The Washington herald., 1918-06-17

4
that it makes you satisfied with your
lot. It's good to go away. but It's
great to come back. ] suppose the psy-
chology of the thing is that most OF
the times we are too close to our
blessings to realize how beautiful they
are. We have to get far enough away
to get the right perspective on them.
II always spend my vacations with
my married sister who lives In .
pretty little Western town. and
has the traditional vine-wreather cot
ltage, a husband and kiddies, and all
the appurtenanceS that go to make
the conventional picture of the ideal
life for a woman.
Now work very hard. as a woman
has to do who holds down q mans
job and gets a mans salary. and by
the time the good old summer time
rolls around I have gotten to the
place where things have begun to get
on my nerves, and have commenced
pitying myself and wondering IL /
didn't make a mistake when ! didn't
marry the nice corner grocer who pro-
posed to me when was eighteen.
II have sort of begun to feel weepy
you know, when / reflect that have
no strong arm to lean upon. and no
body to stand between me and the
cruel world. And 1t seems a bit lonely
to have nobody waiting for me when
1 come home at night. Business isn't
any longer a thrilling game where one
pits ones wits and cleverness against
the wits and cleverness of crafty op-
ponents.
Its nothing but sordid, reverend
| ~ NJ - kat
and to wish that instead of putting
on my straight fronts and my tailor
made In the morning, and going forth
to do battle with foxy statesmen
could don the frowsy kimona Of do
mesticity, flop down into a rocking
! chair and spend hours following the
, fortunes and misfortunes Of Nellie the
| beautiful cloak model, or some other
. heroine of a six best seller.
That's the mood in which start
to spend my vacation with sister
Wheu I get there 1 perceive that
sister. who is two years younger than
l am, looks ten years older. which
leads me to reflect that possibly an
office is not as wearing on a womans
appearance as a vine-wreathed cot
tage is. I have thought that 1 was
| some hustler, but l observe that
am geared to low speed compared TO
| the move that sister gets on to get
through her days stint. At least
don't have TO do hut one thing at
| time, but sister does twenty simulta-
neously.
81 marvel as I behold her getting
breakfast with one hand, while with
IT, other she quiets the baby. finds
her husband a clean handkerchief,
ties Johnnie's shoes. buttons Marys
dress. teaches the twins their Sun
day school lesson, fixes up a lunch
for Jim who is going fishing, picks
up the clothes that everybody has
scattered all over the floor. answers
the telephone and executes a dozen
| other little side stunts.
And this incessant labor she
keeps up all day. until the children
are tucked in bed at night, and there
| is never one single minute when
she has particle of quiet, or leisure
to sit down and really think. She
lives in domestic bedlam that
would make working in a boiler
factory seem quiet and peaceful,
and that would send me TO an in
sane asylum in six weeks.
And ! also observed that the
strong manly arm on which she
| leans has a pretty close shut fist
at the end OF ii. and that before
she gets a penny she has to explain
what she did with the last one and
what she proposes to do with this
All OF which causes me to have a
beautiful time rejecting on nv
| lucky lot in life. and come home
with my whole point of view about
work changed.
It's hurrah! for the work that
makes me financially independent
It's no! for the hotel room and bath
that are my exclusive property. IT'S
ha! for the aloneness that gives me
an opportunity to loaf and invite my
soul.
My sister takes her vacation bv
coming to see me every winter. and
she has confessed that her vaca-
ton has exactly the same effect on
her that mine has on me- She comes
envying me and she goes back pity
ing me. She comes thinking how
delightful it must be not to have to
bother about meals. or to have to
ask her husband for money, or to be
harassed by children's continual
call Tor mo-o-other. and she goes
way 'hiHhlHG Inat woman who
hasn't anybody to go back to. or any
house or any babies, is the forlorn-
est creature on earth.
So our vacations do their per-
rect work and keep US both salts
ned' which makes me wonder why
we all haven't got enough sense to
get away for a while from the
thing that irritates us when we find
ourselves getting disgruntled."
True" said the married woman.
Ihe real solution of the divorce
question Is for husbands and wives
to take vacations away from each
other. Most married people are
really attached to each other, and
they admire each others good quail
tiles. but they quarrel because they
have been together too long, be-
cause they have gotten to the place
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