No Monday Morning

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 94, 22 April 1933, Page 19

No Monday Morning

"According to the Victorians, any woman, however predestined for spinsterhood she miglit be, always spoke of 'when I marry.' It was beneath her pride to- adopt the general masculine conjunction 'if.' Probably she knew only too well in her heart of hearts that not only was she extremely unlikely to get the chance.to marry but would heartily dislike it if she did. Today it is amusing to see modern women using the same conjunction over another important question in life (states a woman writer to the "Manchester Guardian"}. "It refers to work; or, rather, the giving up of work. There may bo some fervent enthusiasts who are. above such mundane thoughts, but almost every woman I know, however good her job may bo and however inteiested she may be in her work, does play with the idea. The fact that it may be a complote fantasy does not matter in the least. • The point is that work for women is not inevitable-.in the samo way as it is for men. Even if for all sorts of reasons there is no chance of the millionaire husband suddenly descending from heaven in the manner of th© films there are all sorts of other vague possibilities that miglit happen. So on a bad Monday morning, while a man cg.il. only comfort himself with 'if I ani ever able to retire before I drop dead in harness I'll dp so and so,' we can" usually persuade ourselves that' 'when 1 give up work' is a real possibility. "' ' TIME-TABLE STANDARD. "With most women who have been accustomed to working at a profession for a number of years the idea is merely a pleasant fantasy about which they never really go into details. Not working to them just means vaguely not having to get up early if they do not feel like it or not having to. refuse invitations because they interfere with working hours. Only after seeing what happens to various friends who have suddenly 'given up work because of this longing for leisure does one begin to consider the details and wonder if women who have spent ten or .twelve years of their life in some responsible job have lost the art of leisure. "If you have been brought up to socalled leisure and -work has merely been a temporary business for a few years the problem does not arise. If your return to domesticity means definite hours spent in housework or looking after a family of small'children, then also it is different. Still, take it that the job is good and interesting enough not to abandon it without being assured that you will have sufficient mon<!y to enjoy the comfort to which you are accustomed and really have a good deal of leisure. Can you help living to a time-table standard? "I am thinking in particular of a friend of mine who now enjoys this freedom. Until a few years ago she held a most interesting and important post as head of a department of a big business. Then she married a mau who, if not wealthy, is at least comfortably off. For a year or two after her marriage she kept on with her job because she was really interested in it. Then the thought of not having to-be at the office at nine o'clock in the morning six days of the week got her, and she left. NO LEISURE. "Unfortunately, after twelve years of an active working life things have not worked out at all as she had planned. She could not settle to leisure. After two or three months of playing at idleness she got as much involved in various odds and endsj,of work as she ever was before. Either it was some sort of new hobby or game which did not interest her but which she wasjust taking up to pass the time or else she got involved in endless tiresome social obligations. There was no denying the friend or relation who wished for company when it was known that she was a lady of leisure. She is still as far from being able to fulfil her ideal of not having to get up in the morning when she felt like staying in bed. Golf or singing lessons demand punctuality as much as the office did. Some dull already accepted engagement seems to cut across daytime amusement just as much as work did in the old days. Of course, if she had been brought up to leisure- it might be different, but having been used to working to a time-table all these years the thought of a week of blank days ahead is intolerable. So she gets tied up as much as ever, and because most, of her time is spent in trivialities she is a far less interesting person than she used to be. . . "Other friends who have suddenly adopted a life of leisure after being used to hard work seeni no better off. One- of them has just returned to work after an absence of a couple of years as the one method of all the committees and other obligations she had got tied up in. 'It was awful,' she told me, 'I was only too pleased to help with,all sorts of things, but I couldn't bear the. waste of time. If you're used to working you can't do things with-women who are not. And then I don't know how to make excuses. Before, if I didn't want to do anything, I could always blame it on the office. I wouldn't think what to say when I wanted to avoid anything. You don't realiso what a protection a job iS.' ■ ; "Of course she was exaggerating, but there was a good deal'of truth inwhat she said. 'No Monday morning' is a pleasant thought, but perhaps it is better not to go into details.