"BACK TO THE HOME."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18862, 10 November 1924, Page 5

"BACK TO THE HOME."

Sir, —With the sentiments of your correspondent, "Plain Jane," regarding the modem woman, and prevalence of divorce, every right-thinking man an 4 woman will agree, if they look only on the surface of things and the earnestness with which the average man will endorse Jane'B slogan, "Back to the. home,'' is a foregone conclusion. Be it said, to' his credit, however, that it will be without giving the subject a serious thought.'. What is to become of that vast majority of womanhood, known as bachelor girls, unappropriated blessings, or whatever name seems most merciful—most of them in the role called Cinderella's sisters! Walk down Queen Street any day and you will meet dozens of them. You will V know them by their sad and wrinkled • faces, many prematurely aged with the ' corners of a once possibly pretty mouth turned sadly down, and hair once raven, or. gelden, streaked heavily with grey. The bright, though anxious expression she has worn for years (while watching for her prince), gone at last, and supplanted by an expression of hopelessness as she gazes into the future.. No little head will bend at her knee while she teaches • the evening prayer, though that has been the dream of her life. Now she is -time-worn, and the awful verdict Z' passed. Can any man realise, it; I wonder? No possibility of any little feet : coming her <way, on this plane. . Only '.-■ the emptiness of the four walls, of home,' and that home, fathers! What woman can . be fully occupied, and interested in any home, but one of her own. Take it from, the economic side. Father's position, if he has had the misfortune to produce half a dozen of Cinderella's sisters and no Cinderellas. Many a middle-olass father in Auckland, with more or less of these blessings, and a moderate banking account, is very sorry to-day that he was so strong as "Plain Jane's" slogan; but wishes he had equipped them for other avenues of industry, which they might well have filled, and been happy and interested business women to-day. This cry of learning domestio duties is all a bogey. What intelligent girl, about to marry, would not.learn all that is necessary from her mother in a week, to keep a home, and cook a dinner, especially when she has the incentive of love, which every woman has, or ought to have for the man she marries.. And I, for one, refuse to believe that girls taking up other than domestio duties necessarily lead to vice. Powder and paint is • pardonable vanity; but cigarette smoking which girls do, in imitation of men, I think, should be discouraged by all rigntthinkmg women, and a better example shown to our girls. Plainer. Ann. Sir, —" Plain Jane " sounds like the cat type of woman who likes to make herself seem more virtuous by-pulling others of her sex to pieces. As a married woman, and a lover of homo life, I agree with her that home is best; but I think she is unfair to the working girl. I be-, lievo Cleopatra painted her cheeks, and the joke of the newly-wads' cooking is very ancient. The modern girl is not as bad as she is painted. If men's digestions suffer, ten to one it is through overeating. Anyone with the brains of: a . carrot can cook a good meal if she uses , : a recipe book. As long as people marry for wealth and position there wJI . .J? divorce. True love grows stronger,wrtn every vear of married "V ,tidying, *as magazines, and pictures wou£, hive us believe. . Husband *g* should be companions, How often one hears a w°man . * oufc is too tired, or has noMune fj°^ d with her husband. a Nev^W worJch . and make tune even_>f^^^, fi n d to be left tiU-WxtJg Carriage, it « time to go out b eforem surely worth whll V„ ot be a handicap, SSI/ CMdren »£&#■£» .£ WJg unless one hkes f aU - $»: ht«e we go»PWf. Xty of to Jhe» ones, and - & often blamed for again, early warriasa tis no t. B o- ' doWio . un Meens myself, I am hapMarried in the teens t d pier now than when I iflee< .gggsh b>v i« ma flr £e happy- either wedded