Of Interest to Women

Lake County Mail, Issue 45, 14 April 1948, Page 4

Of Interest to Women

By “ MARIA”

Women Name 27 Major Faults in Their Husbands - When a largo number of women were asked recently what they most disliked in their husbands, they agreed that husbands had no fewer than 27 major faults.

How to Make The Most of Yourself

The most irritating of the 27 seemed to be that husbands took their wives for granted. Lack of appreciation, affection, and attention were at the top of the list of faults.

This attitude made women feel that they were regarded as one of the “ gadgets ” round the house. As long as all was going smoothly, nothing was said, but the moment a husband’s comfort appeared to be neglected or the expected routine changed he could think of plenty of words to express his feelings.

A fault high on the list was that men were “ messy ” —whiskers in the bathroom basin, wet towels on the floor cigarette ash just anywhere, or the newspaper dropped by his chair. This complaint had several subdivisions, but was heard more frequently from the younger wife. Does this mean, it may be asked, that older wives have managed to train their husbands, or have they simply become accustomed to their ways?

Another outstanding complaint was that husbands did not help sufficiently with the “ bringing-up ” of the children. Scattered grievances were the husband reading at the table, forgetting where things were put, forgetting messages and appointments, dozing when at home in the evening, and rudeness to anyone he did not like.

Faults such as drinking or gambling were barely mentioned. Evidently these were not deemed “ major ” faults, and only one conclusion could be reached —that with women it is “ the little things that count.”

All correspondence connected with, this column should be addressed to “Maria,” C/o Box 154, Queenstown.

For the woman who wants to make

the most of herself by developing

a balanced personality, few things are more important than her atti-

tude to work. Work in this sense is broad in definition; it includes the domestic work of the housewife just as much as the 40 hours a week of the factory worker,

the typist, or the professional woman. For the normal person, work of

some sort takes up at least a third

of the waking hours. It is usuually a means of livelihood. Other things

may be dropped at will, but most

people must work or face the fact that the community does ■ not wish to

support drones. But work is chiefly important, not because it is a means of gaining a living, but because it is the way the individual contributes a service to the community, and expresses her own wish to be useful. Through work, a man or woman leaves the imprint of personality on people or things, and makes a contribution to humanity. Without doing some work that is worthwhile, nobody can develop a personality that is well integrated.

Obviously you cannot hope to be happy Of you spend a good proportion of your life in work in which you are not giving of your best. The symptons are easy to see: the clockwatcher, the person who cheats all along the line on the amount of work she is paid for doing, the girl who does not care how slipshod her work is as long as the boss isn’t looking, are all obvious examples.

If you are conscientious about your work but find it uncongenial, you will tend to become, discontented about it, and spend your leisure hours in any escapist pursuit that offers, or else devote yourself whole-heartedly to some activity outside it.

If this is so, have you ever considered changing the job you are doing for something along the lines of your leisure time activity? You may not be able to get a job in quite the same sort of work, but you will be happier doing something nearer your ideal.

At present there is little excuse for being unhappy at work. So many positions are offering that you need have no fear of the consequences if you want to change to something more congenial.

For some work which requires little exertion or mental effort is pleasant. If, however, you find such work boring or monotonous, set about securing a better position in the future. Moping is never any good, but an attempt to find more interesting work would be well worth while. Advice on suitable jobs is readily available from your local vocational guidance centre. If you haven’t got the qualifications •necessary for the interesting job you would like to do, what’s stopping you from starting out this year to obtain them?

Work is too important to be miserable about. A discontented worker warps her own and worries both those she works with and her family. If work is for you just a stretch of hours to be lived through, just the source of your pay envelope, a more or less conscious cheating of your employer and the community, now is the time to wake up to yourself.

Until you put enthusiasm and interest into your work, you cannot be making the most of yourself in the development of a balanced attitude to life.

Personal Printing neatly and promptly executed. Write to the Lake County Mail for Service.