Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1912-01-12
ROMANCE IN THE HOME
INABILITY TO DETECT 1T CAUSE
OF MANY MISERIES.
Domestic Duties Never Appear to Be
Mere Drudgery When the House
wife Goes About Them In the
Proper Spirit.

The dullness of domestic life is one
of the commonest complaints uttered
by certain type Of the modern wo-
man. She chafes at the daily task,
the common round. To her 1t seems
that the four walls of her home par
take of the character of prison house
and that all the romance. the pleasure,
and the interest of life lie outside.
Within she finds only drudgery and
sordid conditions. She awakes in the
morning with sigh, contemplating
the dreary duties. She seeks her rest
at night, bored and weary with the
tedium of days domestic toll.
She envies the woman who works
in the wider world, who mixes with
men in the mart, who carves for her
self career, and who is free from
the endless irritations and annoyances
that beset and vex the woman in the
home.
Such thoughts as these increase her
discomfort. The monotony against
which she murmurs grows more griev-
Gus. She acquires chronic querul-
BUSINESS that communicates itself to all
who come under her influence. The
husband feels it and flies for comfort
to his club. The children are con-
scious of it and seek solace in other
scenes.
Inability to detect the romance of
domesticity is more often than not the
reasons why the miseries depicted en-
ter presently into many married lives
that had opened under the most prom
Using auspices.
But what is the romance of domestic
life? Wherein does it lie? Only
those who are unconscious of it will
ask the question.
Is there not, in the first place, ro
nance in the very name of "family?'
Is it not one of the most profoundly
interesting culminations of ages of so
cial evolution? A microcosm of the
state, it should possess, in little, all
the interest of state. Whether II
be an autocracy, a limited monarchy
or republic of two, 1t has foreign
relations which require the exercise
of the utmost tact. 1t has or should
have an annual budget, which. may
cause much CONSERVATION in certain
quarters of the domestic menage. II
is concerned with commerce. The
quality and quantity of its imports
although figuring under the mundane
names of bread and meat and grocer
les and such like, are of as great i'm
portance to 1t as its foreign trade tc
the most populace state.
1t has traffic-indirect, It is true
with foreign lands. Even the humble
currant that adorns Wednesdays roly
poly pudding grew on the sunny slopes
of Greece and each lump of sugar
dropped into the cup brings with it q
measure of tropic heat of the south
ern sun.
The increase in the population oil
the home is, in proportion, as fal
reaching in its effects as in the growth
or dwindling of its people to the
greatest nation. 1t sends forth ennis
| oui " loi LII llcSu COlOuleS, anu
more often than not, 1t maintains 6
defensive force in the shape of dog
to guard 1t from the invasion of hostile
intruders.
1t may seem trivial, absurd, to draw
such parallels between the home ant
the nation. But deep truth under
lies such fancies. And were the la
bors Of housekeeping and the respon
sibilities Of family life looked at II
the light of their true Importance, the
monotony and ,tedium with which, t.
some minds, they are invested woult
fall from them as the chrysalis husl
falls from the gorgeous wings Of thu
butterfly, permitting it to soar into tn,
higher, brighter element for which 1
is fitted.