Emily Howland speech

Read in Sodge in 1874

During the Crusade
of women in the cause
of temperance one sometimes
saw savage criticisms
on the manner of their attack
upon their deadliest
foe of their peace. I recall
one in a [number] of Appleton's
Journal [which] demanded
women to their homes in pretty
stern phrase. Nothing new about
this, whenever they have in modern
times set about earnest
work [which] took them beyond the
domestic routine, they have
always met this rebuke more
or less gallantly delivered
A command [which] has been only [right margin: too faithfully heeded in the past.]
In this case it was accompanied
by an arraignment of women as the guilty
party in the great toil under
[which] [crossed out: they & their] manhood women
were trampled. The writer [said]
that if these women & all other
complainers [would] go to their homes &
make them the safe & delightful
places they ought to be, that
[crossed out: they [would] touch] the root of the
matter [would] be reached, & there [would] be little
left to shriek about, when this
duty was done. This struck
me as outrageously untrue, as I recalled
the women of my acquaintance
whose likes had been
darkened by the wrong. I thought
they had done their part more
faithfully than many who had
not thus suffered. Still the criticisms
haunted me. There is a proverb
to this effect "Listen to your

enemy for he will tell you the
truth." I believed there was a
truth underlying this statement.
Women's duty to home was only
a half-truth, it was a sword that
cut both ways, the whole Appleton chose
to see only one side, the one it
has been popular to enforce.
"Women's sphere is home." Perhaps
if the antithesis "Man's sphere
is home" had been equally
insisted on, the world might
have been nearer our ideal.
It takes but little [thought] to convince
ourselves that one proverb is as true as the other is true.
The best, most effective work
done by either, must be where
his heart, his interest his hard
work centre. I may use the
word in a larger sense than
usual. I [should] say the line "The
home is where the heart is," gives
the boundaries pretty correctly.
If we ponder the cause of the one
[right margin: opportunity of the sense of the other, we shall find that]
[in] the past history of the
world, [crossed out: wherefore none can
tell], tribes of people have been
[governed] by dynasties created by one stronger than his
fellows, who have been used
by him or by one of his line
of rules to strengthen his
power by conquest or defense.
The world has not yet emerged
from this state, we find the
fullest expression of it in
Germany now. The men
are all required to be ready for
military duty. This throws [crossed out: not
only all home-making but providing]
the stern hard work
of out-door & in-door life

all on the women. Hence we hear
of women there not only carrying on large
commercial interests, but paving
streets, carrying hods of mortar, drawing
[crossed out: plows] canal boats & dragging
plows [through] the soil, instead of using
horse power.

The worst work, the most fearful
undoing of human growth
of [which] [was?] is guilty in this
cruel divorce of interest between
man & woman in the
home. The very proverb [which] is
used to chill women's desire
to do worthy work in the world,
when, as is rarely the case, they
want to, must have grown
out of this state of things.
"Men to battle, women to your
work." has been the cry of ages.
We must both acknowledge
that we have obeyed our
best. While men have [crossed out: filled] made
history the long record of
struggle, packed it with
incidents of strength, &
bravery terribly grand, incredibly
awful, women have been
working out of sight, at the
spindle at the loom, at the
hearth & in the soul, to keep humanity
& civilization alive, to lay the foundation
of the better times for the full
fruition of [which] the world still
waits. Not only the ancient
vases & earthen ware [which] scholars
say were women's work in earliest ages must have
been relegated to them but, cloth

