HOUSEKEEPING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5, 3 May 1912, Page 8

HOUSEKEEPING.

DRAWBACKS TO EXALTING HOUSECRAFT.

ITS PROBER SPHERE

It is possible that in the near future the University degree of B.Sc will be bestowed on successful stu dents of home sciences at Londoi< University. To qualify for this, appli cants will have to be proficient it the chemistry of cooking and the laundry, applied chemistry, housekeep ing, sanitary science, hygiene, ccon omics, bacteriology (with applicatio: to bivadmaking, alcohol, disease an: its prevention, etc.), ethics, genor. biology, physics, physiology, and ti. management of business affairs—a lit which, the average housewife wi. opine, would indeed justify the r< ward of even so dignified an bono. ■ ae a B.Sc. diploma. Far be it for New Zealander, a native of the firs country in the world to endow a Chai of Domestic Economy, to suggest thr. academic housekeeping is likely to b fraught with anything but advantage but many thoughts must occur to t! ordinary housekeeper (that is, the 01 that has learned her art by oxpericne- • on hearing of this proposed exaltatio of housework, It is a necessary evila routine which is gone through i New Zealand by thousands of women because through lack of means or sca:> ity of domestic labour it must be don by the mistress of the house. Whethe she loves her. work—as for instano. an artist loves painting or an authi writing—or whether site loathes it, a she may do in .her heart, it still mu; be done, and in this art Virtita is not always Its min Rewarc Housework, giving no glorious rcsu. at the end, but being just as exactii. just as backsliding day by day, jus. as neutral a joy and as unsatisf actoi, an intellectual companion, may be ju> as barren of real pleasure at the e:. of a hardworking life as at the begini ing—that is to say for those whoi brain insists on thinking beyond po: and pans, stews, gravies, bed-makim. scrubbing, window-cleaning, and ti. thousand and one tasks too humble i find place in a dictionary of virtues It is no lack of appreciation of bt lovabloness and thoughtfulness of tl other sax that prompts one to say tin far too few men, even in these enlighi ened day 3, realise the bitter cross tha housework represents to many wome who bear it uncomplainingly year arte yea)', but whose lives bear all too plaii. ly the marks of that burden and whor. husband should be wise enough to tit. demand their import.' A Criticism of New Zealand Women Very few remarks are commoner t the writer from tourists who have studied us and bur ways than tha Nov/ Zealand women over the age, pei haps 28 look as aged and more wome* than their English cousins 10 year. their seniors. Hotly as we may con test the dictum, there's little doub in the minds of all travelled New Zea landers that the remark is true. Am the reason since one there must be certainly seems to be that the worrie: of housekeeping sit too heavily on us That New Zealand girls are unhapp; in their work, no one knows tiiei. bright resourcefulness and their sen siblo methodical manner of coping With the worries that arise wouh over be so stupid as to claim but it i: r.ot on the girls, whose vivacity am youthfulness would stand the strain that it falls, but on the woman who i: between youth acd early middle age

