The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-05-02
CBeu syndicate-wNU service.l

Rex and the children of the burden carry.
81 ask you if you consider this a
fair adjustment of fanily's fnan-
cial problem. Is it fair to have one
partner working hard all day long,
occasionally skipping even the week
end holidays, and to have the other
living on the fat of the land, en-
joying his children's companionship
and entirely free from care? And
if you agree with me that it is not
fair, then what do you suggest as
an argument or change that viii
bring matters back to normal?"
The Answer to Ann.
Well, to begin with, Ann, you de-
scribe here exactly the normal mar
ried life, were the position of the
sexes reversed. Thousands-millions
of women, for hundreds of years,
have had the home, the housekeep-
er, the fruit and flowers, the chill
dren's companionship, the regular
income, the freedom for neighborly
intercourse that Rex is so much en-
joying. Were you the one at home
and he the one at work, nobody could
find anything to criticize in the stu
alton.
If that were the case you might
very naturally find yourself COM
planning that while you were rele-
gated to dull household and farm
duties, the company of children and
an old colored woman, Rex was liv-
ing an exciting and important life
among the lights and gaieties of
the big city.
You are, obviously, the business
member of the family. Everything
you touch succeeds, and your in
come already is one that many a
man would be proud to earn. You've
followed your bent, taking a few
years out for wifehood and mother
hood, it is true, but Immediately re-
turning to the wider field, to the
great service that you are privi-
legged to give to the unfortunate and
defective children of the world that
you meet in the course Of duty in
the position of trust that you evident
ly hold.
Consider Rex.
Why grudge Rex his content? So
few men are content! If he likes to
putter about with apples and wal
nuts, to take the muddy old car and
go bring the children home from
school, to hang on a fence gossip
ing with a neighbor or to go off for
few days fishing, why shouldn't
he? II those quiet domestic occupa-
tons had satisfied you, he would
have been perfectly willing to have
you enjoy them, and would have
plodded away patiently at the Office
work he hates, to support you In
them.
It is a poor nature that, taking
what it wants itself, yet looks aside
jealousy at the simpler pleasures
of other folk and resents them.
Wives who fret because their hus-
bands enjoy downtown lunches, oc-
casional bridge games at the club
on the way home, lodge meetings,
golf, hunting, are pretty narrow
wives. To make someone else un-
happy never contributes to your own
happiness.
Should Rejoice.
Rejoice, rather, that matters have
fallen out so fortunately. The chill
dren have their father, and a COM
Portable country home. Rex is use
full and needed, for you could hardly
turn the responsibility of the farm
over to Lenny. He decides about
crops and pruning, about the care
of the cows, the car, the roof shin
giles, the children's colds and
scratches and homework; on bitter
nights, on burning mondays you
know he is there to keep an eye on
the household. Somebody has to
do it.
Meanwhile you pursue the profess
sion that Is not only so valuable to
humanity, but that must be peculiar
ly gratifying to you. You have your
Office, your assistants; your opin-
ions are respected. The radio work
alone sets you apart as conspicu-
ously successful woman, and there
are other doors ahead of you-other
triumphs and achievements which
you must aim to achieve.
When you go home next week
end, take with you spirit that viii
show them all at once that some
thing delightful has happened to
Mother. That she is kinder to Dad,
more Interested in what is going on,
that she laughs more, and that when
she goes away Sunday night she
says to Daddy what she hasn't said
IN the children's memory beforel
"Good-by, darling. Write me all
the news. It's wonderful to know
that you're here keeping everything
in orderl" Do this and you viii have
the courage you need to meet your
particular problem.