Show ka kathleen ahleen N norrie orrs says the wonder women of long island bell features feature wa L V 4 01 01 D certainly there are baby toys about but the place is neat and clean and I 1 myself am always dressed in a clean cheer cheerful jul costumed costume by KATHLEEN NORRIS OME months ago I 1 wrote SOME S an article filled with sympathy for young mothers I 1 dwelt upon the difficulties they encounter in marketing washing cleaning cooking baby aby tending with so little help I 1 recalled the fact that we who are mothers in our young days could always secure the assistance si of some competent woman who managed kitchen and nursery stood by us in all domestic crises and left us plenty of time for occasional evening amusements amuse mants for theater dancing dinner parties the drudgery of mothers their struggles in the markets the steady care of restless exacting children the monotonous round of preparing meals and clearing them away washing and ironing clothes only to have them thrown into the tha tubs to repeat the process well altogether it summed up what seemed to me pretty strenuous living but a certain young wife of sea ford L L vigorously disagrees with me she writes me a scat scatting bing letter about it 1 I am 22 11 she before my marriage I 1 was a show girl and I 1 am more supple arid and better looking now than I 1 was then I 1 have two babies 22 and 7 months hs old I 1 do all the housework cooking wasa ing cleaning mending ironing baking cutting ohp lawn and shopping with stores stord five miles maes away I 1 help in the garden do all my own preserving and and make all mine end and the childrens drens clothes from hats to winter coats and bathing suits I 1 keep up tip my acrobatics reading and organ playing time to go co out with husband certainly there are baby toys about but the ilace is neat and clean and I 1 myself am always dressed in a clean cheerful costume with costume jewelry and hair bows and so on I 1 am always willing to dance at home alth with my husband jn in the evenings go for long walks with him and the children on his days off and dance the night away when we can get someone soi reone to mind the babies 1 I also the letter continues make all ah our rag rugs curtains afghans quilts blankets and pillows 4 and still have plenty of time left over I 1 am not bragging for my neighbor on the left does all this with eight children from 6 months to 10 16 years and all my neighbors have from four to six children f dren and are still beautiful women wearing sizes 12 and 14 the women you quote the letter er ends must emust be slatterns slat terns and idiots one can only respectfully agree with this flery alery little housewife and varrney congratulate her husband ind ad the husbands husban hus bando of her clean capa ale le cheerful yet undersized elgh bors they must have some secret ret that many other women hive have riot yet mattered mait ered preserves t financing lancing long walks and the making ft f pillows take time and eight chil ahll iren ren mean 30 meals a day and so 30 ut ON u th at ing rp t 0 t anfu P 4 N we te dance the night away me meals als mean at least 60 cups plates 60 spoons to wash every day 60 50 little garments to wash and iron every week to say nothing of the babies pin ups and the bath towels the boys jeans and some 70 pairs of socks no the imagination staggers at it and one can only baw bow respectfully to such efficiency Y modern devices help our own nursery was well filled h half a if a century ago and the older members did help and were expected to help we peeled pot potatoes inoes set tables tended the younger children ran errands made ourselves useful in dozens of ways but the woman who wrote this letter has no such help her children are babies her dally daily baby wash runs to 50 articles her children spatter mush on their high chairs demand dally daily baths wake her at unearthly hours need complete changes of crib bedding and their play aprons every day or twice a day and still she has plenty of time left over certainly she has a thousand helps earlier generations of women have she can get codfish cakes and biscuits all ready to cook ready made bread and cakes she have to fiu fill lamps or stoke coal stoves hot water runs in her bathroom vacuum cleaner works miracles she have to walk that five miles to the store as her grandmother would have done but just juat the same those must be wonder women down in that little littie long island town |