FINDING HAPPINESS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 579, 8 October 1932, Page 20 (Supplement)

FINDING HAPPINESS.

Lessons of Life from Mrs Relief Worker. STRIVING AND CONTRIVING. Mrs. Keiief-Worker laugUed uncertainly as she looked around the rather bare room of her new home. The sudden remembrance of her former home in England had come to her. In her mind’s eye she saw the old rooms in which every available inch of space was taken up, the really useful articles of furniture being supplemented by occasional tables, whatnots, palm stands, etc., every one crowded with useless ornaments and souvenirs of holidays spent at various resorts. The gold letters of “A Present From Here and There” gleamed at one from all parts of the sitting room, and made a good deal of extra work on cleaning days. Well she remembered her regret at parting with exactly one •Jiundred of these ornaments when packing up to come to New Zealand. The contrast between the former and the present homes was almost laughable, but she could have wept instead, for the former represented Plenty, and the latter, if not absolute Penury, then only bare Necessities. With five children, the eldest being twelve years old, Mrs. Relief-Worker (as she was not at that time) had momentarily lost her usual cheerfulness when the news come that her husband had been put off from his job—and he in hospital when the letter of dismissal arrived, addressed to her. They had only a small amount in the savings bank, lor the weekly expenses left little enough to spare for a rainy day. Then, too, she and her husband were the most generous hearted folk one could hope to meet, always helping someone, with never a thought of repayment. They were thus ill-prepared for the bad news. The first decision was to leave the township where they had rented a house for five or six years, and they were lucky enough to secure an acre or so of land at a nominal rate, a few miles out of town. The remainder of their sayings paid for the materials for a corrugated iron dwelling place, and before he could get on the relief work, Mr. Relief-Worker-to-be had time to build the little home. Although quite amateurish to a carpenter’s eyes, it was very neat, lined with wall-board, and complete with a home-made chimney. The Country Home. The family was delighted with its new country home. They had had only one holiday in six years, and to live in the country seemed to the children exactly like one long holiday. They did not know the feelings that surged through their mother’s heart as she packed up her household goods preparatory to moving. They did not guess that tears lay perilously near her gay farewell words to many of her friends in the township. Several months have passed since the family moved into the new home, which proved very cosy throughout the winter months. It was very tiny, only two rooms with a partition in one to form a third room. Living was cheaper here, since firewood could be had for the gathering and chopping; a farmer neighbouc had given them a cow with a better calf; someone gave the children a few hens, and they hoped to use their own ' vegetables in a short time. Life went on quietly, though with continual striving and contriving to make ends meet on the average income of 28/ a week, but when two of the girls were invited to the township for the holidays, the household was infected with the prevailing excitement. Mrs. Relief-Worker hated to chase the happiness from the girls’ eyes, but it seemed impossible for -them to go away, for the only clothes they had were their everyday school things. Best clothes were missing this winter. So she said, “You had better not go. You’d need some new clothes, and I cannot possibly manage to get anything new.” Mother Manages.

It was hard to resist the coaxing and pleading that followed. At length the mother gave a reluctant consent, and the younget girl said confidently, “You’ll manage somehow, I know, Mum!” with the usual child belief in a mother's power to work wonders even on an empty purse. While the girls danced around her in a transport of joy, Mrs. Relief-Worker was racking her brains in a vain endeavour to pay the weekly accounts, and yet leave enough to spare for a few yards of material. When the figures were all worked out, she found that only two shillings remained. Lightweight New Zealand flannel was advertised at a shilling a yard in the township, so she bought two yards from which she made a dainty little dress for Miss Nine-years-old.

For the older girl’s dress the problem was not so easily solved. The mother was lying sleepless one night when the solution flashed upon her. A light brown coat of wool crepe de chine that had been her standby for several past summers; a reminder of more moneyed days, would make a very nice dress for her eldest girl. And careful cutting and making resulted in a pretty frock of the latest style becoming the most important item in the girl’s holiday case. The children’s gratitude wa3 touching to see, and when one remembered how, iesc than a year ago, they took new clothes as a matter of course, it showed that even slumps have their uses in the development of character. Mrs. Relief-Worker expressed the general thought of the household when she said, “This time of struggle has been helping us all. The family is more interested in everyday happenings, and altogether we are a happier family because this i 3 a free life and v.e are no longer involved in the continua/ struggle to keep up appearances ”