TOO MUCH TO DO.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 171, 21 July 1928, Page 4 (Supplement)

TOO MUCH TO DO.

i MOST WOMEN'S ENDLESS PLAINT. the need for courage. (Br MARGUERITE.) Henry i- rather proud of the children's '' (>nr - n!1,1 hist evening he asked me to d watch •• Auzae'' perform his trick-. :i ~:l' '/"tlier:" 1 exclaimed, rather Irri- ; ,ab!y, lin afraid. "[ havo far too much to do to spare time for watch-ins; cats."' I had had many worries and vevation\,and a lot of discouragement to face during the day, but tiiat did not prev v,Mlt Henry i;iv : n<r me a short, .-harp ecturo on my replv. r \ou women uotild lie a great den! s haptder." he said pointedlv." "if vou . would only try to forget for a while . -oiiictinics just how much you have to do. 1 know that most of you ba\e a i"'iy lot more to do than you should t . ha\e, but referring to it on evcrv [msii "dhle occasion docs not make the jo'.i t . any easier, nor docs it make _\ou air, c more popular. Personal 1 •rooding over tiie job only seems to make it harder." t Now. 1 was rather badly annoved iwith Henry for that—but 'don't you th nk lie uttered stark wisdom'.' Don t we women—particularly that groat army of us who must do our own household work-—brood far too much I " v, ' r the exactions, of the task that is ours? Of course we do; and it is very 1 human to do it.' If we watch oursolvo-. i' closely we will find that "what we have' k to do' has become so great a cloud on • our mental horizon that references to it. 1 direct or indirect, are intertwined with our family and social connections. It. is '• the plaintive excuse that keeps us away • irom little events that wou.d yield u- • relaxation and happiness; perhaps a shopping expedition with a friend, a ■ visit to the pictures, an even ng '"listen- • ' iii£r-in," a jaunt in Smith's car. 1 '' Most of us have too much to do. The, 1 men know that, but very few of them!' - bother about it. No one realises it so! ■/well as we do ourselves. The point is~;that it is a pity—rather, it is almost, 'a crime—to allow the realisation to take: 1 too large a hold upon the personality. [ j A courageous facing of tlie position, a' determined balancing of tiie exactions' ; of home life and motherhood, and a .reallv honest effort to face and carry rfthem out with the lea*t possible worrvj, .'and discontent—that is what we womeni | should aim at. That is our real job. , „We can't expect the men to help us [/much; most of the poor dears are too 1

j stupid to understand. It is a psycho-'/ i logical fight, in which we must relyL /almost wholly on ourselves for victory. L [j Naturalness, instead of nagging;] ,! graciousness, instead of grizzling;" cour-j age, instead of complaining; womanli-j ness, instead of whimpering; and a;! resolve to throw vigilant defiance ' in the face of the demon that keeps us 1 brooding about having too much to do. * If we women would honestly try to [achieve these things, there would be 1 many brighter homes, and fewer facial 1 ''wrinkles. t