1905.] THE RESERVE POWER IN HOUSEKEEPING. II3 



man is very apt to do things in the easiest way and a woman 

 in the hardest way? When a man Hfts he uses his hmbs for it. 

 When he Hfts a bag of meal he uses his arms. If a woman 

 has to Hft a chair or If) Hft any burden, she is very apt to use 

 her back. No wonder it is hard work. It isn't difficult if one 

 has strong arms — and the more we use them the stronger they 

 become — to Hft a chair with the arms. Let a woman try to Hft 

 a bag of meal, she doesn't manage it perhaps very gracefuHy, 

 but she can certainly gain strength and come to the point of lift- 

 ing heavy loads if she will study how to lift. She ought never 

 to try to lift with the weight upon the back of the heels. That 

 is a very vital point, she should keep the weight forward and 

 Hft with the arms. 



I suppose that one of the things which women will always 

 have to do is to pick up after the men and after the children. 

 There are various ways of doing that. I suspect that the ordi- 

 nary way, the one which we usually practice, is this (illustrates). 

 No wonder we women when we do it think it is pretty hard to 

 always keep picking up after folks. When I picked up that 

 handkerchief I bent my back, brought the strain upon the back, 

 but it is possible to keep the back from doing any work. (Illus- 

 trates again.) All the strain in that case is brought about the 

 knees, and it wasn't a difificult thing to do ; I didn't think to 

 groan when I did it that time, for it was so easy. I think when 

 a woman picks up that way she should be thankful that she has 

 a man to pick up for. A great degree of courage goes with our 

 work when the work doesn't seem very hard. 



Washing clothes isn't a very easy thing to do, scrubbing 

 isn't easy, but houses have to be scrubbed and clothes have to 

 be washed, and a great many women nowadays are doing it in 

 order to get it done and done the way they want it done. It 

 isn't easy to get hired help ; that is, it isn't always a possible 

 thing to get someone who will come and do the work as you 

 want it done. A great many women do their own housework, 

 not because they cannot get help at all, but because they can't 

 get it done the way they want it done. We have to study sim- 

 plicity, study how to do things in the easiest possible way ; then 

 we can learn to scrub and sweep in a way that will give a great 

 deal of personal comfort to the woman who is doing her own 

 work. 



I don't see a broom around here; it may not be necessary 



Agr. — 8 



