Mundane Musings Holding the Baby!

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 120, 11 August 1927, Page 4

Mundane Musings Holding the Baby!

Agatha is a typical poor relation. You know the type well enough When she was young she had to stay at home and look after the little ones, when she was a trifle older she had to stay and look after mother and father, and when they died she went as a companion. And now she has broken down in health and what is to be done with her? Her younger brothers and sisters — who were once “the little ones”—met in council to discuss it. j They are all married. They all 1 have their own lives to lead and their 1 own homes. None of them want to ! include an elderly invalid in their ! menage. One cannot altogether blame | them—rfamily life is a ticklish busi- : ness, and invalids do not make for happiness. i Besides, Agatha is now the kind of woman who is always termed “poor.” One cannot blame her either. She has never had anything, never had a chance, never had any fun or any opportunity to develop her personality. She is like a plant which has grown in a dark cellar —pale, and sickly, and lifeless. I can remember her when she was 20 and her next sister, Kitty, was 17. “Agatha will hold the baby,” Kitty used to say, slangily (for there was no real baby then), “while I go out A 3 omnia just hates being left alone and someone must give the children their tea!” Unpleasant Jobs For Agatha In that family any disappointments, sacrifices, or unpleasant jobs that vent begging were Agatha’s by right. They naturally belonged to her, they vere the one thing no one would hink of filching or snatching away •om her. Momma would say at breakfast: Someone must pop round and help Aunt Carrie.” And “someone” would mean Agatha. Or “Someone must get that pile of mending done,” and “someone” was Agatha again. Then Uncle James must be met at the station, and a dozen dull letters want answering. Jack wants taking to the dentist, arid Jill needs a new frock making, and the draper can’t be paid and must be placated, and who is going to change the library books and go and tell the butcher about that meat he sent last time — and what about covering the chairs in a new chintz and making a cake? and then there is Kitty’s umbrella—she left it at the Jones’s, and it must be retrieved. And all the jobs are Agatha’s. What Would They Do Without Her? So the Agathas of the world lead a busy life. They cannot complain of idleness, they are occupied continually with “holding the baby,” and the worst of that is that this kind of babyliolding very seldom leads to holding a real one! Usually the figurative baby-holder fetches, carries, and nurses till she dies, for the fact is I needless self-sacrifice 42 an become a i kind of mania with girls of this type. I “I cannot leave home —my people | want me,” she says when offered a ; job. But suppose they do? Unless they are incapacitated that should not bar her way If she had been a son she would have left home whether her people wanted her or not. “I must nurse poor cpusin Letty through this terrible illness,” she pants, as she dashes down the street on her way to the chemist. But if she were not there what would Cousin Letty do? She does not know. Then why not find out? Of course, one cannot for the moment under-rate the beauty of necessary sacrifice —but before anyone embarks on it they should make certain it really is necessary, and they are not pandering to the selfishness of others or letting themselves be made a door-mat for no obvious cause but simply because they have not enough spirit to fight for a place in the sun.

IN FINLAND To Miss Sillannaa belongs the distinction of being the first woman Minister in the Finnish Parliament. She was recently appointed Assistant-Mini-ster for Social Affairs. Miss Sillannaa was one of the first women to be elected a Member of Parliament in her coun'4'y about 20 years ago and her recent appointment sho.ws the strong position she occupies within her party.