Great Expectations

Southland Times, Issue 19681, 7 October 1905, Page 3 (Supplement)

Great Expectations

Mon' expect' too much from women nowadays. If a man in business or Government employ were asked to combine the duties of manager, cashier, clerk and caterer for an infinitesimal wage, he would think the world had gone mad, and his employers were qualifying for Bedlam ; but he expects his wife to be bright and chatty and well-dressed when he comes homq, though she be cook and vegetable-maid as well. She must not expect to be allowed a fair share of his income ; his expenses are so heavy. She must wear out her days in unceasing and harassing efforts to make both ends meet on an insufficient allowance ; she must be content to live where it pleases him to take a house, and she must be prepared to take on her shoulders responsibilities that should never be placed there ; but she is not allowed any voice in the apportioning of the (income, though she must be ready to act as scapegoat when things go wrong. If a man requires a woman

whose heart is’ amongst her ” shining pots and pans/- foT goodness sake let him marry one, and not spoil a. good woman by forcing her to become a bad cook. The genus ‘•'domesticated” is not extinct), though it is rather uninteresting, and is scarcelj 7 intellectual.—Daily "Telegraph correspondent.