A Domestic Problem : Work and Culture in the Household eBook

maidens a skein of tangled silk to wind.  The first says, “I can’t;” the second tries, and gives up; the third makes a quick job of it with her scissors; the fourth spends hours in patiently, untangling, and is chosen.  Now, what shows the state of public sentiment is the fact that in none of these legends is it intimated that the young man was fortunate in securing a thrifty or a patient wife.  It was the thrifty or patient young woman who was fortunate in being selected by a young man,—­by any young man; for the character of the youth is never stated.  There is an inference, also, in the second one given, that the “hours” of a young woman can be employed to no better purpose than that of untangling a skein of silk.  All this is throwing light on our problem, for so long as so much is expected of woman physically, and so little in the way of mental acquirements; so long as it is taken for granted that she is a subordinate being, that to contribute to the physical comfort and pleasure of man, and gain his approval, are the highest purposes of her existence,—­it will not be considered essential that she should acquire culture.  These aims are by no means unimportant ones, or unworthy ones; but are they in all cases the highest a woman should possess?

CHAPTER VI.

Reasons for A change.—­The early training op women.—­Common fallacies.—­The education of mothers.

Having glanced at the present state of things, and at some of its causes, let us show reasons why it should be changed.

A sufficient reason is, because it dwarfs the intellect, ruins the health, and shortens the lives, of so many women.  Another reason is, that whereas the husband may keep himself informed on matters of general interest in literature, art, science, and progress, while the wife must give her mind to domestic activities, there is danger of the two growing apart, which growing apart is destructive of that perfect sympathy so essential to the happiness of married life.  A certain librarian remarked.  “If a man wants a book for himself, I pick out a solid work; if for his wife, a somewhat light and trifling one.”  Third, because human beings have so much in common, are so closely connected, that the good of all requires the good of each, and each of all.  And here is where the shortsightedness of the aristocracy of wealth and the aristocracy of sex are strikingly apparent.  They fail to see that the very inferiority of what are called the inferior classes re-acts on the superior classes.  We all know how it is in the human body.  An injury to one small bone in the foot may cause distress which shall be felt “all over,” and shall disturb the operations of the lordly brain itself.  So in the body social.  The wealthy and refined, into whose luxurious dwellings enters no unsightly, no uncleanly object, may say to themselves, “Never mind those poor wretches down at the other end, huddled together in their filthy tenements.  They are ignorant, they don’t know how to get along; but their condition doesn’t concern us, so long as our houses are light, clean, and airy.”