The Washington times., 1916-01-22
H, but must wash on Mon
dayw exclaims the method
ical housewife, "and. of

H, but l must wash on Mon
day! exclaims the method
ical housewife, "and. of
course, We must have 4 hot
dinner on Sunday noon. We've always
had it,"
And so it goes. The average house
keeper is quite convinced that such and
Euch things must be done as they have
always. be done, and that she must
spend a certain amount OF time (:eEis-
tered only in her own mind) on certain
household tasks. She may wonder why
other women seem to nave more time
why others. III fact. have "a career"
when 1t takes her every minute OF her
waking hours merely to manage the
home. Now, II there is one fault great
er than others which we lay against
women IT. their present state, We would
say IL is lack OF power to concentrate.
How we can "trittcr' time away! Given
two women, each with two babies and
supposedly the identical tasks In their
respective homes. One woman will he
able to carry on cluu work or take sub
scrintions for mngaSine, or sell nome
made bread, thus increasing the family
income The other woman will be con
stantly and forever trying to wind up
the household red tupC and come to an
end OF her COmrleX household duties,
The sole reason for difference between
these women is undoubtedly that the
former could concentrate. and that she
had in mind something over and be-
ycnd her housewOrk, worthy OF concen'
tTating on. She wanted &c take the
her husbands bookkecrer, she wanted
to hnd time to be her childrcn's conf
pEnion, So she studied and shortened
her work and concentrated. thinking
OF the most important ends first. and
not putting undue prominence on the
details.
Any woman, yes, any homemaker,
even with children, can do something
outside of her home If she really wants
To. We have no patience with fairly
wide circle of ladies who grumble that
:other women have careers or work out
side the home and that they cannot. The
chances are that thev are not willing
10 mako the sacrifices nccCssary-to
stride both horns of career and mat
rimony. They may not he willing. for
instance, 20 give up an eYcesD of tele-
phoning TO friends, Eossip and chlt-chat,
They may not be willing to spend far
looking for q waist 20 cents lower and
spending in doing II three valuable hours
in which at concentrated workthey could
certainly have earned several dollars.
They NAV not he willing to give up an
undue amount Of amusement and social
life which eats Uore time out of the av-
erage Woman's day than anyone has
estimated. We all want TO be neghbor-
~ ana 10 nave TflenQs, out that does
not mean telephoning for an hour after
breakfast to find out what so-and- so
wore, or what she said or where they
are going.
We know several women, who, with
children. have met success in work out
side Of the home, and at the same time
managed a beautiful family life One
woman with three little children has
managed to support the entire family
4, when her husband was crippled. An
other with two children and a baby,
finds she can devote at least three hours
a day to literary work. Another has
sent children through college by repre-
sentng magazines, and In no case was
the home neglected. But in every case
the women were willing TO put their
work definitely before Society" dresI
and detail. Any woman can find that