WASTEFUL HOUSEWIVES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2013, 21 March 1914, Page 11

WASTEFUL HOUSEWIVES.

HOW MONEY GOES. | It is possible that tho charges laid against the American housewife in an article which, appeared in "The Ladies' Home Journal" might bo applied with equal truth to many a Now Zealand housewife. As a matter of fact, the American woman had done much more, to bring doivn the prices of necessary commodities than the Now Zealand woman has over dreamt of doing, and 'has at different tinies made herself a very effective force in the market. . It is true _that a Housewives' L'nion was formed some time ago in Wellington, buu apparently it does not yetrealiso all that might be done by effective organisation. Mrs. Julian Heath, in tho article men-! tioned, affirms that the American woman is mainly responsible for-tlio high cost of living by wasting her husband's money. Not Doing Her Share. With the high 1 cost of living one of the most pressing questions of the day, with an economic conditioti that cannot bo long in reaching a serious climax, with men spending thousands.of dollars , making their business methods more efficient, the average housewife, declares Mrs. Heath, is sitting complacently by, absolutely indifferent to the serious situation that confronts her. She does riot, know. That much, Mrs. Heath continues, is an unpleasant but hard, cold fact, Is it also true that she does not care ? If that is true, how long will American husbands stand for the present inefficiency and incompetence of their wives? Tor, Mrs; Heath goes on to say, the fact is all too true' in the case of the vast majority of American wives, they are wasting, yes, criminally wasting, their husbands' money. Perhaps no woman in America, remarks Mr.' Bok, editor if tho "Ladies' Home Journal," is more thoroughly competent. to speak on this serious question - than Mi's. Heath, who 'has practically given her life to the very condition that sho portrays in her article. Her views as stated constitute one of the .gravest-'■■'arraignments of the American housewife ever publicly made, and cannot help, but crystallise the uncomfortable thoughts that have for some time been smouldering' in.the minds of j thousands of men with regard to one of the chief causes of the cost of liv•ing. ..■'...''

Running the Home on a Business Basis. Over and oyer again in the,last two years, remarks Mr. Heath, Lhave asked women everywhere: Are women efficienthousekeepers? " Are they spending tlie house-income wisely? Invariably the answer has been: "No," '"i believe," replied one housewife, • "my _ husband i could ruii our home better ' than I if he'were compelled to dp it." "Why?" asked Mrs. Heath. "Because," the wife replied, "he would run it as he runs his business." Does not, Mrs. Heath goes on to say, the truth lio there? Is it not time for women to realise that housekeeping is really a business and

should be run .on a;'business Hasia? ' "I. am conservative in my statement 'when I say that if one-half of our business men conducted their business as women do their housekeeping the country would soon be bankrupt. "It is just as great a science —if indeed not greater—for the- wife wisely to spend the money'that lier husband makes.as it is for him to, earn it. Now how does she do it? ■ "To begin with, tho average woman ' who 4 runs her home is woefully, yes, criminally, ignorant of market conditions.and prices. "A, woman goes to a store and asks: 'How much is butter to-day?'' She is told 'Fifty, cents a pound.' . "'Rather high, is it not?' she asks. "'Yes,' agrees the tradesman, ''but there, has been an earthquake (or a cyclone or a shipwreck), and tho price has gone up.' Tho woman sighs, remarking that it is 'too bad,' butjpurchases the butter just the same. There is no "argument, 110 investigation, no questioning of the statement—the housewife just buya,rt'akihg the tradesman's word for jt. She really has no knowledge whether the real market price is higher, or lower: Now how long would a man's business, conducted on this lino, last?" ..'■•.• "It has really been proved," Mrs. Heath gones on to_ say, "not once hit over and over again, that housewives have been an advance, in tho price of commodities when, actually there'has"bean, a drop in tho market. Our husbands, our brothers, our sons all know the market valuo of every single commodity which they purchase to use in their own business or trade; but the great majority of women do not, really know tho market valuo of a single commodity which they buy."

Deluded by t'm Butcher. The American housewife," it' seems, falls an easy prey to the flattery o'f her tradesmen. Often when a woman protests at the price of a certain cut of meat, she is told: "Oh, yes, we have cheaper meat, but it is not the kind you want." And then,' not knowing the 'different cuts or grades of meat, and fearing that sho may get inferior meat, sho succumbs and says: "All right; of course I want the best," and takes the higher-priced meat. The word of flattery carries, but how, asks Mrs. Heath, about the' husband's money? It is a custom of certain retailers, when ready to disposo of certain pieces' of meat, to keep them back in tho cooler just for the purpose of makmg some housewives think that they are kept there for their sole benefit. Marketing by Telephone. How can a housewife economically sot a table unless she knows what is in season and unless she personally inspects tho market instead of lazily ordering by • telephone? Tho market fluctuates from clay to day, and tho qualities and grades differ so greatly that, Mrs. Heath insists, a personal visit is quite important. "I asked the manager of a now cooperative storo what'was tho most serious obstaclo ho had.to contend with. He answered: 'The. ignorance of the womon In buying; thoy do not know ono thing from auothor.' "Truly, this is a serious charge. "Ask any butcher in any market how many of liis women customers know the different cuts of meat. Ho will tell you, 'Not ono out of twenty-five,' and then add, with a smile: 'Wo always choose the cuts for them.' Ono butcher told mo that he had 'tried to teach tho women', so as to lessen bis own work,

but it was 'a difficult matter, because they did not caro to know.' One young housewife, who tried to master the situation said she could 'always remember where the ox-tail came from for ox-tail soup,' but she had 'never been able to see a lamb with chops so largo as those she bought.'

