The Nervous Housewife

oduc

roblem of the Ne

ouse all in tears over her staglocythic house-cleaning, or the conduct of the youngest cave child? Did she complain of her back, did she

rty predisposes, and the poor Housewife is far more frequently the victim of this disease of occupation. Every practicing physician, every hospital clinic, finds her a problem, evoking pity, concern, exasperation, and despair. She goes from specialist to specialist,-orthopedic surgeon, gynecologist, X-ray man, neur

ations is the change of the gay, laughing young girl, radiant with love and all aglow at the thought of union with her man, into the housewife of a decade,-comp

cries she. "Women are

than his wife. "She bore three times as many children; she did all her own housework; she baked more, cooked more, sewed more; she got up at five o'clock in the morning and went

-day,-well, it reminds me of a joke I heard. One man meets another and says: 'By the way, I heard that your wi

f people their youth was an era of stronger, braver men, more wholesome, beautiful women. People were better, times were more natural, and there i

t of the breakfast table observes: "Talk about military duty! What is that to the warfare of a married maid of all work, with the title of mistress and an American female const

ous Housewife. In America at least she has always existed, perhaps in lesser numbers than at present. And one remembers in a dim sort of way that the married woman

are apt to think of the home as originating in a sort of cave, where the little unit-the Man, the Woman, and the Children-dwelt in isolation, ever

t, the herd feeling, was the basis of the home. Here the men and women dwelt in a promiscuity that through the ages went through an evolution which finally became the father-controlled monogamy of to-day. Here the women lived; her

d woman mated, where their children were born and reared, where food was prepared and cooked, and where shelter from the elements was obtained; it was also the first great workshop, where all the manif

e scope of the housewife prevailed. Read what the

eth wool

willingly wi

e the merc

th her foo

th a field, a

her hands she pl

her loins wi

h strong

that her merc

oeth not o

her hands t

nds hold t

*

d of the snow fo

sehold are clot

for herself

en garments an

girdles unto

er husband when he "praiseth her." All we learn of him is that he "is known in the gates wh

le, merchants of a wider scope, artisans, handicraftsmen, guild members of a more developed technique. Woman started these things in the home or near it; man, through his restless energy, spe

ctory dye, weave, spin, tan, etc.; it also invaded the innermost sphere of woman's work. For her loaf of bread it turned out thousands, until finally she is beginning to give up baking; for her hit-or-miss jellies, preserves, jams, it invented scientific canning with absolute methods, handy forms, tempting flavors. And canning did not stop there; meats, soup

ng, spinning, weaving, is no longer a handicraftsman, and in addition is tu

r of women, yearly increasing in number and proportion, into industry. Thus it has made this condition of affairs: that it takes the young girl from

ant psychologically, for it profoundly influences

oor. When men passed through the stage where woman's life might be taken at a whim, she remained a creature without rights of the wider kind. Men debated whether she had a soul, made cynical proverbs about her, called her the "weaker vessel," and debarred her from political and economic equality, classing her up to this very moment in rights with the idiot, the imbecile, and

battle cries, and finally chiseled with enduring letters into the foundations of States. "But if all this was good for men, why not for women-why should they be fettered by illiteracy, pettiness, dependence; why should they be voiceless in the state and world?" So asked the feminists. The fact

rly life, if one goal is held out as the only legitimate aim and end, in a word, if their training and purposes are made alike, they become alike and individuality never develops. With individuality comes rebellion at old-established conditions, dissatisfaction, discontent,

y demand more definite individual treatment and rebel more at what they consider an infringement of their rights as human beings. Also, and unfortunately, they still wis

which still carries with it the chattel idea-that woman is property-and a generation of women that does not accept this. Third, it arises from the ill-balanced demands of women to be treated as equals and also as irresponsible, petty, and indulged tyrants. Men are

n mood and feeling that are born of the conflict that is in part pictured by divorce. Divorc

oon to be a thing of the past in America and in all the civilized world. The-woman-that-knows-how shrinks from the long nine months of pregnancy, the agony of the birth, and the weary restricted months of nursing. Had the woman of a past time known

decadent nations restrict families, and all or nearly all the press thunder against it. It is even against the law for a physician or other person to instruct in the methods of birth restriction, and yet-the birth rate steadily dro

he families of ministers, rabbis, editors, and lawmakers, all of whom stand publicly for natural

sion amongst obstetricians that this is a fact and also that fewer women are able to nurse their babies. If so, these phenomena are of the highest importan

f the housewife. First, she has yielded a large part of her work to the factory, practically

ssions. This has changed her attitude toward her original occupation of housewife and is a psychological fact of great importance. She has become more industrial and individualized, and as a result has declined to live in unsatisfactory relations with man, so that divorce has becom