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 76
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some man is as likely to do as not. But what women fail to do in their own peculiar sphere, no man can possibly do. Did you ever think, Kate, that woman may be able to do anything that man does in his sphere, if she be trained, but it is inconceivable that man could do a woman's work, essentially that which is most womanly? Before you answer this, let us look at your second point, where you generously and most prac- tically inquire about the maidens by choice and the maidens by necessity. What are they to do, and how are they to live in this world? Just here is where one of the rights of man should be emphasized. There is one hard fact which women are apt to shirk, but which they must after all-that is, that in the pitiless economies of nations, the question is not the worker, but the value of the work. When Rosa Bonheur or Jean Ingelow bring their wares to market, the question of sex does not intrude itself in the matter of payment. If a woman has taken a desk in a counting-room, let her do her duty like a man, expecting no favors because she is a woman. She has no right to stay at home when it rains, and no right to leave before her hour because she can not cross certain places after dark, no right not to expect to be 'blown up' (using the expression which suits us men best) when she makes wrong entries. It is one reason for less wages that woman will not submit to conditions that men have to submit to, because their uncertain future makes them careless and less interested in their work. Once let woman face fate, and not flirt with it, and this question of 'less wages' will emerge from its present muddle. In the matter of wages, as between husband and wife, the husband's wages are not simply payment from the capitalist for his work, but for his wife's also. The money he earns the wife applies to the house- hold and their common wants. The wife in the truest sense is her husband's most important business partner, his partner in a more complete and comprehensive sense than any other he can have. The household is her department of the business of life, as her husband's is the store, the manufactory or the office. If she fail to act con- stantly upon this principle she is an unfaithful and untrustworthy partner, and is as much to blame as if her husband were to neglect his stock, his shipping, his contract, his client. Why should the liusband be expected to manage his part of the business upon sound and correct business principles while his wife-partner is letting hers go at loose ends, with a shiftlessness which, if he should imitate, would ruin them in a year? Now what is the principle upon which every good business man manages his affairs? Why, simply that of sovereignty. He keeps, if he is a sensible man, his stock under lock and key, and exacts a rigid accountability in its use."
" But," says Kate, " we housekeepers would not dare lock up our butter, eggs or sugar. We could not keep a girl a day if we doled out our stores and held our serv- ants accountable for their use."
"Suppose a manufacturer of jewelry should reason as you do, Kate. He says, 'I can not keep my help satisfied unless I give them free access to my stock of gold and diamonds. I must throw open my tool drawers, and I must not ask how much mate- rial this or that manufactured article has taken to make.' You know that man would have to shut up shop in less than a year. Now I still ask, Kate, is it fair, is it right that while the husband superintends his business himself the wife partner surrenders her responsibility into the hands of ignorant and irresponsible subordinates? Thus conducting the household on purely business principles does not necessarily entail upon you the least participation in the labor of the family. It does not absolutely require your personal presence at the scene of those labors, although the woman who considers it beneath her dignity to go into her kitchen has no more business to under- take to keep house than the master mechanic who is too proud to enter his workshop has to try to carry on a shop. The absolutely essential thing is that yours should be the controlling and directing mind, and that to you everyone in your employ should be held rigorously responsible."
"I wish," says Kate, "that you would specialize a little. You men in laying down your instructions to us women do it in the most stupendously general way, which we are sometimes tempted to think betrays a condition of mind which lacks experi- mental knowledge."
