Show iI J j 1 z f K j l I r Domestic Dom Blunders BI lnders of Women Women- By A MERE RE MAN THINGS THINGS IN GENERAL HERE HERB would seem to be only two ways to write of ot women wom worn en either en-either en elther t to call them angels with the po poets ts or to to- abuse them as the short short legged legged race with or the slum woman and the cow woman with Sarah Sarah Grand I have no desire to Imitate any of these authors i ties My mission Is one of ot sheer pity I married my wife wife- r because I loved her I have worked hard all my life because I loved her an and now I am writing this series of ot paPers papers because I love my daughters who are growing upI up I I l look ok back on my many years of hard work during during- which I have earne earned a good income and I ask myself as asa asa asa a business man should what should what have I got for tor it My banking account account account- shows shoY me that though my Income has year by year Increased I I. I have no more worldly riches than when I started 1 lly Iy check book proves L I have spent less money on mys myself lf than I did as a bachelor Again I ask myself What has become of ot It The answer Is very plain It has not gone in luxuries Dollar by dollar dime by dime It has been expended on on n rent taxes servants schooling and tradesmen's books with books with a a a. capital T and a capital B B This is Is not very satisfactory but I hope I 1 Iam am too good a man businessman not to ask myself Has It been well invested If f I have so so far only been sinking money what am I going to o get out of ot it ItT In other words What are my assets and what are they worth My assets are my wife and daughters If I do not put a fictitious value value- on the good will good will of ot love I have to io admit that my wife is not an improving improving- property that property that Is to say she Is not lI likely ely now to become more valuable tome tome tome to to- me than she has been in n my home life My daughters I must set down as a amere amere mere speculation They may mayor or may not turn out well Every man has two branches of business His profession or employment employment employment- commonly called his office office and and his house My office as I have have- said has improved I am forced to admit my house has not I manage manage- my office My partner manages my house In every young business there are bound to be extravagances But greater perfection in the quality of ot goods and economy should come pome with experience in mana management ement and in time the house should should at least show a profit on paper When When I I ask myself myself my my- self In my hard business man business man way Is the houSe branch of my business better managed 1 I 1 am bound to admit in spite of all the affection I have have- i for tor my partner that it is not Not only is there no more saving but therein there thero is Is' no more comfort Ind indeed ed there is less saving and less comfort The next thing to consider Is Am I any worse off than other business businessmen men In fairness to my partner I am bound to admit that I am not My Mr friends all admit that whereas their offices bring in more more- money every year ear their houses become every year a greater drain A character in Adam Bede if I remember right tells that Incomparable Incomparable- housekeeper Mrs that he be believes most functions of life Ute could b be- be much better managed by men than women I must must say when I come to sit down and think about it the conviction is forced upon me that he was right I do not know any detail of domestic life Ute that I or or any man man of ot my acquaintance acquaint acquaint- ance could not manage better than women do but I am aU open p n to conviction o of the contrary if any woman is brave enough to c come me forward forward and refute refute- me with proof I do not expect or desire that women sh should uld compete with men in the business and work of the world at the same time I would not attempt to deny them the right so long as as they can prove their prove their capacity This Is the very thing they ar are not able to do There should be nothing simpler in the world than to manage a house a a few servants and and and-a nd a a. fe few children on a regular income As regards the cooking and servants men manage restaurants and clubs as regards children men manage schools schoola Yet where Is the house governed by a woman with nothing else In the wide wId world to do which is as comfortably and as profitably managed as these thes institutions are The reasons for all this I have b been en to some trouble to discover and I 1 I propose to take each knotty point separately and not only show why women Tail fall in the simplest details of administration but to prove that any man who COuld could give ive ve his time to the subject would manage a house a few servants la- la d a f a. a t l' l children to to much greater advantage than any woman It If Auld uld be be worth while doing this but for the fact that women may A by my Instructions I confess I am thinking more of my my myown my own own i and rand nd daughters th than of any benevolent intentions of improving women In general It may be said this might with advantage be done in the privacy of my own home A moments moment's thought will prove the Impossibility of any such method A woman always regards her management of a house houseas houseas as perfect At any rate she never permits any father husband brother or orson orson orson son to interfere Even to offer any Q advice is always to be met with the stereotyped answer Oh h you men en you think you can manage anything simply because you youcan youcan youcan can find fault with matters of the difficulties of which you have not the remotest remotest re re- idea The house hous Is womans woman's vocation though we know that old maids maid's children dren and bachelors bachelor's s 's wives v s are perfect and if you were to Interfere 1 J old d. d have all the servants leaving 4 fhI and m ranch much ch more equally profitless and Impractical assertion everTet every everT et id ny nd d many a time No women will not listen to reason e in interference By carefully watching their theli habits however I haT havo noticed d that they will read and believe anything that appears In print I have surreptitiously studied the papers which they read for Advice to o Housek Housekeepers I can easily understand after reading them why wom women D taU fall absolutely in their duties It is a case of the blind leading the blind The papers I refer to are entirely written by women and women who o obviously obviously ob ob- have no houses or husbands or families to look after or they would not be writing newspaper articles The writers of this advice which Is Isso Isso isso so carefully per perused sed seem to regard the the duties of women from i no bO o more serious point of view than how how to to make soup out of potato skins and a chop chat bone how to trim a hat how to mend gloves and how to furnish h a house out of old orange or cigar boxes a few yards of cheap yellow gauze and a bunch of ot dyed pampas grass all of which is mess It strikes me that the really serious criticism and counsel which I am ant prepared to give to women gener generally liy and to my own family in particular would have a good chance of being brought into the family circle by men IQ in n my own my-own own state and of being read and tak taken n to heart by wives and daughters as sadly in need of advice as mine are Hence this series Copyright 1903 by Th The Associated PU Publishers Publishers' Corporation Chicago Ill j |