t-jho period to which all must come, tin line of demarcation which, regretfull} !l j 'lv '■"■■' behind ii' mi al) too short youti and its frolics and gaieties, must look forward to a much longer term of increasing quietude, and more importanl still, a time when the mind, not b; ready to absorb outwardly, will arJ; for its compensation inwardly from the stock of experience and culture garnered during the eager early years. Here comes in what might be called the treachery of housework, for, having claimed all one's time: attention ana energy for years; it falls far behind all other arts in estowing no diploma of culture of itself as a reward foi faithful service, no virtue than its own reward. One exception must be madeit does give health when duties are not too exacting, and health is one of the greatest of prizes. Nevertheless, that is a prize by no means the copyright of housework Not foocauso but in spite cf Housework In New Zealand—and in Canada, from all accounts —glowing examples arc to be found of the way intellectual, refined, delightful women have though hampered with housework, bent their will sternly to the task of keeping house duties in their proper sphere, a st'ictly subodinarte one, and have succeeded in retaining their personality. Unfortunately such women must probably ever remain glorious exceptions, and their way has been tremendously difficult. One there is as an example—a really first-class housekeeper in evevy one of the manifold branches of her profession—who lays hands on most of the new magazines and good novels that appear in New Zealand, who can discuss with them an assurance that many a critic might envy, who can darn a stocking beautifully and in record time, knows all there is to be known about a well-stocked kitchen garden, does her own cooking, cleaning, dusting, ironing, etc. But, as a woman, she's a won: out shell, all energy, enthusiasm, and lire, always determined to be her own charming golf, and not a household drudge. She receives from her friends that peculiar worship that such women call cut—a devotion that renders her one of tfifl unforgettable ones in a world of women. But, unless one is mistaken, the price to be paid will be terribly big. Another there is, a racmbor of a very well known and honoured English family, who, going out to New Zealand years ago, found that there sh? must fend for herself.

her husband and little ones in a much more wholesale manner than anyone in her set had ever warned her. Culture she clung to—all the dear pleasures oi literature, music, the love of flowern and beautiful needlework—but, to fit these in with not only housework but farm duties, she found she must deliberately taboo social life, and that renunciation has tits disadvantages. Confined firmly to its own sphere, housework is a fine servant, yielding resource, patience, good sense, am. a key to all sorts of sciences useful in everyday life, to say nothing of bestowing good health, grace, and agility. As a master it is a tyrant—heartless, exacting, and endlessly cruel. Housework's Real Worth. A. certain amount of housework ; good for every woman, though why a good deal that is given her should be regarded as her metier, as if she were predestined to domestic slavery is difficult to guess. There will be found other qualities missing, all will agree, in the woman to whom homecraft, regarded as such, does not appeal if the home is her own, who would willingly resign the supervision of and intimate acquaintance with all that takes place in her house, but wihy a sensible, intelligent woman should like cleaning pots and pans for quite i proportion of her life any more than a man would like cleaning boots for part of his is a mystery, and a mystery about which much rubbish is talked. The outside value of housework in the lighter things of life—that is to say, the value of individual slavery to the general community—is simply lower than nil. It is uninteresting as a subject of dinner-table conversation, would bo boring as a play, is no topic for a drawing room, nursery, or sports ground; songs are not sung about it, save in derision; poets are not moved to inspiration by the sight of a broom or the smell of soap suds; every housekeeper knows every other housekeeper's worries, so there's nothing new; the one not a housekeeper doesn't want to hear about themin short, taken for even a solitary hour out of its proper sphere, housework won't bear the light of day. Homecraft —a good name, since it is a craft, and not an art—to a definite extent is the business and pride of our sex, just as pretty clothes are, and the knowledge that she can do it well, is as justifiable and satisfactory a stiffener to the backbone, if one may use a vulgar expression, as the knowledge that one is a skilful surgeon, a good mother, a champion in sport, or excels in any department. Things that have to be done should always be done as well as possible, but in the matter of housework women should take a leaf out of their menfolk's book. There is no reason to suppose that because a man has to be boxed up in an office all day that he likes his work, though, of course, it is to be hoped that most men do. But the really sensible man has a royal way of treating his moneymaking proclivities as his servant, and i employs that i servant for stipulated hours everydayf.! After that he can become a schoolboy, with the irresponsibility and lightheadedness if circumstances permit of that lucky young limb. If he doesn't do this, and turns both work and play hours into slavery to work, the dullness of his final state is pitiable. Men's work lastsr/till set of sun, But' women's work-sis never done, has not justified its composition, and, instead of acting as a light on to a dark state of things that should have been remedied, has merely dwindled into a truism. It behoves woman, I'm her own salvation, to insist thai it he regarded as an insult to the dignity of her sex and the value of herself as something above the qualification of a machine.—Dunedin Star's London Lady Correspondent, March 15th.