GIRLS WHO WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15551, 7 March 1914, Page 6 (Supplement)

GIRLS WHO WORK.

MODERN MARTHAS. AND MARTS. In every family where there are several daughters, there is nearly always a Mary, whose interests lie in the busy world of Queen Street, or thereabouts, and a Martha, who stays at home and "does the dishes And, just as surely, you will notice that Mary considers Martha's position rivalled only by that of the lily of the field, while Martha looks upon herself as a kind of manumitted slave. Mary returns to her comfortable home in Ponsonby of an evening, flings herself into, the softest chair, and says with a deep sigh, • "It's well to be you, taking it easy at home all day! The way I've slaved! And alj for a roan who grunts at me when he's in 'a good temper and bellows at me when he isn't!" Martha quite openly permits herself a sniff. "You! It's a pity you don't know when you're well off! Two pounds a week for taking a nice car-ride into Queen Street every day, and tapping out a few letters on a typewriter- If you want to know what work really is, you stay home any Monday morning, and I'll show you!" • Each is convinced in her own mind that the other treads a path of rose-petals spread on eider-down. Martha cannot for the life of her see why her sister cannot execute half-a-dozen little commissions for her in lunch hour. " it's such a nuisance .having to. dress and come in from Ponsonby on purpose," she says. Mary, on her part, considers it an imposition that she should be expected to help darn stockings and wash 'dishes in the evening when, as she expresses it, she's " too tired to-put one foot in front of the other And so the . friction is inevitable. A Matter ol View-point.

The whole trouble, of course, lies in the fact that, neither makes any effort to adapt her view-point. Office work makes a, tremendous demand on a girl's nervous energy, housework on her physical strength. A busy day in either office or house leaves a girl weary, but Martha, at home, has a chance of resting betweenlimes, whereas Mary, in the office, is on this leash practically every hour of the day, A little .forbearance works wonders when things grow tense. Let Martha remember that her sister is not paid two pounds a week for merely looking ornamental, and that home duties come hard on top of business worries. And let Mary on her part realise that cooking, washing and sewing are not just mild little forms cf recreation like guessing competitions •ind table-croquet. In this way, appreciation of each other's duties will do away with the petty friction that so often leads Lo unkindly words and foolish misunderstandings. Children and Toys. Into the toy department of one of Auckland's big stores came a proud father leading his little son, aged four or five. What do you think he bought that child ? An expensive model of an aeroplane, a complicated mechanical thing, all wheels and screws and springs— to puzzle the brain of a grown-up! . .That father was full of love and pride, but common sense certainly took a back seat when he choose his child's toy. The toys dear to the heart of childhood are those that appeal to the imagination. An elaborately constructed model cannot and does not satisfy as a simple, home-, made toy often does. There is nothing left for a chi d to do to one of thesie high priced models, except break it open to watch the wheels go rounds Give a little child an elaborate toy motor-car, for instance. He will watch it, entranced for a little while, then the chances are he'll take it up and fling it on the floor with a, satisfied smile He has done the only thing he could think of doing with it. The same with infants. Give one a doll that shilts its eyes and says its, 'prayers, and baby will pound its sinn king face to pulp. Yet an old rag doll, hideous as a witch and twice as limp, will be unto that infant as the apple of its eye, and long after la poupee has died a violent death, torn limb from ' joint, the ragged one will sit in the seat of honour, the beloved companion and confidante of childhood.

Too Much Hospitality. ■ Hostesses, beware of being too hospitable. This warning will probably be scouted with indignation. " How absurd!" says Mrs. Fussy, "as though I were ever over-hospitable to any of my guests! They mvHrfnbiy jay what a perfectly delightful time they've had." Ah, but they don't invariably say just exactly what they think •, ' One great 0 " 51 is to dietinguish between true hospitality and elfus.venesß. Hostesses not infrequently miss this point. If you are observed sitting quietly in a corner for five consecutive seconds the chances are your hostess will swoop down 'on you with a postcard album, possibly anchoring you to that particular spot just as you're thinking of getting up and trying your luck with the pretty girl over m the opposite corner Nobotfy cares to see guests neglected, but there is a wide difference between giving them a moment to take breath and neglecting them! Again, at meal times, have we not each one of us been coerced into going on eating long after we know quite well we should have stopped? It would be dreadful to think our hostess suspected us of having starved for several days in anticipation ot her bounty, yet that "is really the impres-. sion she often gives.! No matter how politely you try to intimate you have already eaten far more than iB good for you, she overwhelms you with a surfeit of good things. If you gently refuse to be surfeited she takes it as a reflection on her cooking. So eventually you succumb, and fall into a kind of lethargy that renders you limp and dull and more or less unhappy for the rest of the evening. : s After all, it is only little boys and girls at a Sunday-school treat who don't know When thy've had enough. School Girls as Caterers. . How often we hear the old cry from our army of .hungry business men "and girls, "Where shall we go for lunch ? We don't want a heavy dinner and we don't want stale cakes and strong tea!" Over in America they have exactly the right kind of answer to that cry! One of the very latest innovations in the educational line is creating much interest and proving highly successful— of public luncheons cooked and served by the students of the cookery department of one of the big State schools. A charge of one shilling is made and these lunches have become so popular that tables have to be reserved a week ahead. The schedule is so planned that a different girl is hostess each day; she plans the menu, docs the marketing, and orders diningroom arrangement and decoration. This public luncheon system is of great value to the students in that it teaches them to be indeperidet and resourceful. In the oookery class each girl works alone, but in this course they learn to work together and although each girl has her i own individual duties, the results must all be ready at the same time. These American _ lassies are evidently setting about learning domestic science in the only right way, the practical wav. They are taught proper combinations of foods, what things are seasonable, and how to serve every article in the most pleasing and nutritive way _ They go down town, do their own selecting and even carry most of their purchases back in baskets! This last item, one fears, might not prove at all popular with our sensitive Auckland lassies who order even a box of matches over the telephone, but still, what an excellent thing it would be if some of our local cookery-class graduates could be induced to take hold of things in the same practical manner! One thing is sure, once the idea "took" and was properly carried out .we, should hear verv little more of that hungry plaint, " Where shall- we go' ,for lunchl-