The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 24, 1921, Page 12

| Introducing Mrs. Blaine of Wisconsin "W isconsin’s . Blaine. “was brought up in Chicago and Milwaukee, ‘First Lady” Mrs. Blaine, Wife of New League Governor, Lover of Home Life Miss Farkasch is a Madison (Wis.) newspaper woman.. The foliowing is her impression of Mrs. Blaine, written just before the inaugural. BY RUTH FARKASCH OVABLE, kind-hearted, humorous, quiet yet mot lacking in vivacity, and thoroughly “homey,” is Wisconsin’s “first lady of the state,” Mrs. Anna MecSpaden Blaine, wife of Governor John J. Blaine. Sharing with Mr, first place in Mrs. Blaine the Blaine’s heart, is their adopted daughter, Helen, who was married about a year ago and is now Mrs. Don Farris of Madison. " “Helen has been and still is about my first interest in life,” said Mrs. “She is none the less ours now that she is married.” Mrs. Blaine has, however, many other interests, chief among which is her husband’s work. She is a strong progressive and has for many months been active in the work of the Wisconsin League of Progressive Women and expects to keep up her work. She is also a member of the Madison Woman’s club and the Civics club, and has for a number of years been much interested in all kinds of work per- taining to the welfare of women and children. She was a strong suffrage worker in Boscobel. “I think,” said Mrs. Blaine, “that women’s clubs are going to continue to exist, in spite of the fact that we have suffrage, but I believe that they must broaden out and be te women what men’s clubs are to men, a home for those who have not homes, places where visiting women can be en- tertained, places where the activities of women, broadly speaking, may be discussed.” Society, spelled with a capital S, has little place in the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Blaine. NO SOCIAL WHIRLWIND FOR GOVERNOR’S WIFE “We love our home,” said Mrs. Blaine, “and we hope to make our life in the executive mansion just as homelike as it has been in our bungalow.. We want to make it a place to which every one will like to come. I expect, of course, to entertain my hus- band’s associates and the wives of legislators who come to Madison, and all our old friends, but as for the social whirlwind, at which some of the news- papers have hmted—well we are not going to have anything of that sort.” Mrs. Blaine dresses well, but quietly. She has friendly blue eyes, fair hair and skin and she is a little above the average height. - Mrs. Blaine was born in Boscobel but later going back to Boscobel. She attend- ed the University of Wisconsin with the class of 1899, and later went to the Platte- ville normal school. After teaching a year in West Salem and another in La Crosse, she married Mr. Blaine in 1904, having met him in Boscobel, where he came as a young attorney. Mrs. Blaine believes ‘a career is very well for unmarried women, but does not un- derstand how a woman can make a career apart from that of her husband and fam- ily unless she has some special talent which she is developmg The first interest of married women she thinks, is the home. Any one seeing Mrs. Blaine in her own home can not doubt this. LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS The National League of Women Voters will hold its second annual convention at Cleveland, Ohio, April 11-16 and plans are Mrs. Anna Blaine, wife of new League governor of Wisconsin. THE FARM WOMAN’S PAGE being made to have a delegate present from every congressional district in the nation. The women’s league, along with other women’s organizations, is actively interested in getting better legislation, both state and national, for the protection of women and children, Questions for Study Can readers of the Leader answer these ques- tions? The answers arefon the pages indicated. 1. What margin is allowed country elevators in - North Dakota for handling wheat, and what items does this charge cover? Has any other state such regulations? (Page 5). 2. Who is the governor of Wis- consin? What is the capital of Wisconsin? (Page 6). .8. What form of taxation is con- gtress proposing to abolish and if this is done what form of taxes will take its place? (Pages 4 and 8). 4. What are the two main forms of farm loan banks in Germany? (Page 10). 5. What two plans are suggested by the United States department of agriculture for taking the drudgery out of the farm woman’s work? (Page 12). CLUB WORK SUCCESSFUL The boys’ and girls’ club move- ment is rapidly encouraging mem- bers of these clubs to win financial independence. At a recent conven- tion of boys’ and girls’ clubs of North Dakota at. Fargo 91 mem- bers of these clubs reported prop- erty of their own worth $24,812.35, including $3,300 in Liberty bonds, $950 in war savings stamps and $1,831.35 in bank accounts.