[interwritten text in pencil about William Barnard mostly illegible]

making, all the manufactures
of those [?] times as well.
When a wise ruler sat upon a
throne, who gave his or her people
peace during a long reign as
did Elizabeth of England, men
got a chance to bring their
superior strength & the knowledge
[which] larger [crossed out: experience] opportunity
had given them to bear upon
the [crossed out: homely] inventions of women
thus grew arts & manufactures
from woman's efforts to make a
home. [crossed out: It is clear that while
there] As civilization, for [which]
peace is another name advances,
woman's work in
the material world of labor
becomes less valuable, [crossed out: they]
as the greed of kings disappears
from the earth, she no longer
spins or weaves or [crossed out: does
the] cultivates the soil
or carries on commercial
business. What does
she achieve? Is she
dwindling in health &
strength of body & mind?
Is peace upon the earth
to make the human race
weak? Some tell us so.
Is woman since released
from vigor-giving work
spending her time, in
the words of a wise
man whose essay I read
the other day, cleaning

what is already
clean, ornamenting
what is already too
much ornamented,
or cooking dishes
unfit to keep the peace
with any stomach?"
Or as she [crossed out: wisely comprehending
the truth
that] relinquishes
some of the material vocations
[crossed out: of life mean] does she [crossed out: hear & heed this voice] feel bidden to work more
for the higher uses
of life." [crossed out: Your brother] Since [man?]
with all his strength
of sinew and brain
invigorated by his hardy
life, has increased the
power of spindles & looms
has made ways to
transport his products
[crossed out: has build and] has made
nations greater by the
peaceful than they were
by the warlike arts cities
had been built, every
material want of the human
being has been met,
the world groans under
the weight of its luxuries",
But alas for him alas for
both if amidst all this [crossed out: you
forget] splendor your growth
in the higher life, [crossed out: has] not
kept pace, [crossed out: with what [should]
always be held of little value
in comparison].”

Has individual or
national conscience
grown with the growth
of commerce or of any other
interest? Has the value
of an individual as a spiritual
being increased with
the value of his clothes or
the cost of the house he
lives in?

If men & women really are not somewhat
more & better for all these
blessings, are they not relatively
worse or likely to
become so?

A Hindu proverb says "man
becomes wise by drinking
in the soul of things." There is
certainly a beautiful soul
evolved in the growing
glory of the earth. The question
is how can we assimilate
this soul of things and where
best express it in our lives
& characters? Is not the answer
In the highest sphere
of the many we [crossed out: fill] occupy
during our pilgrimage.
The central & the highest
for man as for woman. The
home? The venerable
president Hopkins of [Williams College]
when lecturing to
the young ladies of Vassar,
recently [said] "I [would] at this
point correct my teaching

on a previous occasion,
To the effect that home is
peculiarly the sphere of woman,
& civil government
that of man. I now regard
the home as the joint
sphere of man and woman,
& the sphere of civil [government]
more of an open question
between the two."
Home, what idea have we
of the meaning of the word?
Perhaps according to a true or
partial definition of it may be
our estimate of our duties to it.
Is home, a commodious
house well furnished &
upholstered, swept and
garnished where everything looks [smiling?], sadly be it [said]
not always. There are
many partial houses, few
real ones. [crossed out: I recall one of the
latter go on It was small]
can we create houses of noble
influence by any other
means that subordinating the
lower to the higher purposes of
life? I will illustrate, when
Mrs. Joe Gargery in Dickens
Great Expectations literally
mopped poor Joe & little Pip
out of the house, & left them
shivering outside, she made
cleanliness tyranny and defeated
the true purpose of mopping.
If when they entered they took
with them shoes laden with
mud, they were equally

ignoble & the double defeat
was worse than if all had
sat still.

Indeed many concessions
of points of order on the
woman's side, pay good
interest in the [crossed out: the added comfort of] making
the spot they call home only in reality to the men of
the household.

I scarcely think there is any
danger of too many compromises
on this score on the
part of the house-keeper who
[would] be a true home-maker.
When I have seen the strong
arm of a woman brandishing
a broom with power enough to
wear away the web of a carpet
driving all before her in a fog
of dust, I have [thought] if she knew
what an infliction it was she [would]
forbear. I do not dare begin to
[crossed out: enumerate] indicate what man may
A true home [should] be a place
where mutual concessions
are made for the general
good, where kindly feeling is
cultivated where noisome
weeds which deface all characters
are eliminated, refinement
and all Christian graces cultivated
where there is order
without restraint or repression
and where man & woman find
get a foretaste of the home
the nearest approach to
which learn how grand
[crossed out: a thing is] human life