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Show i LOVE ana MARgBD LIFE B Iej. the noted aiithor- 1 ji Idah nmione bscm I I She was a youngish woman, haggard, hag-gard, and worn, and nervous, and too ' old for her years. Her shoulders j sagged, and hfr mouth dragged down at the corners. Her hair was pulled back off of her face, and her clothes looked as if they had been filmed out of lhe rag bag. and she was indulging! in woman's favorite indoor sport of complaining about her lot. in life. In a peevish, whining, querulous voice she was Idling about how hard sho worked, and that she never went anywhere or had any pleasure, and of how she sacrificed herself for her husband hus-band and children, and got neither thanks nor appreciation fcr it. j Cut Out the Martyr Stuff "Oh! for heaven's sake, cut out that martyr stuff. Can It! Forget it!" cried the afflicted one's sister when she could stand it no more. "If there is anything on earth that makes me tired It is you women who deliberately and v.-ith malice aforethought martyrize martyr-ize yourselves, and then want the world to stand around, and just give you the glad hand Cor doing it. I "I can he as reverential as the next lone before a martyr who lias' martyrdom martyr-dom thrust upon hsr, but when 1 see a womau go out and hunt up her cross and nail herself on It, I don't worship ih.fr as "a saint. I despise i)Cr for a . fool. "Of course yon are a martyr. Of course your life is just cno'long sacrifice sacri-fice to your husband and children, but you elected yourself to the role. Your I husband doesn't want you to be a mar- lyr. Neither do your children. They would a million times rather have you just a human being who was en;oylng things with them, and gadding around with them, and who was laughing, and jolly instead of melancholy and tearful. "You say you havp not time to go anvwhere becam e you have your work to "do. Well, you would have if you would use a little more common sense about your work. At least half of the labor that you do is absolutely unnecessary. unnec-essary. You kill yourself in dusting silly pieces of bric-a-brac, and putting dinky little doilies on "the table and taking them off again, and in sweeping floors that are already clean, and polishing pol-ishing things that already shine. "Why don't you have a house cleaning clean-ing and eliminate every single useless article, and get your housekeeping down to where you can do it with the least possible expenditure of time and effort? If you did, you'd have plenty of leisure in which to got out in the fresh air and sunshine instead of being be-ing shut up in the four walls of your house all the time. Serve Simpler Meals "Why don't you Rive your family simpler meals? Why don't you put rewer tucks and ruffles in Jennie's dresses? Why don't you buy ready-made ready-made clothes for the baby instead, of putting your eyes out and breaking your back making every garment by hand? "Of course you feel like a martyr It or- Konn cln-urK' rniclofl In 1 nn I ll over tho kitchen range when you set your husband down to an elaborate meal, that you spent four hours cooking, cook-ing, and he gobbles down dishes that you killed yourself making without saying a word of thanks or praise to you. But don't you think that a con tented and cheerful wife is a better sauce for a dinner thnn anything Hol-landai3e, Hol-landai3e, or Bechamel or any other sort of goo that she could serve with it? Mother Should Be Jolly "Don't you think that Jenny would bo happier, and more anxious to stay at homo, if sho had simpler clothes, and a mother who was jolly and had time to enter into her little plans than ishe is with a lot of fluffy ruffles, and a mother who has worked so hard i making them that she is so nervous that she Is as cross and irritable as a sore-headed bear? "Do you think that it makes any dif ( fcrenco to the baby whether its clothes are hand made or machine made, or whether you ait up at night and watch it sleep instead of going downstairs, and sending a cheerful evening tryiug to make home agreeable to your husband? hus-band? "If you will look about you. you will perceive Unit the adored wives and mothers aro never the women who are the notable housekeepers In whoso houses there is never a cpeck of dust, nor anything awry. Neither aro they tho women who arc eelobrated as famous fa-mous cooks. Neilhor are they the so-called so-called devoted mothers who worry themselves to death watching over their families. Take Life -Easily "They are the women who take life easily, who keep themselves jolly and good natured, and who aro always I ready to pal with their husband and ! children and go off on any r.ort of a frolic. "These women don't make martyrs of themselves to their families. After all. you know, as a matter of fact, our families are not cruel and inhuman mon3tora who enjoy seeing us suffer, or deslro us to sacrifice ourselves to ihem. They would much rather have us all comfortablo together. Your Martyrdom 'Useless "It makes your martyrdom so useless. use-less. That's tho pity of it. Nov.', one rer.-scn that your nervps aro in fiddle strings is because you lick slenp. You persist in sitting up every night until Bob, and Sally come home from their parties, no matter how late it is. ! "Will you tell me what good that J does? Either Sally or Bob are trust- i wonhy, or they are not. If they are looming home straight from their par-' j ties, you don't have to watch out forj them. If they are not, watching is useless and your sitting up and losing i sleep doesn't help the matter. You don't know where they arc. You huve no means of reoching them. You j could not prevent them from doing ; anything tl:ey vanted to do. All that j a mothor can do is to Instill good prin-; ciples i.ito her children, and bring! i them up with decent Ideals, and if she! has done that, she can go to bed and I go to sleep. Jag of Self Pity i "So I say, can this martyr stuff, j There is nothing to it, unless you arc enjoying going on a jag of self pity.) Beliove me. it will be a glad day fori your family when you cense sacrificing sacrific-ing yourself for them. They . don't, want it. and wouldn't have, It if they could help themsehes." |