Wash, And Sweep, And Grow Beautiful

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 290, 12 January 1945, Page 11

Wash, And Sweep, And Grow Beautiful

Housewife Can Become a Modern Venus CELEBRATED actress with a A gorgeous figure recently told reporters that her method was to scatter a packet of confetti on her bedroom floor, and pick up the pieces, one by one. Tell the average New Zealand girl that housekeeping is an aid to achieving the perfect figure, and she will probably hoist the eyebrow a bit. Yet such an aid to physical attraction seems to have caught on in the United States, as an American visitor to this country told us the other day. He explained that sweeping, bed-making, and washing are regarded as valuable aids to warding off the middle-aged spread. When he left New York, he said, the smart youngewoman of to-day had taken up "scientific housekeeping" very seriously. Schools had been established in which students are taught to operate

their homes, or any home they may be going to. have, "scientifidally and beautifully." They learn to keep furniture in good condition, to cook well, and to do wise shopping. Sweeping and

bed-making are considered by physical instructors at-several women’s universities as well as at some of the beauty specialists’ as ideal for keeping the housewife younger and slimmer than the office-worker, provided she goes about things the right way. Wines to serve with different foods, dishes that will be gastronomically "matey" must be considered, and when you've learnt the lot, you send out the invitations. : The whole course (we were told) costs about £45, which provides for lectures for three hours a day for three months. And then what have you? A perfect hostess, a sweet-tempered wife, and a modern Venus, all wrapped in one. So (again) we were told!