The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-17
WOMAN'S WORLD


New Orleans Picayune, are often silly
enough to think that it shows a lack
of affection for a man to want to
20 off by himself for a rest. 1t is
nothing of the kind. 1t is only the in
stinct of self-preservation, and any
wife. who really loves her husband
and properly appreciates the way he
slaves for his family, will not only see
that he gets his vacation, but that he
is speeded on it joyously and ungrudg-
ingly.
If others were as wise as they are
unselfish, they, also, would demand
YEARLY vacation as their just perquisite.
No work in the world is more grind
ing and more exacting, so amending,
as that of the woman of family She
is in a treadnill, where, day after
day. she goes over the same weary
round of duties, with few diversions
and little relaxation, and by and by
it begins to tell on her. She becomes
cross and irritable. She loses her
charm, and people begin to avoid her
instead of seeking her. Half of the
time this is nothing but the protest of
over wrought nature. Her nagging
and fretting and sharpe speeches are
the cry of the overstrung nerves, and
q little rest and relaxation would re-
store her to her normal self again.
She doesn't take it. She would think
it a crime if she even contemplated
going off anywhere without dragging
fha chil6ron with hor In,
that she does not only herself, but the
children, a grievous wrong. Nobody
knows what little martyrs children
are at the hands and tongue of
nervous mother, whom every trifie ir-
ritates, and whose stop that noise"
Don't do that" are as incessant an
accompaniment of everything that
restless little creatures do, as a Greek
chorus in a classic drama.
l know one woman-a woman who
is chummy with her children, and
adored by them, who every year hires
professional nurse to come and stay
two weeks with her children, while
she goes off and takes rest. When
ever l get to the point" she says,
that everything the children do wor-
ries me-when their laughter and noise
make me jump, and a catch myself
scolding them for trities, and make
sarcastic replies to my husband,
know need a rest and change.
might stay at home and have a spell
of sickness, and spend the money in
doctors bills and medicine, but like
better a couple of weeks in another
city-a visit to an old friend or a quiet
stay at a hotel, where | play l am a
bachelor girl, and eat Welsh rarebits
at midnight and go to the theaters,
and it doesn't cost any more. /
haven't any mother or sister, or aunt
to stay with my children, and SO.
hire a settled professional nurse have
known a long time, and this relieves
my mind of all anxiety about my lit
tie ones welfare. When my ten days
or two weeks are up I come back,
feeling as fresh as a daisy, and with
my mental poise completely restored.
More than that, 1 have a lot of good
new stories, 1 have learned a lot of
new tricks, that interest and amuse
my children, and they hang about me,
and my husband makes love to me,
and peace and amiability reign in our
house. It's great discovery, and if
more women would follow my example
there would be less domestic discord
and fewer invalid wives"
With a woman, however, a vacation
is like champagne. It is excellent as
a stimulus, but too much of it is a
vice, and the woman who shuts her
up at luS OSSllllllIlS VI LIlC Quill
mer and stays away until late in the.
fall, takes a gamblers risk with her
happiness. A dreary, stuffy house,
shrouded in white linen, is not an
attractive place, specially when there
is no one in it to welcome a man
back after the days labor. 1t is too
hot to read, too early to go to bed,
and the long, lonely evening must be
gotten through with. OF course, the
wife, with a selfshness as amazing
as it is stupid, pictures her domestic
John as going home to the funeral
house. letting himself in with his key,
eating a solitary dinner and spending
the evening in rapturous thoughts of
his absent spouse, and longing for her
return. In reality, as those of us who
are stay-at-homes know, something
quite different happens. John feels
lonesome for a few days, and then
he begins to console himself. "Sallie
is enjoying herself" he argues with
practical logic, land so why shouldn't
II" And he does, Nine. Sallie. Many
a d-intentioned husband drifts in
to little summer flirtations with a
pretty girl during his wife's summer
absence. He doesn't mean any par
ticular harm, but the AK has been laid
at the foundations of their domestic
happiness, and sooner or later the
edifice crumbles into dust. All of US
could name dozen families that have
been broken up by scandals that would
never have occurred if the wife had
been at home-making home for her
husband - instead of gallivanting
around at summer resorts. A woman
should not only be the guardian angel
of her home. She should be its watch
dog as we'll. 1t is better to prevent
the robbery than it is to wall over a
lost treasure.
OF course, the traditional excuse for
women going off for the summer is
that they do it for their children. This
is pretty, but not tenable, theory.
II 1t were true, we should see the
mothers taking their children to some
quiet country farm house, where the
little ones could wear old clothes and
reVel in their rightful heritable of
dirt and freedom from the shackles
OF clothes and conventions. If moth
ers would do this, it would atone for
their taking almost any other risk,
Tor every child would be healthier
and better for such an experience, but
lew mothers feel called upon to I'M
molate themselves to that extent for
their children.
The result is that we have the pitt
1ul spectacle on every side of the sum-
mer hotel child, overdressed, spoiled,
pert, restless and disagreeable, play
ing about the hotel corridors, hearing
gossip it has no bushes sto hear,
earning to judge people by their
clothes, and drinking in at every pore
me demoralizing influences by which
she is surrounded. I have seen these
Httle creatures with wizened faces
caused by late hours, and pasty COM