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" Well, I readily own up to little experimental knowledge in housekeeping, but I am only suggesting that housekeeping should be conducted on the same principle on which we men conduct business. And first, to specialize, you should tell your serv- ants that employing them at stipulated wages to do certain work their time belongs to you. Tell them distinctly that if you prefer to keep your stores under lock and key it is not because you suspect their integrity, but that you consider it your business as a housekeeper to know what is the cost of living. And secondly, although the plan of keeping a book of family accounts only belongs incidentally to the main subject under discussion, it is so important that I can not refrain from a special mention of it. It is the simplest thing in the world, not taking on an average more than ten minutes a day. For reference in case of a disputed bill it is invaluable, while its influence in keeping down expenses is wonderfully wholesome. It would be just as safe for the merchant to neglect his cash book as for his domestic partner, who undertakes to do her business properly, to neglect her cash book. I believe, Kate, that no higher com- pliment can a husband pay to his wife than to say, 'She is an excellent manager of my home, finely as she has been educated; she knows everything, and how to direct what should be done, from the private family dinner to a sumptuous entertainment."
"You may add, if you please, Petruchio, that woman has done nearly everything that has been done in the peaceful arts from the dawn of history up to the present era, as you will have to acknowledge, if you have examined at all intelligently the Woman's Building at this wonderful fair of this wonderful nation. In all the carlier ages woman established the home, built the house, reared the family, provided food, tilled the ground, garnered the crops, provided materials for raiment, spun thread and wove cloth, designed and manufactured clothing, cared for the sick and educated the chil- dren. Modern civilization, developing commerce and manufactures and improving agriculture, has diverted the attention of men from fighting and hunting, and given into their hands the task of providing food and raiment and luxuries for the family. Indeed, the history of civilization may be regarded as a history of the transfer of these tasks from the hands of women in the household to the hands of men in the factory, the mill and the shop. And may not the single monotonous occupation to which women are now confined account for that which seems to militate against domestic peace ? "
"Why, Kate, the science of domestic economy is one of the noblest arts, the hand- maid of domestic and, therefore, national health, riches and welfare, and worthy the highest powers of the most gifted of our women. You re-read the story of Ruth Pinch as given in ' Martin Chuzzlewit.' It is enough to make one in love with cook- ing and keeping house. The pretty girl does everything with such grace and alert- ness, her whole soul is so bent on infusing comfort into everything, she is so unself- ish, so wise, so unconscious of her wisdom, so good, and knows so little about her goodness, that she is one of the sweetest of Dickens' many lovely, thoroughly human, women. It is a pitiful truth that we may become homeless without being actually houseless, for it does look as though the family or homekeeping was fast becoming a matter of temporary arrangement. Home, once a woman's temple, is now her prison. The sweet, quiet virtues which were once her greatest charm are now the badge of her slavery. Strong to do, she is weak to bear, and while she can nerve herself to perform the most revolting offices of a hospital nurse, and take an active part in the most ghastly operations, she can not live under the comparative monotony of her home life. Duty is not in her vocabulary now. She writes work over where it stood. And, Kate, I fear work means simply excitement and publicity. Is there not danger that not a grace, not a gift will be kept in the maturing shade, that not a violet hides behind its leaves? All the treasure which once used to be kept in sacred shrines are now laid in the shop window for everyone to stare at, and all buy who will. A pretty piping voice, that can sing passably well a drawing-room ballad, hires herself for public display. You hear girls say they are hoping to become another Camilla Urso because they can strike a truc note on the violin. Many a girl who can draw
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well enough for a parlor album plunges into an exhibit, and dreams of fame through her art, and one with the faintest faculty for situation dashes off a novel which is to bring her name very near to that of George Eliot. While I sincerely, deeply sympa- thize with every reform which tends to afford a fair field for exertion for those women who are forced to select for themselves a trade or profession, I deprecate everything that allures those who possess the inestimable privilege of a home to desert their fittest sphere of action. You will smile, Kate, when I say that the manhood of man must suffer some loss when woman has appropriated a portion of it; for its nobler attributes are created and evoked by the duty and privilege of ministering to her wants, and fortifying and protecting her. I believe woman is a complement, not a substitute, for man. Is it, my Kate, so beneath the glory of a woman to be one whose society is sought with avidity by the opposite sex, whose most ardent champions are men, at whose bidding men are prompt to respond, and in whose companionship men seem to find peculiar happiness? A woman whose husband will think her adorable, it matters little whether her eyes be large or light, small or dark, her features classic or irregular, whether her tongue be eloquent or she be given to silence, she hides within her being that subtle something which emphasizes the fact that men have some rights which women are bound to respect. I can not express it better than to say that, while she is restful, at the same time she coaxes out ambitions which we never dreamed were ours. She seems to have the grace of leisure. She is never too busy. She would inject a little bit of duncehood into our American life-into this restless desire for study. If she be fortunate enough to possess children, she assimilates the spirit of the age and interprets it to them, and in them evolution seems to take strides swift and sure and forward. Should we give small credit to her who has kept holy and watered with the rain of deep feeling this acrid, dusty highway of civilization, and instructed her nature so that it will bring forth beautiful June blossoms ?
