THE HOME.

White Ribbon, Volume 12, Issue 139, 15 December 1906, Page 10

THE HOME.

“SHE.” “She” is away-absent. When a man says “ she," he is understood. To every “ lie there is hut one “ she.’ or should he. And “she" is away, leaving us to thought and good resolutions. Like Hawthorne, we have been washing dishes. Says “ he : “The washing of dishes docs seem to me the most absurd and unsatisfactor*’ business that 1 ever undertook. If, when once washed, they would remain clean forever and ever (which they ought in all reason to do, considering how much trouble it is), there would he less occasi n to grumble, hut no sooner is it done than it requires to he done again, On tin* whole, I have come to the resolution not to use more than one dish at each meal.’ The quiet fidelity with which “sin* will dish-wash her life away lor “ him is a marvel of endurance and grace .lust here is the servitude of woman heaviest -no sooner is her work done than it requires to be done again. Man works up jobs, ends them, and takes his pay. The pay can be translated into something else desirable. A man works all day and draws His Pay tor His Day’s Work. This pay allures him, as oats a horse homeward bound. Thus men work by terms and jobs, and although the work is endless as to quantity, yet when cut up thus into terms and jobs, we men go heartily on our journey and count the milestones Not so with our mates. “She mends our socks, and we put an irrepressible toe ujion the darned spot, and she darns it again. “She washes for the family, and the family makes haste to send back the same garments to be washed again. “She" puts the room in order, and we get it ready to he “rid up" again. The same socks, the same washing, tin* same room every* time. “She has no successive jobs, no terms, no pay day, no tally-stick of life. “She washes the same dish three hundred and sixty-five- yes three times three hundred and sixty-five

times every year. No wonder she breaks it and is glad of it! What a happy relief to say, “ I've done that dish.” Not only have we, like Hawthorne, washed dishes, but also we eooked and served and helped eat a meal (with bated appetite because of cooking), and now we arc astonished at the number of thoughts, and steps, and acts, and processes involved in a very plain supper. And we had it, and with it came wisdom. Gentlemen, all, we go into a room and see a table ready set. It seems to us one thing a supper. It is, in fact, from fifty to two hundred separate things taken down one by one for us to use and for “her to wash and put back whence they came. There is a plate of rolls. To that plate of simplicity we, with our bands and feet, brought together a new, quick tire for baking, viz., kindling-wood, raking out the stove, and hod of coal, flour from the bin, shortening, salt from one box, sugar from another, a spoon, a pitcher of water, a dripping pan, and a thin pan for mixing up these ingredients, and, after all, happening to forget the things for ten minutes, we burned the rolls half through in a way which we men Reckon quite Unpardonable in a Cook. Meanwhile that one plate of rolls added to the eternal dish-wash two s|>oons, 'two pans, one plate and a cup. A little piece of steak contributed eight

pieces to the dish-wash. A few strawberries sent in six pieces to be got ready to soil again. Four eggs impressed themselves on six separate articles. Gentlemen, we began at ten minutes to six, and at a quarter to eight we found ourselves triumphant everything cleared away except the dish-cloth. You see, we washed up the bread-pail, the dish-pan and the sink, scalding them all (and our lingers too), and dried them off with the dish-cloth. Now, where on earth can we go to wash out that dish-rag? Not in the clean pan! Not over the clean dry sink! We stood aghast for live* minutes, and then wadded up the rag, round like a snowball, and tucked it into the far corner of the sink, and shut down the cover (our sink has a cover). Hut that rag, though hidden, was heavy on our conscience. “She never would have done so. W e nave seen clean dishcloths, hut how they wash them passes our skill. And so, as we said, “ she is away, leaving us to thought and good resolutions. We shall be wiser and better men for at least two days after her return. And whenever we stop to think, shall rank a successful housekeeper and home-maker as a worker second to none in the scale of achievement and deserving Her services are like the air, the rain, and the sunshine, indispensable, yet too often enjoyed without thanksgiving.