“LET ME BUY YOU A HATI”

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2340, 9 January 1926, Page 6

“LET ME BUY YOU A HATI”

Melisande opened the final demand for income tax. “And now I shan’t be able to buy that little purple hat,” she mourned. There was a moment’s blank alienee. Then: "Let m e buy .you a hat,” said her husband. Melisande began her usual emphatic "Oh, no .. Then stopped suddenly,. I'd love it,” she said Instead. “What an awful shame,” protested her; sister, when She heard about it latth*. ‘‘YouhaVfe 'far ifior'rMvmdF-to spend on hats than he has, in spite of everything.. ..” But Mellsande’s thoughts had gone deeper than that. They had married on an extraordinarily small income; they had agreed that Melisande should go on with her work, and that expenses should be on the share-and-share-alike principle. It has to be, nowadays. And the wives are the last to complain. But they do sometimes regret—just a tiny bit, th e passing of the days when husbands puffed out their chests with pride and said; “I would never allow my wife to earn money.” No longer does th 0 husand feel an overwhelming responsibility' for his wife. And, while she will cheerily earn money rather than be a charge on him in times that ar e not plentiful, she can’t help feeding that little, tiny regre-t .. .. for the passing of the old order. Melisande knew that her new hat would mean a week of scanty lunches for her husband. But ho would feel a glow of protective manhood every time he saw that hat. The pleasure of giving to his wife would urge him on. to fresh endeavour. It is not all honey—to share-and-share-allke. And many wives would give a .great deal to go back to the old regime under which the woman ‘stayed at home and kept house.’ But it cannot always be. And It is just those unexpected flashes of responsibility—which the wife must never ignore or question—that will save her own happiness and her husband’s self-respect.

A practical littl e blouse in one of the new printed crepes, with crepe plain collar, tie, and cuffs.