ARE YOU BURYING YOUR TALENT?

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 246, 7 January 1928, Page 17

ARE YOU BURYING YOUR TALENT?

A MISTAKE SOME MOTHERS MADE “Mary used to be a delightful pianist before she married. Xow she says she never has time for her piano.” Most people have heard remarks of this kind, but, even if they strike home at the moment, they just shrug their shoulders and say, perhaps with a sigh of regret: “Oh, well, it cannot be helped.’* It can be helped, and it must be helped! It is wicked of a girl to allow her gift for music to slip through her fingers simply because of household cares. Every married woman needs an interest apart from her home; something through which she can obtain the mental refreshment which will send he back to her household duties with renewed vigour and cheerfulness. Her talent may be but a mediocre one; she may be able to play only a little, to paint a little, or to speak French a little, but that “little** is worth cultivating. The woman who interests herself solely in her house, and loses her earlier accomplishments loses also a certain respectful admiration from husband and children. Children love to talk of what “mother can do,” without being necessarily boastful. To discover that mother knows nothing about any one of their studies inclines them to patronage, which may even develop into actual contempt. Take note, therefore, you young wives! Run your houses efficiently, but do not become mere housekeepers. Make yourselves find time for a daily half hour at the piano, or for your French books, or whatever hobby interested you in your pre-marriage days. Tou can do it if you really make up your minds. Your families will appreciate and repect you all the more and, what is perhaps even more important, you will keep yourselves mentally alert.