Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1904-02-12
THE SENSIBLE WOMAN.
She Does Not Try to Lead the Process
sion, but to Keep Her Place.


by CHRISTINE TsNnuSg HrnRoR,
Author Of" Cradle and Nursery" "Fira did 10
the Young Housekeepsrs" housekeeping
Made Easy" what 10 Eat"
IN CITY Tents" Etc.
Copyright, 1904, by Christine Terhune iierrick)
The woman who attempts to hold
her own has her work cut out for her.
A man may, II he IL In luck, have
certain unity about his occupations.
woman who tries to keep up with the
times is Pooh Bah In petticoats. She
IL number Of things In succession
and never any one thing long. She nils
position on one side Of the stage ana
then goes to the other side In a fresh
capacity. Unlike the original Pooh
Bah. she does not draw salary FOR
each pursuit. Instead Of this, she US
ually has the privilege Of finding vir-
tue its own and only reward.
The woman who does not keep up
with the times. drifts easily Into mo-
notony. This is a blunder.
Never should you let yourself get
into n rut, my friend the housekeeper.
It does not pay. Perhaps II may seem
to tighten labor to have the wheels run
in a groove. but In the long run,-and
often In the short run, too,--it Will be
found to be a mistake. If 1t is your
sense OF duty that puts you and keeps
YOU there, go to work to try to remodel
your perception Of what constitutes
duty. II you have New England con-
science OF the virulent type. take chic
reform and have 1t extracted. Some
times the roots go too deep for this,
and then the only thing that will help
is constant treatment
The woman who means to hold her
own should consider seriously what
her own is. First and foremost, she
will probably tell you, are those who
belong to her household. They must
be cared for. fed and clothed. Grant
ed. But men--like wise women and
children-do not live by bread alone,
and the life is more than raiment.
We all of US know homes where the
bodies of the inmates are fed and the
souls and spirits go starved.
once upon a time I knew home
where everyone was happy. 1t was
badly kept house,-from one point or
view. The mother was no housekeep-
er and she knew it. There were holes
In the linen, Sits in the window shades,
frayed spots In the carpets. The SER
vice of the table could only be de-
scribed as higgledy- piggledy. Yet l
have never known more united ram
ily. There may have been cracks in
the china, but there was none In the
domestic unity. The children were
oh
mother were companionable and
charming.
OF course, 1t was not because the
house was in rags and splinters. II
might have been patched and the fam
ily peace still unbroken. But anyone
who had to choose between living In
such home and In domain presided
over by the kind Of gorgon known as a
nasty particular" housekeeper would
not have hesitated for moment. He
would have preferred goodness TO
cleanliness and taken 1t at the first
offer.
Either of these illustrations Is an
extreme and this is what the woman
who holds her own strives to avoid.
The middle course that has been de-
scribed as golden is the end OF her
efforts.
In order to win this she should lay
to heart the truth that something
must be crowded out, One woman,
with one head. one back, one set OF
nerves, hands and feet, cannot accom-
plish everything. II she does, there Is
very little left of the woman but a lot
of assorted fragments and the. memory
of a strenuous life. There are far bet
ter things than these to put into the
family collection. When modern sur
gerry reaches the point where 1t is pos
sible to insert new backs, and replace
defective nerves, a woman may ac-
complish all she wishes she could do
and all a mere man thinks she might
do. Until then she must be content
ed to be as the Creator made her.
There is a choice in what may be
crowded out. / have spoken OF the
advantage OF diversity of occupation.
A woman must not be all housekeeper
lest she neglect the weightier matters
Of the law. She must not be all wire,
for fear her children should suffer- nor
should she be all mother, under pen
atty of causing her husband to feel
like an imposed upon boarder in his
own home. Still less should she In her
desire to keep step with the march OF
events outside, devote herself so I'M
reservedly to womens clubs, mothers
meetings and cooking classes that her
children bring themselves up by hand
and her husband finds his only salts
factory gastronomic greeting at the
club or the restaurant. In the ghoul-
ish phrase of a sprightly young man.
she does not wish either to keep IN
front with the hearse or come trail
ing along at the back with the buggles.
1t is no small thing to be wife ana
mother and the fools who yearly rush
into a relation where angels might
well fear to tread open a terrifying
prospect for the future of the race.
Still, the fools are not in the majority,