WAR ADJUSTMENTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 January 1940, Page 6

WAR ADJUSTMENTS

DUTIES OF BRITISH WOMEN | HOMES TOPSY-TURVY. MANY PROBLEMS ARISE. > LONDON, December 1. | The war has, as always, turned woman’s world completely upside down. To men it has brought an exhilaration and a sense of achievement; to the older men a renewed youth and elasticity, to the younger men a sense of responsibility and of their worth to the nation. All ages alike rejoice in their uniform and patriotic fervor keeps their spirits high. But to the women it is all rather bewildering. To the average wife and mother unable by domestic ties or other restrictions to offer himself for active services, it is a question of standing by. coping with all the difficulties and inconveniences, presenting a cheerful front and aiding as best she can the heartache of it all. Only a few months ago life was pursuing its normal course. Now woman’s world has become devastated. She is up against a thousand problems she never though she would have to face. DIFFICULT CHOICE. Evacuation has proved so far perhaps the greatest problem. At a moment's notice thousands of women have had to choose between husband and children; between her duty to the man who is to her sometimes a grown child, and her duty to the real child who must at all costs be protected from the mental and physical effects of war. But the problems of evacuation were far beyond the mere question of safety. Homes had to be broken up at shoi v notice, not only for a brief spell, but for the “duration.” Wives who had al- , ways queened it in their own domain had to become unwelcome visitors in the homes of others, feeling distressed, unhappy and immeasurably lonely, conscious of the fact that their menfolk were being neglected, and obsessed with the feeling that it. would be very difficult after a long-break to take up the threads of domestic life where they had been laid down. On the other hand, those who had to receive the evacuated women and children had to have their lives turned ' topsy turvey. Maiden ladies were landed with half a dozen children; careful ! and prime housewives had to receive ■ easy-going mothers with several unruly and ill-managed children. Bache- '■ lors with large homes and a single - housekeeper were horrified at being int vaded by a bevy of expectant mothers • and nurses. Evacuation has created problem aftei • problem seemingly impossible to - solve. But as. all upheavals do. it alL ready has begun to settle down. The ’ common sense of suffering has helped make everyone understand. NEVER UNDRESSED FOR BED.

The humorous stories told of the evacuation will go down into history, particularly where the children are concerned. Transporting East End kiddies into palatial homes has certainly had some extraordinary reactions. Those are the children who never have known what it is to be undressed to go to bed. Sometimes they would re-dress and go to bed complete with shoes as they do at home. Some children have been found sleeping under the bed because “at home mother and father always sleep on top.” Others, used to “fish and chips” and beer for supper, have turned distastefully from the dainty meals prepared for them. But to many thousands of children has come a sense of beauty and sweetness in life of which they never dreamed, and its influence will not be lost. YOUTH IS THRILLED. In her dress, the war-time woman has gone “sensible.” Perhaps the ’whole trend of war worry is responsible ,perhaps merely the idea that she must look her part, but frills and flounces have been put aside, highheeled shoes stowed away for postwar festivities, curls have been cut and trimmed to look businesslike rather than artistic, and neatness and practicability appear to be the order of the day in all forms of dress. To the younger generation the war is, of course, at. this stage an immense thrill. Dancing and movies and theatres have had to be renounced, but they have been replaced by the thrill of war work of various kinds, by attractive uniforms to wear and a great sense of responsibility. Business girls trip along carrying their gas masks at all sorts of jaunty angles, and even the darkened streets provide adventure rather than difficulty. The whole thing to some of the youth is one grand and glorious thrill.