HOME LIFE IN DENMARK.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 19, 23 January 1926, Page 26

HOME LIFE IN DENMARK.

The husband ia a very important person in the Danish household. By that it is not meant to convey that the wife is a nonentity in her home. Far from it. Danish women had the vote long before English women. Also, they share in masculine professions and avocations to an even greater extent than in this country. But the patriarchal idea is very strong, though perhaps not quite so much now as formerly, and the Danish husband is the head of the household not only in theory but in fact. Mr. Carl Brisson, one of the most popular actors on the English stage to-day, and a Dane by birth, illustrated this point when interviewed recently. "Take dinner in a Dutch hous*e," ha said. "It is true that, except on Christmas Eve, when the husband dissects the goose, the wife always carves, but she does not distribute the food. When she has caj#ed a portion a servant, if there is one, or a member of the family, takes the dish to the master

(unless a guest is ( present) and he helps himself. Guests excepted, food is offered to him before anyone else. "Danish children, though lovingly treated, have to render strict obedience and respect to their parents. They never address them as 'you,' but always as 'daddy' or 'mamma.' Thus a Danish child would not say to its father: 'Will you please give mc this?' but 'Will daddy give mc this? . Children under 14 or so have their meals by themselves, except on festive occasions. "In ■ short, I should say that the Danish home of to-day, with its patriarchal atmosphere and the discipline of the children," added Mr. Brisson, "corresponds to the English home of fifty years ago, as I have read about it." The servant problem is as acute in Denmark as here. As a result, people began to develop the restaurant and flat' habit and home ties were being lessened. This,*Tiowever, has been checked by the Government's action in imposing a 10 per cent tax on hotels and restaurant bills. The y ,duty is resented, and'at present hotels and restaurants are more or les3 boycotted. As is general on the Continent, the Danish breakfast consists 6f_ coffee and rolls. Lunch, at 12 noon, is a substantial meal; dinner is taken between 7 and 8. In between is "five o'clock tea," made fashionable by British officers interned during the war. Most ••Danish people, however, drink coffee, not tea, at this meal, which is a movable feast. , "The distinctive features of the Danish home life," said Mr. Brisson, "are the predominance of the master of the household, the pride the women take in housecraft, the good behaviour •of the children, and the cheapness of the living, for a middle-claea family of six can manage very comfortably on £300 a year.' Women in England are joining the Fascisti in increasing numbers, writes the London correspondent of "The Dawn," the paper published by the women of West Australia, and the recent appeal of the Government for recruits £L ♦* *♦? b ° dy known aB the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies is also receiving strong support. The Communist party Women have been turning full force at the trial of thel? leaders for sedition, though so far no woman Communist has been arrested.