" . Happy he!
With such a mother; faith in womankind Beats with his blood, and truth in all things high Comes easy to him, and though he trip and fall, He shall not blind his soul with clay!'
"You spoke, Kate, of securing woman's alleviating presence in the rude scenes of republicanism. I suppose you have reference to her participation in politics. His- tory tells us that when the contrast between the sexes has been least marked, the tenderer one does not seem to have gained purity or the physically stronger elevation. The Spartan maids who exercised in public unrobed, did not always, as Plato fondly hoped, wear virtue for a garment. The mothers of the Partheniæs doubtlessly acted from patriotism, but less strong-minded women would have considered their honor paramount. The idea of marriage, of the natural choice of each other by one man and one woman, to unite and form one separate family, seems to be as naturally implanted in the human race as does the idea of language or religion, and if the family is one as the United States government is one, then it would be as absurd to send two representatives to the polls as it would be to send two representatives or ministers to Great Britain to act on their individual responsibilities. So long as a woman elects her own husband, and she can sometimes take her choice out of several candidates, it is her own fault if she is not properly represented."
" And have American women, whether married or single, any vital share or inter- est in this grand free government of ours? " asked Kate.
" With all the emphasis of a profound conviction I answer, yes. Such a touching and intimate interest as no women ever had before in any government under the sun, because the principles embodied in it and represented by it have made her what she is, and they alone can make her what she hopes to be. If it be true that the position of woman in society is a sure test of its civilization, then is our America in the van of progress. Nowhere else in the world is the ideal of womanhood so chivalrously
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worshiped and protected. Nowhere else is she so respected, obeyed and beloved. In three exterior forms of action women excel-talk, manner and dress. It is in talk- yes, in all three that American women take the lead. Great as is your proficiency in the handling of manner and dress, it is by talk alone that you exercise a conquering force. I know that dress and manner are regarded as indispensable auxiliaries, but none except the foolish place them in the front rank of combat, while every woman who merits being counted as a social artist, takes care in using them as but subordinates to her speech. In society our American women are extremely self-poised, reasonable and capable of defending their own opinions and of abetting their desires, and as you talk more and laugh more you lead and dictate more to your brother man. It is to you women that men must go for exhilaration, elevation, brightening and appetizing, and above all, strengthening to do our duty, and contentment while we are doing it. Kate, I do wish that men's rights could be regarded just a little-talked about, sung about, prayed about, and preached about."
