A Man About the House.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 20, 19 May 1909, Page 37

A Man About the House.

THE DEPRESSING RESI’LT OF ENTIRE FEMININE RI LE. • His every foot has music in't As he comes up the stair.” The world of women has been brought up to the gratifying belief that no real home can exist without a woman’s refining influence over it, without a woman’s hand to guide and direct its affairs; and. let the truth be said, nine men out of ten will heartily confirm this statement. But what of the other side of the question? What of the home without a man? Well, it is useless to deny it. ami I write from a woman's point of view, the house without a man in it or belonging to it is a house dull, stultified, ves. ami forlorn.

Why and how is it? There is some explanation, perhaps, in the undeniable

fact that man is at the best a selfish creature by nature and heritage of su periority; he demands much more than he gives; and yet it is these seemingly unlovable characteristics which bring out the best housewifely qualities of a woman. But place her in a sphere of responsibility where she has only herself and her kind to "shut doors with." study or fend for. and she will straightway develop into a self-centred individual; the sacrifices and domestic upheavals cheerfully and gladly rendered and endured for the man about the house, she will resent as unnecessary and impossible of achievement. 1 have been in many such manless houses, and never in one did I not fee! this strange, depressing influence pro

dtieed by solely feminine rule, an influence one feels directly one enters the portals; and the masculine hat boldly hanging in the hall as a dread warning of man’s presence does not deceive us any more than it does the tramping fraternity tor whose subjection it is displayed. Chill Rigidity. If there are ample means, a ehill end fixed rigidity of routine will prevail; the daily round of duties will be a religion never, on any pretext, to be departed from; and the number of small, irri fating observances will continually grati upon the nerves of the visitor: and it istrange to note how even an intellectua feminine mind can become a victim tc

this tyranny of small grooves and duties in the manless house. Where means are narrow, a kind of “scrappy" regime will be found, which may be best described perhaps as the daily lunch a bun. and the evening meal “something on the tray." more on the anything-will-do principle because ‘we are alone” than for lack of money. But man. l>e he “saint or dear sinner." brings with him the atmosphere of freedom ami life, the breath of the great world outside; he is as the open window in an airless room, the ray of sunshine on a wintry day. He imperturbably tramples upon narrow-minded prejudices and cherished methods. He laughs at lived rules, and is a continual domestic 'lawbreaker. Male Confusion. His pipe is ever linking in forbidden places; his newspapers are strewn all over the room: a glorious muddle is created whenever he searches for anything; a hundred and-one absurd little attentions are asked of his womankind; a sacred atmosphere is created around his own belongings—hooks, golf-sticks, fishing rods, or hunting boots; the toil entailed in looking after the same means —and again 1 speak from the woman's point of view—the difference between domestic stagnation and cheery activity. Moreover, the man about the house is the real and undisputed head: he typifies stability and authority, and finds it an easy task to obtain the obedience from dependants which a woman ruler often struggles hard to exact. The domestics are anxious to study his likes and dislikes; his foibles, laughed at in a woman, will be carefully and sympathetically considered: he is undoubtedly the real interest to the household staff, who regard him. each in their own way. with awe, affection, or motherly toleration, but ever as the dominant note in the house. Let me say here unhesitatingly that the house of the bachelor woman, she

who takes her part in the arena of life, is exempt from any criticism, for she lives in the world, and the world means men for friends or comrades. I have written this article from honest and inborn conviction: but now the disquieting thought stands over me that 1 have been laying bare our feminine weakness in so extolling the benefits wrought by the sterner sex in the home. To do men justice. I do not believe many of them realise their worth in this respect. so let me devoutly hope that 1 have not opened their eves. E. G.