A NOVEL VIEW.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12365, 2 December 1905, Page 7

A NOVEL VIEW.

Is modern life really as strenuous as we think it is? A clever contributor to an English con temporary responds to this query with a negative. Talking of an imaginary Mrs Tompkins. she relates how this lady fiile up a hr.cc «ni rr engagement book for weeks in advance. She is for ever nmn;ng Jicre .vn<i ih. iv. She belongs to a club,.a bridge set and half a do7.en scc.eties and associations. She dre-ses rather well, nne three children and a reputation for not caring to call on new peopje. The strain of this existence is such that Mrs Tomokins often thinks well of herself for being able to stroid it at all, so on ooc-eions she breaks down aitcgethor, and recuperates with a rest cure.

it would aatonjsh tbe*e people, says the itttl'M.ll£ lv» -U.IO XOUiy kaia«> £Oucia.ly, to .ea.u .hat .nay iva.iy co not kuow want, oiiaui it. 2111s IViaps jl>s mother baa ten* chiiortu. And 6he kept them at home and looked wt». • i\o ua.nvu uur«sej wok m«ni iv uand α-hen ib»y were e.ck, and ilea, ly all tiieir ciotli.ng was home uiaue. .U.e ioiuptuiu enterta.us her tr&nUb by means 01 an occasional "at homo' ana many small iuncuts>at roaiuurams. Mrs Tompkius, senior, gave gr«.at dhiiier 1...0 oUa.n ufuuick would certainly wreck her daughter-in-law. Alie Tumpkhie biies a band or a few profesbiona. t-iugers to entertainer guests; her p:edect£s >v was depend:nt on amateur efforts. M-.de. n ec.oncv lac ni.*uio an iiceues of to-d-ty more 01 ««s in-uecondent. while the average hou-c----wife reaps the benefit of tndltes inventions. Houns a day are no longer tp,?nt in poHsh ng fiimiture; sweeping is duno by machinery, and neither spring cleaning ncr \va hing day cauees the cheek of tlu stalwart matron of to-day to b'anch. If Mre Tompkius finds life strenuous 6he has only herself to blame —which ie more than could have been «aid about Mrs Tcmpk'ins. senior. To k: en nr)flpjH\irance6 alone the 'ott n r_had a liard row to hoe. Fashion ordained ehe should r-evf r be ro"r, and the airy way in which her flicensor admit? pov-1-rtv. wou'd have paralysed her. To have heen kept out of an invitat : on list would h*v* '---"t r nvrako «t n.jtht. Tli? modern Mrs Tompk : rs hardly .eves it a thought. !ri?ro-nd of social life ■trying race strentious ibnn it wsr f-wentr five years ago, it is le?fi so, ana the averaq; ,, woman who breaks do\rn it is liardly deserving of commisi eration.