"Men's rights! What do you mean, Petruchio? Men have always had all the rights there were to have, and what more can you cry for? "
" My dear Kate, this is the age of woman worship. Women are angels and men are mostly demons. Our modern literature makes all virtues feminine and all vices masculinc. A well-formed, fair-faced, sweet-tempered, gentle-spoken woman, if young and accomplished, is an angel, though her heart may be cold, selfish, incapable of a gen- crous emotion; an angel, though utterly regardless of the misery she ruthlessly inflicts upon others. What with women's journals and women's clubs and women's colleges and women's departments, and women's this and that, we are beginning to fear entire exclusion from the human family. Some one has said that we are in danger of for- getting that 'a woman is a human being first and a woman afterward.' But we have one hope and one consolation, and that is in the motto on the letter-paper of the Woman's Branch of the World's Congress Auxiliary of the Columbian Exposition, viz .: ‘Not things, but men.' We are still recognized as a man and brother. For this I for one am devoutly thankful. I confess to you, Kate, that I have just joined the P. A. S. O. M. T. N. R., which in this age of cabalistic nomenclature, means the " Protective Asso- ciation for Securing to Oppressed Men Their Neglected Rights.' I have never liked the 'Taming of the Shrew' in Shakespeare version, and would like to get out an edi- tion of my own. There is something so out of keeping with all reality in it. Whoever knew a man in the better circles of society have his way by any domincering method as against the contrary by his wife? I believe there are cases, such as that of the one- time invincible John L. Sullivan, where man's superior muscular action is put into play to secure him what he is pleased to term his rights. But you know, Kate, that it is not considered good form for a man in the best society to beat his wife. This puts him at a certain disadvantage. If he is not permitted to show his superiority in the sense physical, where then can he show it? There is something so far-fetched in the whole conception of a man's having his way that it seems to me that the play lacks human interest. Perhaps there will be a land some time-
"' Where wives will all obedient be, And men will have their way.'
" Meanwhile, Kate, there is another thing that you enjoy, and which seems to be denied to us men, for the most part, at least. I reter to the literary circles all over our land. Of the members of the Chautauqua and kindred circles, what an infinitesi- mal fraction are men. I know that we have, as a rule, less ability and taste for this sort of thing, but the reason is that we have been repressed for generations. Give us a chance. When you women gather to hear a play of Shakespeare, or to throw addi- tional obscurity on Browning, or sce what extravagant panegyric can do for Walt Whitman, men look on with envious eyes. When there are 9 o'clock breakfasts and formal luncheons and coffees and 5 o'clock teas, we men must rest content to stay without the portals. The one persistent and unquestioned right which we seem to
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have left, is to supply the ducats for the same. You know, Kate, that if you attend the fine literary association, of which you are a bright and particular star, I must mean- while in my office earn enough to buy the paper and ink with which you write those essays which delight all readers. If you will bear with me, Katharina, I would like to tell you of two or three prominent faults of your sex which injure and restrict our rights as men. The most mischievous and glaring, and the most ruinous, is extrava- gance. I knew you would look aghast at this, and ask me for an account of the money I spend for tobacco, etc., but you should be charitable toward some of our habits, seeing that we do not interfere with yours."
" Bless me, Petruchio, what habits have we, I should like to know?"
"A multitude, Kate. I don't know the half. Crochet work, embroidery, painting -- tea is milder than tobacco, but your systems are more sensitive. Then there are pow- ders, perfumes, eau-de-cologne, lavender, verbena, heliotrope, and what not, against all of which I have nothing to say, because their odors are nearly equal to that of a fine Havana cigar. I would be glad if this feminine love for color and fragrance was more common among men. But there are curious differences of taste. The peculiar fascination in smoking is not in the taste of the weed, but in the sight of the smoke. It is called the ear of corn which we hold out to induce into harmony the skittish thoughts which are running loose. I understand that knitting is the great feminine narcotic. You will agree with me, Kate, that this habit is not very impor- tant in comparison with those vices of character. Is not the use of the weed less objectionable than those systematic habits of envy, avarice, hypocrisy, or the vice of extravagance? Wastefulness has almost become a trait of society. American women, especially, are profuse and lavish in money and dress, in equipage, in furniture, in houses, in entertainments. Perhaps the largeness, the immensity of our land's resources and materials, as well as the wonderful national advance we have already made, tends to cultivate in our people a feeling of profusion and the habit of extrava- gant display. When fortunes do not arrive by magic, but must be built up painfully, slowly, at the expense of the nerve and sinew, the brain and the heart of the builder, and when a close attention to money-making is rapidly becoming a national badge and is in danger of eating out entirely what is of infinitely more value than wealth, a high national integrity and conscience, and sinking the immaterial and the intellectual in the material and the sensual. It is, then, by you, the women of America, that the men shall have saved to them their rights. Great financial crisises in which colossal schemes burst like bubbles; commercial bankruptcies, in which honorable names are bandied on the lips of common rumor and white reputations are blackened by public suspicion; minds that started in life with pure and honest principles, determined to win fortune by the straight path of rectitude, gradually growing distorted and ending by enthroning gold in the place made vacant by departed virtues; hearts that were once responsive to the fair and beautiful in life and in the universe, that were wont to thrill through and through at a noble deed or fine thought, now pulseless and hard as the nether millstone; souls that once believed in God, Heaven, and good, now wor- shiping commercial success and its exponent, money, and living and dying with their eager eyes fixed dustward. And yet, if this is to be checked, it must be begun in the home and by its guardian woman.
