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Show Who Is the Head of Your House? I "WAGE EARNER SHOULD BE I RECOGNIZED AS RULER" ivrw. James O'Dea 'vi'm tirod of hearing about tlto tired business man' says Mrs. O'Doa, "But vrhat about the tired business woman?" ;By ADA PATTERSON. Who in the head of your houso? Is it a man or a woman? If you arc a wa.ee earner, sliouldu't you be recognized as tho head of the house v' Aud if you are the head of the house, shouldn't you efljoy all tho consideration considera-tion and the Imniuuifie's to which the responsibility entitles you 7 Mrs. dames O'Dea, who is knowu as the wittiest woman on Long Tslaud and ono of the prettiest, wasnt in, the least funny as they begau to pour forth' those iiucstioiia and herself answered an-swered Ihein in a personally conducted interview. She had been crushed in body iu a commuters' dash for their suburban homes, and she burned with indignation at what-she had seen. ,Hcr spirit rose triumphant over aching muscles and upset nerves, aud this is what she said; "I'm tired' of hearing about the (irod business man. Ho seems to have become onp of tho most important factors fac-tors of tho day. Everybody trios to please and sootho him. All the world .loins iu the desiro to make hihi happy. Ilia has space in the newspapers, front scats at . tho .thcajcr aud consideration considera-tion everywhere. But what about tho tired business .woman? Counted by Thousands. ''Gooduess knows, I sec her 'oftcu onough. T saw at Jcast iifty of her crowdiug through the gates to tho traiu tonight. She was. pale aud looked ready to faint from , the exhaustion of tho day. Every night about 6 o'clock the streets, thenars and tho subway are full of her, singly, doubly, in trios and quintettes, anywhere from the age of fourteen to lifty, and that's an clastic clas-tic guess. She conies ..flocking out of the doorways of every department store, every factory, every opicc, She's in thousands, and maybe leu thousands; thou-sands; so what about bcr'J "Sho may 'have been pouuding tho keys of a typewriter1 all day uutil she can feci an incipient t'elon ou everv aching linger tip. Sho may have bcou standing behind a counter until her feet feel like quite separate members of a nervous being. If you dou't believe be-lieve this go to some inatincc when Caruso is siuging, with a corn. I don't I uiean when ho sings with a corn. Just carry your own and htand ou it for aii hour or two and let some musical en-thusiast'praucc en-thusiast'praucc ou it, and hit it against the post onco or twice yourself, and you'll find yourself spelling Caruso with a small ''c.'' no matter how much you adore tenon.-, aud spelling corn with an illuminated initial a foot high. "She may be engaged iu any ono of a hundred professions or vocations or employment or .iitst plain job, whatever what-ever you choose to 'call 'em she docsn 't care. She is just a tirod business busi-ness womau and she ought to got ju&t as much attention and sympathy and human kindness as arc showered on the tired business man. Must Care for Business Man. "When sho goes home, is it to rest? No matter what sort of a poor pro-vidcr pro-vidcr tho T. B. M. mav bo, he's the person that is considered when it comes evening hours. 7f he isn't, he sooil acquires a Httlo extra work that Jkccps him at the oDice or somewhere, so that he ,iust comes home to" sleep. But when the tired busiurss woman arrives home, if sho has oiie, it's ton to. one. she finds more work waiting for her than she has done iu the regular routine of the day. That isn't tair. But she has to go home. There's uo other place for her. "If sho is a wage earner or the partvol supporter of the familv, ahe should receive the consideration to which the responsibility sho holds entitles en-titles hor. "I uin thinking of one girl I know. Sho found hersolf forced to leave school aud go to work before her education was Uuishcd. She is an n-ith bits of silk and lace aud mado herself so many pretty things in odd momepts that whcir-tho timo came tthe naturallv turned to dressmaking, and her abilities have placed her iu the. workroom of a smart shop. She has two- sisters younger than herself and a lather .who can't get a .job aud who would die of shame aud disappointment disappoint-ment if he did. "So she sews all day nnd givos all the money to tho support of tho family, fam-ily, aud makes the clothes for her two sisters. She refuses to marry a man, whom she loved too well to saddle him with the responsibilities that are breaking break-ing .her young Jifo down, and she gets a httlo less consideration at home than tho family poodle. "T knew a stcuocrraplicr who inns a larirn family and looks after an invalid in-valid father this one really -au 't work and semis two brothers to business busi-ness college. To do this she tvpcMi manuscripts of plays aud novels at night. Sometimes 5I10 -?srks until! morninp and then yoes uncomplainingly uncomplain-ingly to her "real work" as she calls il. I'll warraut you know lots of such cases yourself, so why not agitate the tired business woman a bit, and try to set her a gcjrarc daj?" |
