Show Kathleen Norris Says V I Husbands Take a e Notice otice J Bell Dell Syndicate Syndicate Features r rl rl l dt l l. l 1 fl r 1 0 0 0 0 o Marty is quarantined for the measles and the thermometer at 82 and Dirk laying aying Bathroom windows crying for five fite minutes of soap and water By KATHLEEN NORRIS been harping for fory YOUVE y months on the wartime JL duty of wives to keep the home front happy writes Daisy Chalmers a spirited young matron of Springfield Mass why dont don't you sometimes sometimes sometimes some some- times blow up the men for the ridiculous demands they are making on us their stiff-necked stiff insistence that everything shall be exactly as it always was war or no war war and their calm expectation expectation expectation tation that a house without servants servants servants ants will run just dust as smoothly as asa asa asa a house with a good cook and a nurse in it I HI have three adorable noisy destructive destructive destructive de de- de- de little boys the letter goes on Dick wanted boys and boys only and fortunately I was able to oblige They are healthy I am healthy I am a good cook with I think a fairly even and amiable dis dis- dis- dis position Until just before Paul the youngest was born I had a domestic domes domes- tic helper of sorts She was old slow stubborn but she was absolutely absolutely absolutely faithful scrupulously clean and she loved the babies for their very naughtiness We Ve paid Josie 15 a week Dirks Dirk's income is a year year year-doesn't doesn't it sound big But it isn't as big as it once was And whatever its it's worth now it wont won't r pay av for a maid Cramped in hi Apartment We live in a six room apartment up two flights of stairs Of course the children cant can't go out without me and when they do aU all four of us including including including in in- Paul now a year old have to be dressed for the street the coach has to be bumped out from the locker under the stairs pillow and covers dumped into it and Paul established in state Crossing a street with a baby buggy and boys of two and four is no fun getting the groceries home is no fun either I We Ve have no dumbwaiter but the I delivery boy pants boy pants up our stairs twice a week everything else I carry myself sometimes including I Jack or even my eldest MartyNow MartyNow Marty I Now I love all this Im I'm equal I to it Ill I'll get through But what upsets up up- upsets sets me is my husbands husband's mild sweet incessant hinting and criticizing criticizing criticizing of everything I do Our part of town is dirty and dusty grit comes in and Dirk runs his fingers over polished surfaces and shows me methe methe methe the gri grit t. t All this distresses Dirk terri terri- I bly Would you mind touching up your hair before we sit down dear he says May I have a spoon that isn't quite so sticky He asks if the boys have been out in the glorious fresh air scowls when I say only for an hours hour's marketing They ought to ha have ve more of an airing than that But Ive I've been washing today Dirk I say Ive got almost a hundred pieces out on the line Lets have no excuses Daisy he says gently Im not criticizing Im I'm only pointed When I had influenza he took care of us all for three days then he got a nurse in at eight dollars a day the letter goes on He was I furious the house was never clean r Considerate QUIT NAGGING With laundry and delivery and pra practically every other sort o of f service curtailed with domestic help almost impossible to get a mother of three little boys is bound to be very busy She is willing to do everything she can but necessarily she must neglect her housekeeping a bit Everything would go along all allright allright allright right excepting that her husband is one o of f those neat efficient souls who want cleanliness and order no matter what the situation situation situa situa- tion is fI He e will rub his finger over the piano and hold it up to show the dust or he will hint that the drapes need washing While he is polite and even sweet he is constantly nagging These people people people peo peo- are well off They have an income o of f a year and live in a six-room six apartment and are accustomed to a rather high standard of living or orderly or quiet and he spooned cold cereal into the boys and went out for his own meals Once afterward I asked him what he thought of my job He merely observed observed observed ob ob- served that if he had it to do he would so organize it that there wouldn't be all that confusion War nar Conditions Im a college graduate intelligent intelligent intelligent intelli intelli- gent enthusiastic but I wont won't stand too much of this 1 Please write an article saying that unless men understand the infinite difficulties of housekeeping these days the endless job that is that of a wife and mother the complications of no-laundry no no- no tailor no-household no help no deliver ies marriages will continue to go on the rocks What started all this Daisy concludes was something that happened happened happened hap hap- this morning Marty is quarantined with measles the thermometer thermometer thermometer ther ther- at 82 the baby refusing his breakfast and Dirk putting his head in the door after he had left to say sweetly Bathroom windows crying for five minutes of soap and water Please write something that will make these exacting husbands ashamed of themselves Dear Daisy I say in answer your letter seems to me to be as good an argument as any I could think up Dirk isn't the only husband who has grown exacting and critical in these tense days Its It's partly a nervous reaction reaction reaction re re- re- re action to the fearful events that are arc shaking the world and as such ought to be treated with patience and kindness But at the same time timea a lot of husbands ought to wake up and take stock of themselves If she's sweet if she's distractedly distractedly distracted distracted- ly and gaily doing her best if she can if she loves her children home and husband then husband then for the duration try to regard her as she regards you ou a spirited high-spirited finely- finely trained courageous individual who is managing to get through the most convulsed and agonizing period of ot all history with a minimum of nerve nerve- center damage |