"Another thing, Kate, which you women do, and which I think defraud us of our rights, is your wild chase after, and copying of, European fashions, habits and styles of living. We are accused of being a nation of copyists, and it is more than half true. And why it should be I can not understand. I am thankful, as I look at this wonder- ful "Dream City," that we are beginning to have an art and a literature our very own. Let us have the fashion, as well, which shall be distinctively American. Not what is sensible or becoming, but what is the fashion, does the American woman buy. Not what she can afford to purchase, but what her neighbors have, is generally the crite- rion. The aping of aristocratic pretentions has been a much ridiculed weakness of Americans. It is certain that American society needs republicanizing in all its grades.
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This is another right which men look to women to preserve-the effort to renew society in the natural simplicity of our republican institutions. America has need of you, Kate. Man has need of you. We suffer for the need, as well as for the power, of loving and being loved. This is even greater in man than in woman, hence the chief reason why she almost always controls him. Man craves for the ideal, suffers for the want of it, but he dies not knowing how to get it. I say, Kate, that not even yet has womankind, in spite of her irrepressible longing to utter the clear, free, elevated speech, that shall yet stir the pulses of the world. I can not better tell you what I believe is needed than to close with the words of that true American woman:
"' If thou wouldst have happiness, choose neither fame, which doth not long abide, nor power, which stings the hand that wields it; nor gold, which glitters, but never glorifies; but choose thou love, and hold it forever in thy heart of hearts; for love is the purest and the mightiest force in the universe, and once it is thine, all other gifts shall be added unto thee. Love that is passionate, yet reverent, gentle, yet strong, selfish in desiring all, yet generous in giving all, love of man for woman, of woman for man, of parent for child, of friend for friend-when this is born in the soul the desert blossoms of the rose; straightway new wishes, hopes, sweet longings and pure ambitions spring into being like green shoots that lift their tender heads in sunny places, and if the soil be kind they grow stronger and more beautiful as each glad day laughs in the rosy sky.'"
NORWAY AND THE MIDNIGHT SUN. By MRS. ADELIA A. F. JOHNSTON.
This lecture began with a description of a storm on the North Sea. It dwelt upon the physical geography of Norway, its mountains, fjords, snow fields, glaciers, water- falls; upon its flora and fauna; upon its government industries and schools; upon the characteristics of its people, their general intelligence, thrift and economy.
The opportunity offered by such a subject was improved by the eloquent speaker, who manifested throughout her address the possession of those gifts which have given her reputation as a lecturer and high standing as an educator. There was the evidence of keen observation and perception of all she had seen, and this supplemented by the skill in delivery of a trained speaker, made the occasion an enjoyable one to those present at the Congress on the occasion of her appearance. The description of Norwegian scenes with Nature appearing in her grandest garbs and moods was something to be remembered by the gratified audience. On this occasion, as on others, it was a source of regret that stenographic reports of all the utterances at the Congress could not be had to secure the preservation of all addresses delivered on all occasions.
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