The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-07-09
TodaySGirI
Is More of
Helpn1ate
BY MARTHA LEE

The wife of one of the most bril-
liant men living today says the most
vital institution of the United States
is in danger. That institution OF
which she speaks is home making.
Mrs. Thomas Edison was the
speaker who voiced these sentiments.
She is sincerely worried about the
future of our nation. She feels the
entire foundation OF the country
rests upon the makers of homes. In
other words, the women.
And since the war, since women
have gotten their freedom" since
they are allowed to go to the polls
on election day with the men, they
have, one by one, gotten out from
under this vast structure they have
been holding up for years, to pursue
other careers.
Mrs. Edison states that "the
woman who doesn't want to make a
home, is undermining III nation"
She thinks that a great deal Of rest
lessness is Que to the fact that
women have deserted homemaking
as a career and life work. She says
that men no longer find satisfaction
in their make-Shift homes that the
working wives provide for them.
All Not Edisons
Unfortunately, ali wives can not
have husbands with the ability and
genius and talents of Edison. Very
often the wives find, shortly after
marriage, that they must give up
the answering attention to their
homes and enter a field where a pay
envelope is part of the scheme OF
things, or else give up their homes
entirely.
1t is all very fine to devote a life
time to building a home for hls-
bands and children, but it is rather
silly for wives whose husbands bring
in a pay envelope that barely takes
care of the necessities of existence,
to close her eyes and continue home
building, when a little extra money
which she could make outside her
home, would make life SO much
more endurable.
Instinctively woman'S chief object
in life is to have a husband, chill
dren, and q home. If her ambitions
have flown off in another direction,
it usually IS through necessity, not
choice.
Housework is drudgery. But Moth
ing is drudgery that n loves, and
most women have an inherent love
for the task of making a home.
Surely the foundation of the ma
ton can not be threatened as long
as women step up and shoulder their
share of the burden, whether it be
homemaking, working in a factory
or Office or whatever they can Go.
Help Earn Money
Modern women do not spend their
summers drying corn, canning fruit
and making jellies. But they do
help earn money 30 they can buy
fresh vegetables during the winter
months. They have found quanti-
ties of jelly n not good for the
human system anyway, And surely
sailing dollars is as womanly as
drying corn.
I am inclined to believe the mod
ern wife has g lot of things her
feminine predecessors did not pos
sess, in spite of their heavy home
making. She is more intelligent.
She has found that just getting
married is not the end of it.
Knows Her Diets
She has studied chemistry and
dietetics until she knows far better
how to feed her husband and chill
dren SO they will be healthy. She
does not conf1ne her interests to the
four walls of her home.
She is a better sport and far bet
ter company for her husband. She
has discarded a whole flock of
grandmother's habits and customs
and foibles that certainly must have
driven grandfather to distraction.
She no longer feels the necessity Of
wearing her emotions on her sleeve
in order to be considered "genteel."
All in all, I think she is a vast
improvement, and that her entrance
into the business world is not apt to
shake the foundations of America
to the depths, but rather to re-
establish that foundation on a safer,
more reliable basis.