Leap Year Revelry at the Labor Temple
Everett's Labor Temple packed out for a night of dancing, leap-year traditions, and a kitchen crew of men learning to appreciate the daily routine of a housewife.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A crowd that packed the Labor Temple marked the first social festivities for 1912 of the Women's Label League. When the music started at 8 o'clock, the floor was jammed, but everyone remained happy. True to form, every other dance was a ladies' choice affair where the fair sex exercised their leap-year prerogative. Upstairs, a committee of men managed the kitchen and supper preparations. After working from dawn until 11 p.m. preparing the meal and cleaning up, they admitted it was a grueling job. One committee member remarked that after looking a gas range in the face for two or three hours, one begins to appreciate the daily kitchen routine of the wife of your bosom. Despite a few 'half-baked idiots' attempting to perform the 'turkey trot,' the evening was a huge success.
“After you have looked a gas range in the face two or three consecutive hours you begin to appreciate the daily kitchen routine of the wife of your bosom.”
This story offers a rare glimpse into the social life of early 20th-century labor organizers in Everett, capturing both the gender dynamics of the era and the genuine camaraderie of the movement. The men’s realization regarding kitchen labor serves as a humorous but poignant moment of empathy that still resonates in contemporary discussions of domestic work.
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