SUBURBAN HOMES

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 35, 11 February 1936, Page 3

SUBURBAN HOMES

CULTURAL INTERESTS

"APPALLING DANGER"

Searching questions about the cuk tural-life of young married women i» ttie suburbs were put by Mr. Hi Wilson Harris, editor of the "Spectator," when he addressed the Association of Head Mistresses of Approved Schooh on the subject of "Woman—right or wrong," states the "Manchester Guardian." Explaining that he considered the right woman was the married woman, he expressed his concern about the suburban wives who had probably left school at the age of eighteen and who now, married to men with incomes of from £400 to £500 a year who were away from home all day, ran their homes with or without a maid. He imagined that there was a ■ good deal of monotony and some drudgery in. their lives, but that their; afternoons . would be free arid they would: hay« opportunities of continuing their edivcation if they chose: ... What land.of books, if any, did the* read? Was it true that they considered the works of Elinor Glyn, Ethel 'B*. Dell, and Victoria Cross suitably literature? Did they read the.dailj* newspapers; did they try to keep i* touch with what was going on; di£ they read critically or credulously;^ He was afraid that as a rule thef swallowed the whole newspaper. Hovr far were these voters interested in th* League of Nations, in the Peace Ballot'? What were they getting from the 8.8.C. and the cinema? The people who were determined to get something out of music, art, and literature were probably in no. better position to do so than these young wives, but they made their opportunities. Mr. Harris thought that more provision should be made for this clas9 of women, whose numbers probably ran into millions and who were, in appalling danger of letting their lives become petty and superficial; "The greater part, of this problem goes back to the school," he told the teachers^ "The whole question is whether you are sending the girls away from your schools believing that their education is complete, or whether they realise that the business of their education is henceforth in their own hands; whether you are sending them out with some kind of treasure for life, and with resources on which they can draw when life is drab and dull."' A member of the audience protested that educate a did not necessarily depend on learning or the reading of books. She knew a good deal about young wives in the suburbs, and;she knew that to be a good .housekeeper or good shopper or good mother demanded excellent' qualities of mind. These duties brought them probably into a much wider world than if they read scientific books or histories. Another woman said she had been told that Henry James always .refused to lecture to women, because, he said, if during his lecture he remarked that a window should be opened they, all wrote it down in their notebooks. • .

A cricket match has been arranged between teams representing the Stage and Press at Kelburn Park on Thursday, commencing at 12.30 p.m. The Press team will be as follows:— Hanratty, McGrath, Churchill, Stevenson. King, Richardson. Hennesy, Chrisp, McAllan, Geddes, and Bickley.,' :

Moscow scientists announce that one hundredweight of rubber can be tamed from two and a half acres, of cultivated sunflowers. . •'