a lady- I believe, Miss Alice Fletcher, in Washington, at the
Miss Kirstine Elsebeth Fredericsen is a native of Denmark, Europe. She was born February 6, 1845. Her parents were Johan Ditlev Fredericsen and Maria Hansen Fredericsen. She was educated at home under the care of a tutor till her sixteenth year, when she began studies in Copenhagan. She has traveled in England and America. Her principal literary works are editorial work, " Woman's Society," " Object Lessons," " Book for Teachers," " Mental Life of Childhood," and an " Essay on Education," for which she was awarded a gold medal by the University of Copenhagen. Her postoffice address is Kastanievy 4, Copenhagan, Denmark.
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first International Woman's Congress-this was exactly the impression she brought back from an inquiry into the life of the Indian women of this country.
If you take work out of the hands of woman, it may be a relief to her, but, at the same time, it means taking influence away from her. The Pilgrim Fathers of New England, who would not let the women cut their hair short, because they would keep them modest and womanly; who chased Anna Hutchinson out into the wilderness because she spoke out frankly opinions of her own; who forbade unmarried women to live in a house of their own-those harsh Puritans were obliged to pass exceptional laws of freedom for the women who did the spinning and the weaving, because they could not do without their help. It is told in the Saga of one old Danish king, Frode, that he once got into great trouble; he had offended his daughter so that she left him with all her damsels, and neither he nor his men could have their clothes mended till he had softened her heart. What makes woman independent and influential is real usefulness.
But mankind does not stand still; evolution made the men lay down the sword and take up the spade and the hatchet, and later even more refined instruments of work. Woman by this change was thrown back upon her household. She had the first opportunity to make a home for herself and her family. She did it; but, while she had her hands full of work in the house, she still kept an eye on what was going on outside. Only little by little was she outdone by the men. In the middle age the women of Germany fought bravely for their right to artisanship, but had to give it up. Laws were passed forbidding more than a limited number of women to work together with one man; laws against a widow taking up her husband's work on the same conditions as he had it; finally it was denied a woman to take out a license as artisan of any kind.
In Denmark and Sweden the noble born ladies not only very often managed their estates, but to a large extent busied themselves with the establishment of new indus- tries-cloth manufacturing and even shipbuilding, much of which was considered patriotic work. No law was passed against this kind of woman's work, but custom, strong as the law, little by little, compelled the ladies to take care of their own clothes instead of other people's, and to manage their kitchens instead of their farms, forests and lakes.
The next historic transition was made when machinery took the place of hand work. To nobody has the wonderful inventions of modern times brought greater change than to woman. She never need be the household drudge, the slave of the spinning wheel-the spinning Jenny has relieved her of that-and even as the spin- ning, the weaving, the baking, the sewing, and so much more has been monopolized by machinery, so, very likely, will the washing and the cooking. Of course this has had some good effect on the life of woman, especially on her education Formerly only the hand and not the brain of the girl was trained. In Poland down to this day the girls in the public schools are taught nothing but sewing and knitting. Only thirty years ago some highly honored members of the Danish parliament most ear- nestly maintained that a woman was not able to teach, even to girls, the art of writing, nor the principles of true religion. Going back to the beginning of the eighteenth cen- tury, it was forbidden by law for Danish women to teach boys more than four years old. All this is changed now. Everybody acknowledges the necessity for unmarried women to go outside the home to carn their living, and consequently the necessity of their training for their work. This is largely the effect of industrial development. But still I hold that modern evolution in some degree will tend to degrade woman if she does not look out sharp. A striking example from the very last times illustrates this: Not more than twenty years ago the head industry of Denmark-butter making- was under the direct supervision of woman; she had the honor, if not always the profit of it. It is not so since machinery has come in, since it is no more the farmer who makes the butter, but the butter factory that buys the milk and makes it profitable. To be sure, woman works in the factory, but she only does the lower work, the super- vision has gone out of her hands; if she wants it she will have to fight for it.
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