How Many Know the Markets? "How many women know the simplest commercial terms, the different grades of coffee, the different kinds and grades of tea, and how much a pound they arc paying for products they aro buying in packages? To put it baldly, how many women really know wliat they are buying, and whether or not they are getting value received for their money?. I believe that every woman who reads this will agroo that there are very very few. Yet the women who have begun,studying the market — and there, are some —agree that the study is so fascinating and so interesting that they are not only mastering tho question of production and consumption, but aro also returning to personal marketing, and ceasing to market over Die telephone. The only troublo is that this number is.so small. NEW LIGHT ON MONA LISAj AND ON LEONARDO. In an artistic and biographical study that has recortly been compiled by Dr. Jens Thiis, of Leonardo da Vinci, the author declares that Leonardo remained to tho end of liis days the slave of an archaic smile. It appeared not only in Mona Lisa, but it was almost the mark of a school, something like tho butterfly lips of tho pre-Raphaelitos. "It is there on the face of John the Baptist,- done in his studio; it is there on the bronze statue of David by Verrochio, Leonardo's master; and the smile only needs a slight alteration to become burdened with the infinite sorrow of Christ in the "Last Supper." The introductory study .of the head displays that forcibly J The 'mobility of the lips is the same, but tho end turns down instead of up."

Discussing the attitude of Leonardo to women, a writer-in "Current Opinion" can bring forward no evidence that definitely sets forth what it was. and re-

marks in conclusion that "wo are loft speculating, to make what wo will of a genius who in this regard and in several others remains as' inscrutable as, tho smile of his own Mona Lisa." The "Manchester Guardian" says of him: "Leonardo da'Yinci, the painter of that wonderful picture Mona Lisa, was not greatly attracted by physical beauty. lie was a pure intellectual—one of the greatest and most universal intellects of all time—and when'he drew the body it was either for scientific interest or for its expression of the soul within. As a boy, ho modelled in terra eotta heads of women smiling, and Symonds relates how he would follow up and ,down tho streets of Florence and of Mi'au beautiful unknown faces, learning them by heart ; interpreting their changes of expression, reading the thoughts through the features, "He had a passion for the unknown, or the half known; and he seems to have thought more of the smile as tho half open window of the soul than of the oyes, which can hide nothing that is there to hide. And so' wo find him in this maturist of his work leturning to the same subject that fascinated his' youth. Tho half known is more than the known, it seems to say, the part grcatcrthan the whole." A writer in tho Loudon "Times" finds in the half knowing, half questioning smile of Mona Lisa something that appeals with special force to our own ago. "In the age of Pericles," it says, "the age of Leonardo, and the ago in which wo live, women seem to relearn the secrets of their power, and men to seo in those secrets the source of knowledge." On this the "Guardian" comments: "It may be so. And yet in all ages that which eludes the grasp has always had greater power over men than that which is fully known and comprehended. If it were not so, the world would be a vast complicated piece of mechanism, constantly turning the same wheels in the same orbit. And it is this passion for tlie half seen and the "half known, this: pressing onwards to the unattainable, and the faintly wealed, that distinguished man from everything elso in •nature." CATHOLIC MISSION. / The Mission at St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, has been attracting largo numbers of women throughout tho week. All tho three morning services have been excellently attended, and the instructions of the missioners have been most attentively listened to. Every evening tho church has been crowded to excess. Last night the preacher was the Rev. Father A.y Herring, who preached on Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, explaining the reasons of Catholic veneration of_ tho Virgin Mary. The women's mission concludes on Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock, and tho same night a ten-days' mission for men begins at 7 o'clock. Elsewhere tho hours of the different services for tho coming week aro given. ELECTROLYSIS, Tho only permanent euro for tho removal of superfluous hair. This can only bf■performed by an expert. Consult Mrs. BfaybiUle, long and favourably known for all treatments. No. £08 Lambton Quay (over Orr, chemist). Telephono 1594.—Advt. For Weddings.—Appropriate Bouqueh for either largo or small weddings mo being continually designed, and embody tho unique distinction of all Miss Murray's creations. Flowers for all occasions forwarded to any part of the Dominion by Miss. Murray, Vicc-Rcfc'al Florist, 36 Willis Street.-Advt.