Page:May Walden - Socialism and the Home (1900).pdf/7

 Rh it for some of us to be illy clothed that our garments more than anything else have come to be marks of the class to which we belong. Those who cannot afford lo be well dressed are looked down upon and made fun of. Women much more than men make these distinctions against each other, and I want you to think seriously what the cause is and how to change things so all may have plenty of comfortable, artistic clothing—for it is natural and right that every one should wish to have good clothes, We all love beautiful things and we all try to show that love by putting upon our bodies the best things we can get. That this leads to a rivalry between women for other reasons we all know, and we will notice that in another place. What we want to consider now is that one of the necessities for a happy home is that each member of the family shall be properly clothed and the reason why this is not now possible. The children cannot go to school nor run errands if they are taunted all the time by better dressed companions, I think one who has not suffered from this taunting can never measure the ache which the sensitive little hearts hold, nor sympathize with the bitter rebellion against poverty which the young girl feels when her girl friends, or worse, the young men, smile scornfully at her shabby clothing. Even if her clothes are not worn but only "out of style" she suffers from knowing she has on old-fashioned things and attracts attention thereby. She does not understand why a dress should have balloon sleeves one winter and coat sleeves the next. It is a matter very easy to explain and to understand when one remembers that there is a rich class and a poor class. That the people in the rich class have little to do but adorn themselves and hunt for something new which will be so different from what others hare as to be called "exclusive"; and that all the others down the social scale try to keep up appearances and make believe they are