"THE SPORT.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16366, 3 March 1921, Page 9

"THE SPORT.”

DOES SHE MAKE A GOOD HOUSEWIFE? At oat! time the question. “ Does the sportswoman make a good housewife?” would have been answered instantly and decisively in the negative. Even now, iu certain circles, tho same opinion prevails, particularly amongst unknowledgable men, who ridicule the idea that the two roles can be happily combined in one and the same woman. Thus is tho sportswoman maligned offhand, chiefly on tho grounds that because she spends a considerable portion of her time on tho links, on the courts, on the river bank, or on horseback, it follows that she is wrapped up in her sporting interests and consequently is neglectful of her home. Intimate knowledge extending over some twenty . years of both sport and home life or many prominent sportswomen moves the writer to take up the cudgels on their behalf and to endeavour to prove to the world of unbelievers that those very characteristics that go to form a good sportswoman are just the very ones that produce a capable wifeFirst and foremost stands the quality of what is commonly called “ good temper.” Tri all sports, games, and pursuits, when competition is the ruling spirit, good temper is one of the essential attributes. A woman who cannot control her temper or her tongue is equally unsuccessful on the field or in the home. Temper is more often than not a matter of health. The sportswoman is invariably a healthy woman, and the wholesome toil© engendered bv open-air life and freo intercourse with a number of other human beings greatly assist her in coping with the difficulties which few present day housewives can escape. Secondly, there is tho quality ol method. All sports demand a considerable amount of method. Fifteen years’ experience us a golf club secretary has convinced the writer that, whereas the majority of new members were decidedly unmethodical, it required a very short time to bring about u change in their ways. "Whether this was effected by force of example or because they found that, unless they reformed, they would never become good sportswomen, it was indisputably proved that not only did they soon acquire methodical habits, but also that in 90 per cent of the cases the reform was not left at the club, but carried back to tho home. Sportswomen’ possess intuition in a marked degree- It is born in them, and is there before the sporting instinct develops. AN hat can be more helpful to the housewife than this habit of swift determination and a just comprehension of the details of running a home? Sportswomen are ’‘hail-fel-low-well-met.” Nowadays, when the milkman is an ex-captain, the grocer has served behind the guns, and the laundress has frequently driven the general irom H.Q. to somewhere “ down tho lino ” under heavy fire, the ” hail-fellow-well-met ” manner is distinctly an asset ivi command of wliat. in the days ut keener class distinction, would have been called ” services.” No real sportswoman would attempt to run her hum© on the old-fasliioued lines wlien the mistress issued orders to servants. Tho sportswoman's home is often run on exceedingly unconventional lines, but is invariably extremely comfortable. because such excellent understanding exists between housewife and staff 1 . The sportswoman is not as is so very, very often stated, indifferent to the matter of food. Her own healthy appetite compels attention to this branch of liousewiferv, and makes her alive to the needs of others. Finally (another point often contended), th© clean living sportswoman is such a creature of esprit de corps that site reckons it a privilege (not as do the fireside, bridge-and-poker-loving women, merely a duly) to the homo haopv and pleasant for her. fel-low-inmates. Her sporting instincts render her tolerant of the faults and shortcomings of others. She is free from the nagging, jealous, intriguing tendencies often oresont in those who lead a less -wholesome, vigorous life, and although she is notj as a class, inclined to he intellectual, she is oertainly broad-minded and possessed of an infallible fund of pleasant, breezy smnll talk.—Blanche St Clair, in “The Daily Mail.”