Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The home

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THE HOME

Shall the home be our world or the world our home?

THE HOME
ITS WORK AND INFLUENCE

BY

CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN

Publisher's logo

NEW YORK
CHARLTON COMPANY
1910

Copyrighted 1903
Republished, November, 1910
by
THE CHARLTON CO.

Printed by The Co-Operative Press, New York City

---

To every Man who maintains a Home

To every Woman who "keeps house"

To every House-Servant, owned, hired, or married

To every Boy and Girl who lives at Home

To every Baby who is born and reared at Home

In the hope of better homes for all this book is dedicated.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER	PAGE
I.	Introductory,
II.	The Evolution of the Home,
III.	Domestic Mythology,
IV.	Present Conditions,
V.	The Home as a Workshop. I. The Housewife,
VI.	The Home as a Workshop. II. The Housemaid,
VII.	Home-Cooking,
VIII.	Domestic Art,
IX.	Domestic Ethics,
X.	Domestic Entertainment,
XI.	The Lady of the House,
XII.	The Child at Home,
XIII.	The Girl at Home,
XIV.	Home Influence on Men,
XV.	Home and Social Progress,
XVI.	Lines of Advance,
XVII.	Results,

TWO CALLINGS

I

I hear a deep voice through uneasy dreaming,

A deep, soft, tender, soul-beguiling voice;

A lulling voice that bids the dreams remain,

That calms my restlessness and dulls my pain,

That thrills and fills and holds me till in seeming

There is no other sound on earthno choice.

"Home!" says the deep voice, "Home!" and softly singing

Brings me a sense of safety unsurpassed;

So old! so old! The piles above the wave

The shelter of the stone-blocked, shadowy cave

Security of sun-kissed treetops swinging

Safety and Home at last!

"Home" says the sweet voice, and warm Comfort rises,

Holding my soul with velvet-fingered hands;

Comfort of leafy lair and lapping fur,

Soft couches, cushions, curtains, and the stir

Of easy pleasures that the body prizes,

Of soft, swift feet to serve the least commands.

I shrinkhalf riseand then it murmurs "Duty!"

Again the past rolls outa scroll unfurled;

Allegiance and long labor due my lord

Allegiance in an idleness abhorred

I am the squawthe slavethe harem beauty

I serve and serve, the handmaid of the world.

My soul rebelsbut hark! a new note thrilling,

Deep, deep, past findingI protest no more;

The voice says "Love!" and all those ages dim

Stand glorified and justified in him;

I bowI kneelthe woman soul is willing

"Love is the law. Be still! Obey! Adore!"

And thenah, then! The deep voice murmurs "Mother!"

And all life answers from the primal sea;

A mingling of all lullabies; a peace

That asks no understanding; the release

Of nature's holiest powerwho seeks another?

Home? Home is MotherMother, Hometo me.

"Home!" says the deep voice; "Home and Easy Pleasure!

Safety and Comfort, Laws of Life well kept!

Love!" and my heart rose thrilling at the word;

"Mother!" it nestled down and never stirred;

"Duty and Peace and Love beyond all measure!

Home! Safety! Comfort! Mother!"and I slept.

II

A bugle call! A clear, keen, ringing cry,

Relentlesseloquentthat found the ear

Through fold on fold of slumber, sweet, profound

A widening wave of universal sound,

Piercing the heartfilling the utmost sky

I wakeI must wake! Hearfor I must hear!

"The World! The World is crying! Hear its needs!

Home is a part of lifeI am the whole!

Home is the cradleshall a whole life stay

Cradled in comfort through the working day?

I too am Homethe Home of all high deeds

The only Home to hold the human soul!

"Courage!the front of conscious life!" it cried;

"Courage that dares to die and dares to live!

Why should you prate of safety? Is life meant

In ignominious safety to be spent?

Is Home best valued as a place to hide?

Come out, and give what you are here to give!

"Strength and Endurance! of high action born!"

And all that dream of Comfort shrank away,

Turning its fond, beguiling face aside:

So Selfishness and Luxury and Pride

Stood forth revealed, till I grew fierce with scorn,

And burned to meet the dangers of the day.

"Duty? Aye, Duty! Duty! Mark the word!"

I turned to my old standard. It was rent

From hem to hem, and through the gaping place

I saw my undone duties to the race

Of manneglectedspurnedhow had I heard

That word and never dreamed of what it meant!

"Duty! Unlimitedeternalnew!"

And I? My idol on a petty shrine

Fell as I turned, and Cowardice and Sloth

Fell too, unmasked, false Duty covering both

While the true Duty, all-embracing, high,

Showed the clear line of noble deeds to do.

And then the great voice rang out to the turn,

And all my terror left me, all my shame,

While every dream of joy from earliest youth

Came back and lived!that joy unhoped was truth,

All joy, all hope, all truth, all peace grew one,

Life opened clear, and Love? Love was its name!

So when the great word "Mother!" rang once more,

I saw at last its meaning and its place;

Not the blind passion of the brooding past,

But Motherthe World's Mothercome at last,

To love as she had never loved before

To feed and guard and teach the human race.

The world was full of music clear and high!

The world was full of light! The world was free!

And I? Awake at last, in joy untold,

Saw Love and Duty broad as life unrolled

Wide as the earthunbounded as the sky

Home was the Worldthe World was Home to me!

THE HOME

I
INTRODUCTORY

In offering this study to a public accustomed only to the unquestioning acceptance of the home as something perfect, holy, quite above discussion, a word of explanation is needed.

First, let it be clearly and definitely stated, the purpose of this book is to maintain and improve the home. Criticism there is, deep and thorough; but not with the intention of robbing us of one essential element of home liferather of saving us from conditions not only unessential, but gravely detrimental to home life. Every human being should have a home; the single person his or her home; and the family their home.

The home should offer to the individual rest, peace, quiet, comfort, health, and that degree of personal expression requisite; and these conditions should be maintained by the best methods of the time. The home should be to the child a place of happiness and true development; to the adult a place of happiness and that beautiful reinforcement of the spirit needed by the world's workers.

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