Woman's Work & Ways

Maoriland Worker, Volume I, Issue 7, 20 March 1911, Page 7

Woman's Work & Ways

(Collated by Maggie May.) Why is it so many editors seem to think all that is needed for a woman's page in a Labour paper is a number of ill-assorted cooking recipes (many of which but emphasise the Scots adage, "Bocht wits aye best"), or windy inanities about the fashions ? I do not mean to insinuate that I do not like reading about dress, hats, etc. I do. I could smack the woman who didn't —did she exist, which I don't believe she does, as Mother Mumps says. ■* -X- -xWhat I mean is that we can get almost all we want to know abom, dress and other fashions from our monthly magazine or the daily paper, while as for household hints and domestic duties, 1 think it well once in a way to shut the kitchen, etc., completely out of our minds. They are worrying enough in all conscience, without having them always under our nose. I notice from a statistical return xJiat "domestic workers'"' occupy the worst place on the list of insane, and I, for one, don't wonder at it. ■* -* *• Howsomever, the foregoing mustn't be taken as an indication that henceforth all reference to dress, hats, dainty dishes, etc., will be tabooed absolutely on this page. Occasionally, and always when I think I have something really good and likely to lessen the work or worry of the House Mother, I certainly shall give it room, and so I solicit all the help my readers can give mc to this end. * ■* * Even a King's Counsel may have a very low idea of the value of women. "He is charged with stealing a bag from a lady worth a sovereign," was the explanation made by one of that ilk at the London Sessions recently. ■* * •* A consignment of infants , "food" purporting to be cream recently arrived in Western Australia. Examined by the Customs officers, it was found to consist of milk thickened with lime. The whole consignment was thereupon seized and destroyed. Can any reader imagine women manufacturers, for the sake of "profits," stooping to supply impure food to babies? Nero fiddled while Rome was burning; manufacturers dance happily through life with profits won by murdering babes. But "the whole consignment was seized and destroyed." So far good, but it would have made better reading had the word "consignment" been "consignors," would it not ? * * * Backblock mothers who have children too young to ride long distances to school and who have undertaken to help the little ones through the first and second primers should try the method adopted by a Servian teacher It is said to be the most successful method of instruction yet discovered. Each pupil is provided with chocolate letters, and as soon as a child can put his "spelling" together correctly he is allowed to eat the letters. Besides, thus is the injunction to "Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest" literally adhered to. ■* •* * A Galician bride, who measures two feet two inches in her stocking soles, recently visited London arranging for

her wedding trousseau. That (says the Home paper from which I cull the par) needn't be a large order. It all depends on your point of view. If the lady who measures twenty-six inches in her stocking soles, has had the rest of her anatomy, out of her stocking soles, made in proportion, that precious trousseau would be a large enough order, I fancy. How Shall Women Electors Organise? A tremendous force lies in the -woman's vote, which if united would be almost irresistible (writes Geradine Rede). Does this great body of voters realise the responsibility such power brings to them ? Do they quit themselves like women in that struggle for right government that never ceases in the history of a nation ? Have they fortified themselves by vigorous organising of their forces and drilling of the young in their ranks —young, not i n years, but thought, who need, training and encouragement from those old in. woman's service ? These are the questions that come to the mind of any thinker who recognises what a power lies in the hands of the women for the nation's weal or woe. And, as it is only through organisation that this voting power can be wielded effectively, let us see what are the methods that will serve best in the future and what mistakes of the past are to be avoided. One of the greatest dangers that threatened women's organisations in the past was the conscious and unconscious use made of them by men for their own party ends. In speaking of this as, a danger it is not meant to throw opprobrium on men's methods. No one can blame the soldier who, seeing a useful weapon lying at his hand, uses it, knowing that; it will enable him to make a better fight. But the women absolutely destroy the very meaning of their political existence if, for one instant, they allow themselves to be used as political tools. Only as the two halves of humanity find equal and individual expression can the proper government of society be consummated. In no other way can women impress upon the laws of the country the woman's idea, untainted by any other force or influence. Let their innate practicability be .brought to bear on this great organising movement in a thorough and systematic educating or every class in the political questions of the hour and how to handle them from the woman's standpoint. There should be recognised leaders, trained in public speaking, each working a special district and animated by the one spirit which, knowing no party, simply strives for the highest good of the State. So by patiently .and persistently expressing the true woman's view, which, counterbalanced by the man's, will result in better laws, better administration, and a nearer approximation to perfect justice. Thus the women will at last prove that only through the equal and individual expressions of the two halves of humanity will the perfect State be realised. * * * N.B.—The assistance of my sistercomrades in the Labour movement is requested to help make this page, to our sex at least, the most interestingin the "Maoeiland Worker." It's wonderful what women can do—when they try. Who'll be the first to try. All communications to be addressed Maggie May, c7o "Maobxland Worker," Wellington.