El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-08-30

XTTE'vE all heard 8 great deal about
W the tragic difficulties OF merely
keeping alive in the modern home. Our
ears are fiuoS with plants about the
scarcity Of servants. the prohibitivs
wage commanded by scrubwomen. the
coal famine. the ice famine, the deadly
gradual shrinkage e the dollar and
The siekening expansion Of the pro
vision bin.
But this isn't the whole story.
There's another convenience Of the
old fashioned home that seems to
have disappeared altogether. What
has become Of the poor relation7
OF course you remember her per-
fecuy. you whose youth wasn't a mat
ter OF yesterday. For the Door reIa-
ton was always OF the feminine gen
der She vas both detached and de-
pendent She vas the kind Of person
that fitted in Usually. she was
mothers cousin or fathers aunt She
was supposed to be glad OF a home. %
Tor sne was without status and with
out income and without trade or pro
1ession-fOr the domestic arts that
she had at her fingers ends weren't
considered marketable.
Personally. she was very quiet She
modern motor car. There was moth
ing she didn't know about that oblit-
Grafton Of personality that's SO de-
slraDle when you're living in some
other persons house.
And yet she was rather nice. dom
you remem ber2 At least. ali Won
children liked her-and with good
reason. Of course, she wasn't really
attractive from EroWnup stand
point Her clothes were too plain. and
rsH rsn-n = H-n-
anyway, the mere fact that she had
never succeeded in getting married.
as your parents put It. settled def
nitely the question Of her attractive
ness So you children didn't praise
her much Your attachment to her
rather cruelty went unvoiced-
What Her Job Was.
But do you remember what her self
imposed duties were2 II you do YOU
viii wonder. with me. that the present
day family can limp and stagger along
without her aid.
All the family mending fell to her,
without any question. Mother sig
nificantly introduced her to the mend
ing basket on the day she first came
to the house. and the responsibility
tents weren't all stockings. by any
means. There were adoIescent trou-
sers and adult skirts, there were
sheets and curtains, even rugs and
LoE pEL1-IuL we al Know hnaL II
means to keep g Lively family well
sewed Up
And an this was only for odd mo-
ments- Long weeks were devoted to
the family canning and preserving.
Weeks more went 70 the accomplish
ment OF spring and fail housecleaning.
Then there was always extra gar
deniug TO be done And ever 80 often
there Was a family festival to be pre-
pared foT-
or there was a sick chud 70 be
looked after. and II was such a bless
ing to have someone 10 leave with the
children. not only in the evening but
when mother and father went away
for a vacation in the sumner, and you
really didn't mind being left behind.
because you were 50 lovingly INDUCED
when they were gone They could
even leave the baby behind. II they
wanted to. because the poor relation
had picked up so much useful nurse
lore and was in her humble way a
sort Of specialist In collie and Group.
No Nerves or SuftorH.
With a dependent cousin IN the
house one never needed 10 employ a
nurse. you remember even in cases of
serious Illness Just as we didn't
need a seamstress or a nursemaid.