Evening star., 1942-05-11

world with the wrecks Of homes, or
ould make the home, in reality, the
abode of bliss that 1t is in fiction?
Would college girls major in cooking
if they knew that the only way
they could hold their husbands was
by making pies like mother used to
make?
Surely what is sauce for the goose
Is sauce for the gander and If q
wife can ditch a husband who Is
too trif1ing to bring home the bacon
q husband should be equally free to
rid himself of a wife who is too lazy
to fry it. She has WEIGHED on her
marital obligations just as much as
he has, for part of the gentleman'S
agreement of marriage is that both
the party of the first part and the
party of the second part shall work
together to make comfortable
home. And if a woman fails to do
this she has broken her marriage
VOWS just as much as If she were
stepping out with another man
instead of stepping around the
kitchen.
The truth is that women take lib
critics with the wife job because they
know it is one from which they can
not be fired without trouble and ex-
pense and scandal. Hence they do
not think it necessary to prepare
themselves for it, as they would for
being beauty operator, or stenog-
rapher, or trained nurse. Neither
do they feel it incumbent upon them
to give satisfaction. But far differ
ent would be their attitude If they
knew that all that a husband needed
to get a divorce from his wife was
to prove that she made him get up
end get his own breakfast, and that
If he could produce leathery steaks
and watery potatoes as evidence A
and B Of the way she fed the fam
lily, the Judge would turn over the
custody of the children to him, to
boot.
Another interesting angle Of this
case in which the husband and wife
traded jobs is that it gave each Of
them chance to see how the other
half lived, and what are the trials
and tribulations they are daily
called upon to bear, and that should
give them better understanding
and more sympathy with each other
and incline them to be more help
f,,1 ope IN the other
The one thing, for instance, that
infuriates women more than any
thing else, Is the patronizing and
supercilious way in which their hus-
bands look at their work. Nearly
all husbands profess to think that
cooking, washing, ironing. mending.
scrubbing and baby-tending Is mere
child's play that any woman should
be able to pull of in odd moments
when she isn't downtown shopping,
or playing bridge, or at a movie, or
otherwise diverting herself.
Probably there isn't a poor. tired,
nerve-racked wife In the world who
hasn't felt like taking the carving
knife to her husband when he said
to her: What on earth do you do
with your time?" Or: II wish had
it easy like you, with nothing to do
but keep house and look after the
children"
Well, no husband would ever make
| that remark second time II he had
to pinch hit for his wife for even =
single day In the nursery and the
kitchen. He would be like the man
who. after having taken care Of the
children for single Sunday after
noon, went to his closet and got
the Croix de Guerre he won on the
battlefield and pinned it on his wife.
saying: You are a greater hero
| than I am"
And the women who think going
downtown to business Is q picnic,
and who picture their husbands eat
ing leisurely lunches and spending
their days in pleasant converse
would gladly go back to their pots
and pans after having swapped
jobs with their husbands and find
ing out how much easier it Is to
spend money than it is to make It,
So maybe this trading of jobs
by husbands and wives is the solu-
ton Of the divorce problem, after all