BETTY EXPLAINS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 56, 19 July 1940, Page 40

BETTY EXPLAINS

A Reply To Her Critics

HESE last few weeks a_ storm of criticism has fallen on my poor defenceless shoulders. The Editor has given me the privilege of writing these few words in reply. It is not an expiation-for, in honesty, I am unaware of that necessity — let’s call it an explanation to "clear the air." It all started when some well-meaning reader. wrote to The Listener, criticising Betty’s attitude towards life. The writer objected to Betty’s snobbishness and seeming affluence-as indicated by mention of cocktails; peach Melbas, and such delicacies, to say nothing of a car, a refrigerator, and a maid-of-all-work. The Listener was just going to press when this letter was received, and, hurriedly, on a facetious impulse, but I assure you, without the slightest hint of malice or intent to offend, I penned the footnote that was to bring such a storm about my ears. Let me say first that, if quite innocently, I have hurt any of my readers’ susceptibilities, I offer most sincere apologies. The chief point in this first letter received seemed to be disapproval of Betty’s apparent prosperity. Something About Betty Let me tell you something about Betty-which her own diary does not appear to have made clear. In the first place, she is not a grouser -and all her little anxieties and private cares, which none of us are without, are locked secretly within her. Not even to her diary does she reveal them. You see, Betty strives to be construc-tive-to build up, not to pull down, and she attempts this in her own feminine way by stressing the gay little moments of life rather than the gloomy ones. She Has Her Worries Don’t you believe that Betty is without worries--she isn’t; but she simply doesn’t talk about them. She could tell you, perhaps, of the early struggle of her married life-before and after BillJim arrived. ... I think she has already mentioned "Julia," the battered, second-hand car that Jim bought for £20 on their honeymoon, and which still holds pride of place in the little garage that Jim built with his own hands during spare week-ends. If Betty were a snob she would disdain to ride in. such a_ dilapidated vehicle. But she regards each trip in it as an adventure-and, in view of its association, a romantic one at that. She and Jim are proud of " Julia." They are not grand people — just everyday folk. They have their little

home which is steadily being paid off, a garden which they share and loveand they go to the pictures nearly every Saturday night. Betty’s Husband Jim is a decent, hard-working bloke, whose chief incentive in his married life has been a very deep love for his wife and small son. Maybe some people are luckier than others, but Jim stuck at his job-worked furiously-and by merit won a step up the ladder. To-day he is comfortable, but he is far short of being a wealthy man. He has been able to give Betty, though, small comforts-extra facilities in their home-and a maid to help with the work, That has been his part. The ten pounds he gave her for her birthday represented the extent of his capability. I am not going to pry into the personal sacrifice that lay behind this gift. I know that if he could have made it twice the amount he would have been happier. You see, Betty adores her home, and every penny she has been able to save has gone into it. She is very much of a woman-she likes pretty things-and like all other women, stares in at shop windows and longs for things she cannot have. But she does honestly try to make the best of what she has got, to keep herself nice and attractive — even in renovated frocks-so that she will always remain the girl Jim first married. Betty feels for Jim pretty much the same as he feels about her. She strives to make life bright and gay for himto plan little surprises-and to be a good companion and helpmate. She has gathered about her a little group of friends -pretty much in the same circumstances as themselves — getting along in the world, and their little feminine gossips and friendly exchanges are quite without pretension — and entirely without snobbishness. She’s Not a Snob If Betty had to tell you what a snob is, she would have to look up for the correct definition in Webster’s Dictionary; and if you suggested its application to herself, she would be bewildered and uncomprehending. That is why, in justice, I have written to state her case-and the case of Jim and Bill-Jim. I hope you will accept it for what it is worth. She is sorry about that cocktailand, incidentally, that little dinner party she planned for Jim’s chief cost her two weeks of her household savings. She thinks it was worth it though, for it was for Jim,