The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1943-07-29

Harriet, your problem is that of
many women today, and while
don't always advise them as I do
you, still my usual suggestion is
that they continue to work while the
government needs them, and let the
other members of the family come
to appreciate two things. One is
the pleasure and excitement that
Mother gets when she is paid for
what she does and has her own
money to spend, instead of manag-
ing somehow on what is left from
the payment of household bills. And
the other is the realization of what
clever management, patience, con-
centration, service an ordinary
home demands if it is to be comfort
ably and smoothly run. For these
two things Mother has long waited.
Harriet Helping Win War.
The third and most important con-
sideration that influences me in ad-
vising Harriet to stick to her job,
is that we are fighting great war
winning a great war, dare to say
now. We are winning it because
constant unbroken lifeline of ships
is moving steadily toward the battle
fronts; the lonely far-away islands
of the Pacific and of Alaska's wa
tiers, the ports of England and Rus
STA and China.
Our boys watch for these ships;
they know when they come in. They
would know it, instantly, and with
the first chill touch of doubt in their
courageous hearts, if that line
stopped. They need to feeI-they
MUST feel-that every one of us
here at home is behind them. That
In America the FORCES and welders
and cranes and tackles and smelt-
ers and foundries are smoking and
roaring day and night; that the rail-
ways are hot with the pressure of
laundering trains; that sweating
crews are swarming on the docks,
shouldering the great bars of steel,
the crates and boxes and barrels,
and that ships are sliding from the
ways, taking to the deep seas, as
ships have never In the history of
the world been launched before.
This can only go on if we do all
we can-and more than we can-to
keep the tremendous machinery
moving. Harriet's lathe is only one
of a million; Harriet's sons are
only two of two million, but they
are THERE, where Uncle Sam
wants them, filing to the brim their
own microscopic part of the titanic
effort that is war.
If Larry, the husband, and Linda,
the daughter, did their share of the
housekeeping, the marketing and
managing, the problem would be
solved. 1t is not fair to leave to
Harriet the entire burden of buying
and cooking, cleaning and planning.
As it is she is doing most of the
work at home, most of the buying,
and also filing most important
war job and helping to make life
safe for everyone she loves after
the war. This is an overbalanced
schedule; but the fault is not Har-
riet'S.
Men can wash dishes as well as
women, put them away in their right
places, brush the dining room floor,
start to set the table for breakfast,
hang up the dish-towels, put out the
milk bottles and turn down the beds.
Larry doesn't have to tear the bed
apart, striped cover and comforter
and all, in tumble such as a dog
scratching out lair would make.
Now that women are efficiently do
ing so many jobs once exclusively
reserved for males, it is strange that
so few men ever feel strong enough
or smart enough to reverse the
process.