1452 



The Cornell Reading-Courses 



know exactly what I mean. I am saying them not because they may be 

 peculiar to women, but because I am speaking to women. 



i. Women must escape the customary small range of conversation. 

 The smaller the range of conversation, the more narrow is the horizon of 

 life. Very small conversation is gossip. The gossiper is always a self- 

 centered person. The measure of one's contact with life is necessarily 

 reflected in the subjects of conference and conversation. You have only to 

 take note of the conversation of groups of men and women anywhere to 

 satisfy yourselves of this fact. We ordinarily condemn gossiping as wrong 



Fig. 50. — Sitting-room in the Home Economics Lodge 



from the moral point of view ; I prefer at present to say that it indicates a 

 small range of interests and does not develop such contact with life as is 

 worth while. 



2. It is bound to be necessary, if woman is to take her larger part in 

 the world's activities, that she develop a different attitude toward per- 

 sonal apparel. I do not have it in mind to criticize any garment that 

 a woman wears. I do not know of any garment that is more inartistic 

 and more ludicrous than a man's dress coat; but the point is not here. 

 Men's clothing is standardized. Women's clothing is to a large extent not 

 standardized. Men's styles change from year to year, but the range is 