- Nine- teen owned hogs, 19 owned poultry, 16 owned sheep, 15 owned horses, 11 owned one or more baby beeves and 8 owned purebred cattle. One boy owned an automobile and others reported wagons, pianos, incubators, agri- cultural machinery and the like. HOURS OF SLEEP How much sleep should a child of school age have? This question is answered as follows by the Minnesota Public Health association: Age 1 Hours of sleep B:20:8 cindsnsnina e 12 8t0 10 i dnindas naaesas 113 104012 i inviia s nossianiess 11 12 to 14 101 14 to 16 ... L 10 16 to 18 9% ! NOT AFRAID OF HOODOO DATE l The 12 Minneapolis Women’s Nonpartisan clubs held a joint meeting December 13 and organized a Hennepin county federation, electing the officers shown above, who are, from left to right: Mrs. Frank E. Miner, president; Miss Dora Kreutzian, secretary-treasurer; Mrs. V. G. Ellen, vice president. The clubs intend to take an active part in the coming city campaign in Minneapolis. They expect to have 100 Minneapolis clubs organized before summer. ' PAGE TWELVE ' ' . . How Can Farm Life Be Improved? Farm Women’s Problems What a Survey of Ten Thousand Farm Homes Shows About Woman’s Work The United States’ department of agriculture has issued a pamphlet entitled “The Farm Woman’s Problems” from which the facts in the article following are taken. This pamphlet may be obtained by writing the department and asking for Department Circular 148. HE average farm woman works 13 hours a day in sumimer and 10% hours in winter. The average woman has an eight-room house to take care of. The majority of them have to keep their own stoves going and carry their own water. Ninety-six per cent do their own washing and the same number their own sewing. Only 14 per cent have any hired help at any time during the year ‘and these only for short periods; almost none report any hired help the year around. These findings were secured from an actual survey of 10,044 farm homes in 84 northern and western states, made by the United States department of agriculture in connection with state agricultural colleges. Turning to the farm work outside the house the . report shows that 86 per cent of the women helped to milk and that nearly all had some farm work, such as buttermaking, caring for livestock or poultry. Sixty-two per cent of the farm families have automobiles and 72 per cent have telephones, the re- port shows. That the League states are among the most progressive is shown by the fact that in the Middle West 73 per cent of the farmers have auto- mobiles and 85 per cent have telephones, while on the Atlantic coast only 48 per cent have autos and 67 per cent phones. That autos and phones are necessities rather than luxuries is shown by the fact that the average farm home is a mile and one-half from a school, six miles from a high school, three miles from a church, five miles from a market and nearly six miles from a doctor. 'BIRTH RATE IN RURAL DISTRICTS IS LOWERED That the average farm woman is so busy that she has little time to care for children is shown by the report. The farmers’ wives were asked to re- port on the number of children under 10 years of age. The average was found to be only 1.8, with a considerable number (who evidently had no children under this age) failing to report. The department states that figures indicate that the birth rate on the farm is not only falling, but falling below that of other elements of the population. Florence E. Ward, in charge of extension work with women for the department of agriculture, comments upon the situation revealed by the sur- vey as follows: “There are two effective means of reducing home drudgery. One is the introduction of modern labor- saving equipment in the home. The other is the removal from the home of such activities as can be carried on as cheaply and as suc- cessfully through community co-operatlon as by traditional home methods. “Since survey replies indicate that 96 and ironing it would seem that such an activity might well be removed from the home and handled through community co- operation, releasing each week many hours of the woman’s time and saving her from one of her heaviest household tasks. Ex- perience in a numbér of communities indi- cates that a co-operative laundry, especial- ly when run-in connection with a creamery, is not only a convenience but a paymg in- vestment. “The conviction is growmg in the minds of extension workers that while it is their first business to promote efficiency, this should be looked upon as a means of stim- ulating a richer and more satisfying rural life by freeing the homemaker’s time and energy so that she may give attention to the attractiveness and comfort of her home, the training and companionship of her children, the enjoyment of books and neighbors and the building up of social and educational life in her community.” per cent of rural women do their washing™