Domestic Problems And Pitfalls

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31221, 19 November 1966, Page 4

Domestic Problems And Pitfalls

Sixpence In Her Shoe. By Phyllis McGinley. Dent. 281 pp.

Little Women who aspire to be Good Wives should buy this book and keep it by them for reference, for in domestic sagacity the author could certainly be described as a female Solomon. She is also winner of the Pulitzer prize for poetry, and the author of numerous children’s books. The title is a quotation of a medieval saying which promised the industrious and virtuous housewife that she would sometimes find “sixpence in her shoe”— or, as Mrs McGinley interprets the phrase—a reward. These pages, the results of many years of garnered experience, contain advice, personal reminiscences and some forceful opinions on woman’s function in society. The author begins by expressing gentle derision of the American wife who, having had a college education, feels that a life devoted to rearing children, cherishing a husband, running a house and undertaking numerous forms of public duties is not enough to satisfy her soaring intellectual ambitions. The fact that she had entered this servitude willingly enough provides no solace for missed opportunities to serve humanity in more satisfying fields of endeavour. The complaint that, in effect, a working husband has “all the fun” during the daily round of his professional activities is neatly countered by pointing out that he can also be, and frequently is, at the mercy of the moods of others, or the victim of an ulcer brought on by anxiety for the material well-being of his wife and family. Light-heartedly, but with relentless common sense Mrs McGinley covers a wide gamut of domestic problems, unerringly hitting numerous half-concealed nails on the head in her progress. She herself is a highly gifted cook, and cookery books figure in her favourite reading, but she deplores the American housewife’s perpetual preoccupation with new and expensive additions to her kitchen equipment, which she claims are the hallmark of the “anticook”—i.e. one who keeps vast amounts of ready-to-eat foods in a frozen condition, to be disinterred, and thawed out daily for the nourishment of family and guests. Her kitchen, in fact, is more of a

status symbol than the gastronomic heart of her home. On the subject of children —their character, needs and training—the author shows the same admirably objecttive point of view. She stigmatises for dull uniformity and equally dull material those modern books for young children, with their carefully selected 350 word vocabulary and lavish illustrations, which do nothing to stimulate any child with a desire to explore the paths of literature. She is equally downright on tbe subject of good manners which she equates with good morals, giving formidable examples to prove the point, and confound those finely progressive parents who allow the young to overrule in their own selfish interests the comfort and convenience of their elders.

In a slashing chapter entitled “Keeping up with the Jones Jr.,” the author expresses pious gratitude that she does not have to be a child in this era of perpetual emulation—whether in the fields of sport, education or social know-how. “At seven little girls ought to start carting warm looks on their favourite cub-scout. ... At thirteen or fourteen, they should have turned into accomplished sirens.” For the boys such rigid training also applies. “Sturdy bachelors of ten and eleven are ptodded into following the path their elders think suitable.” As a result “. . . girls learn to be wallflowers before their petals open, and boys to retreat into premature misogyny with voices still unbroken.” Some of the author's observations on the tyranny and remorseless competition of training tbe young for games should be read, marked, learned and inwardly digested by New Zealand parents. Mrs McGinley has some delightfully illuminating chapters on parties, hired help, and guests (welcome or otherwise), and to round off this notable “vade mecum” on domestic problems and pitfalls she finishes the book with "a wreath of recipes.” It is not often that so much bracing advice is expressed in irreproachable prose, but this rare and lovely combination is evident from her first chap ter to her last.

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