The Bulletin. 79 



WOMAN'S WORK IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Mrs. W. R. Hollowell, Goldsboro, N. C. 



I was asked to speak on this subject several weeks ago by Mrs. McKimmon, 

 and I thought I could make you a beautiful speech on the work the women 

 of North Carolina have done. First I had in my mind the Daughters of the 

 Confederacy, who had worked so faithfully and so long for the erection of 

 monuments to commemorate the bravery of women. I thought about the 

 Women's Temperance Union, the women's clubs, and other organizations ; but 

 since I purposed in my heart making that kind of a speech I have had five 

 weeks of farmers' institutes in North Carolina, and instead of talking about 

 the splendid work women have done, I am going to talk about the splendid 

 work women may do. Because there is so much to be done, so many lines of 

 work that will bring such a bountiful harvest, I am going to talk a few min- 

 utes to you about woman's work. 



One of the things we need most in North Carolina is the old-fashioned idea 

 of woman's making a home. Man cannot make a home. If you will go into a 

 courthouse and see its condition, if you will go into a bachelor's establishment, 

 if you will go into a man's house when his wife has been on a visit to her 

 mother, you will see what kind of a home-maker a man is. Now, I am afraid 

 — and I speak as mother and grandmother — I am afraid that there are a 

 great many women in North Carolina to-day who feel that it is old-fashioned, 

 that it is not up-to-date to talk about home-making. We hear so much about 

 the broader sphere of women that I almost hesitate to talk to you on the 

 subject I am going to speak about. 



You remember that about four years ago the Agricultural Department of 

 North Carolina offered a prize for the best ten ears of corn. About that time 

 I went into the women's work in the farmers' institutes, and I did not think 

 it was fair. I suggested that we have a prize for the best loaf of bread, and 

 the prize of one dollar was offered. And I wish you could have seen some of 

 the bread that was offered at our meeting. We had to get the Department to 

 stipulate that the bread must score 75 points or they could get no prize. A 

 woman brought some bread beautifully kneaded and apparently beautifully 

 baked on top, but raw on the bottom. I told her that it would bring a prize 

 if it were properly baked. She said that the damper on her stove was broken 

 and had been for about six months ; that she knew the bread was not baked 

 right, but she was afraid to turn it over. That is the kind of woman's work 

 in North Carolina that the farmers' Institutes are trying to get the women not 

 to do. They have wasted so much of their time and their energy in trying to 

 work without knowing what they are trying to do, that the thought to-tlay is 

 to get them just as much interested in the problems of their homes as the men 

 are interested in the problems on the outside of the house. And whenever you 

 get women interested along these lines something is going to be accomplished. 



Dr. Knapp has been talking to you about the wonderful possibilities of 

 farming. There has never been a time when the farmer has received so much 

 money for his products as to-day. Many men forget that the woman in the 

 home must have the spending of the money. When a farmer wants to make 

 much money, he wants it for the old woman and the children. No man 

 wants much money for himself. It is time for the woman in the home to learn 

 to spend that money wisely and well. 



To go back to the bread-making: I have come to the conclusion that the 

 only way to learn to make bread is to have it taught in the public schools. 

 We cannot live on tomatoes ; we have to eat bread three times a day 365 days 

 in the year, and your efficiency, gentlemen, and the woman's efficiency and the 

 health 'of the children depend upon what kind of bread it is. Bread is in 

 truth the staff of life, and it is impossible for us to be strong and well unless 

 we have good bread. There is a plan by which, if we can carry it out. we can 

 introduce bread-making in the rural schools of North Carolina. It has been 

 tried in several schools of this State. They tried it in Kentucky and in Ten- 

 nessee. It is this : Every one has an interest in Washington. I never feel so 

 big as when I go to Washington and feel that I have an interest there. Now, 

 the Department of Agriculture publishes bulletins on every subject. Last year 



