Judge, 1915-08-21 · page 18 of 28
Judge — August 21, 1915 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the emerging feminist movement of the early 20th century through a rural dialogue between neighbors about a wife, "Drusy," who wants to return to office work as a bookkeeper. **The Setup:** Ben Spruggins opposes his wife working, claiming it violates his "ideals" about women's proper domestic role. He sees her office job as emasculating—he'd rather she remain at home, exhausted from housework and child-rearing. **The Satire's Target:** The humor mocks Ben's contradictory reasoning: he romanticizes women's "ease at home" while ignoring their actual grueling labor (washing, cooking, sewing). The narrator points out the absurdity—men accept wives working themselves to exhaustion at home but pity them for office work. **The Point:** The piece argues for women's right to choose meaningful work, suggesting that "ideals" about gender roles are outdated customs ("the little Imp of Custom") that must adapt as society changes. The illustration shows a woman literally laying the "cornerstone" of civic improvement. This reflects real Progressive-Era debates about women's suffrage and workforce participation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
T H E Curbside Comments By OREOLA W. HASKELL Betsey Burrows—Feminist Female Work WENT over to the Sprugginses to git some settings of ducks’ eggs and walked inter a pretty howd'yedo. Miss Spruggins was settin’ in a cheer, white and’ stern- lookin’ and with flashin’ eyes, whilst Ben Spruggins was walkin’ the flure like a ani- mile lashin’ its tail. “For the land's sakes,’’ says I, ‘‘what- ever’s got holt of you two law-abidin’ church folks?’’ “Female rights!"* roars Spruggins. “Thanks,’’ says I. ‘“‘I ain't deef praise be to Nancy. What's up, Drusy? “I'm a-goin’ back to bookkeepin’,"” says Drusilly, defiant. ‘‘Mr. Pelt down to the gineral store has guv me back my old job at the old wages'’ “Jest think of it—she—my wife’s goin’ out to slave the hull day in sumbody’s offerce and come back faint and fagged every night,"’ says Ben, with horrer. ‘*What does she think I am—a man or a manikin? Don't every husband want to have his wife in the hum at ease, fur away from the world of toil’* ‘Fur away from toil,’’ says Drusy, sar- castic, holdin’ out, two thin and calloused hands. ‘*What does he call sewin’, scrub- bin’, washin'’, chicken raisin’ and butter makin’? Faint and fagged?- Ain't that jest what I be every night now? Don't I look forrard to settin’ down all day at a desk as a rest anda pleasure? And with the money I git, I kin hire Mandy Stoke to come in—she’s real husky—better’n I be. I don't see what right he’s got to holler and complain. Neither him nor the house'll suffer any'’—— “*T will, too, suffer,’’ shouts Ben, in right- eous wrath. ‘“‘I'll suffer in my—er— ideals’’—— . “Your what?'’ we both cries, some as- tonished. “*The ideals I was brung up on,"’ says Ben. ‘To have woman at ease in the home, fur from toil, whilst man works fur her out in the hurly-burly of strife, M O D E RN acting as a buffer "tween her and busi- ness’ —— Seems Drusy'd druther hav a buffer "tween her and scrubbin’ and diggi s I, meditative. ‘*Wal, Drusy, it ain’t really Ben a-ragin’; it’s jest the little Imp of Custom he's got bottled up in his busum. I unnerstand him. When you git your job, t'other fellers are goin’ to twit Ben sum, in the sweet, kind way men has with each other, hinting at hard times, etc., and all the hull time they won't none of "em realize how much better off you'll be, settin’ quiet at a desk, than their own wives, workin’ LAYING THE CORNERSTONE like packhorses. A man kin kill his wife to hum, but ‘tis only when she goes out to a nice, easy office job that folks revile him and pity her. I sympathize with Ben sum, but he's got to stan’ up like a man and make believe he likes your do- in’s, Wimmen’s done this with men so long, it comes easy; but now men’s got to l’'arn. Fur every new woman we got to have a newman. Drusy’s doin’ what she ort. She’s got the right every human has to change from hard, uncongeenial work to sumpin’ higher and more like- able. All men ain’t ditch diggers. Why should all wimmen be housekeepers? It ain't sensible, ’cause they ain’t all fitted WOMAN fur it. Yep, it’s bookkeepin’ fur you, Drusy, and it’s temper keeping fur you, Ben—that’s the only way out.'" “‘But shouldn’t the old ideals be pre- served?"' asks Bep. ‘‘Great guns! what be they good for?’’ “To be canned,’’ replied Drusy, with slangy suddenness; and feelin’ my risibil- ities a-risin’ and fearin’ to spile the occa- sion with unseemly laffter, I sprinted fur the outer air and headed quick fur hum. Her Mind THOUGHT to find her maiden mind With bright and trifling fancies lined— With notions gay of silk and lace, Of wide-brimmed hats that shade the face; Of dances tripped ‘neath music's spell; Of flowery jaunts to mead and dell; With memories from reading’s store, Of poesy and picture lore; With depth given by some gentle plan Of charity for beast or man; And height reached by sweet reveries Of love with all its subtleties. But when I knew her mind, dispelled Were all my thoughts of what it held; For woman regnant there I saw, Packed in with history and law; With labor, politics and rights Clustered about her like great lights. I should have sought a simpler maid? Let weaklings be of power afraid. A real man’s task it is, I find, To win the feministic mind. But now within its learned space, Great Love and I have found a place. No Opportunity ENATOR HELEN ROBINSON says she didn’t talk much during the session. Her colleagues might have been chivalrous enough to give her a little chance. —Ida Husted Harper. “Pa” By force of will he came to be The greatest thing in life: A self-made man—except where he Was altered by his wife. The New York State Association of Police Chiefs at the convention held in Water- town passed a resolution favoring the wom- an suffrage amendment. cial tas be ante ying lathe