Fraternity-Testvériség, 1961 (39. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1961-12-01 / 12. szám
FRATERNITY 11 WHAT’S A GOOD WIFE WORTH? Husbands of America, beware! Next time “the little woman” threatens to go home to mother . . . check your bankbook before you help her to pack. Chances are — you CAN’T AFFORD to lose her! Do you realize what it would cost you in hired help to replace a full-time housewife and mother? One insurance company published an estimate of over $20,000 a year. To say nothing of the bother of advertising for new people when your servants get fed up with you and walk out . . . which is something a good wife hardly ever does! Let’s check the balance sheet. If your wife were salaried, it might cost you $1.60 an hour for her services as a housekeeper . . . $1.90 as family shopper and cook . . . $1.40 to do the laundry . . . $1.70 for chauffering . . . and her fee as family nurse could easily amount to $2.25 an hour. A good wife wasn’t always worth so much in hard cash. Around the turn of the century, for instance, a man MIGHT have been able to afford domestic help to do his wife’s work. What happened to change things? “The girl that married dear old dad” never had a chance to do as much as the modern wife. She was a plodding slave to the washboard and harsh soaps ... to dust-collecting furniture ... to garden fresh vegetables that practically had to have the “garden” scrubbed off at the kitchen sink. What happened when yesterday’s children caught cold? They were trundled off to bed, smothered in quilts, steamed with boiling kettles, and dosed with hand-strained juices and weird concoctions. This all took time. If the poor woman owned a crotchety oid sewing machine, the best she could hope to achieve with it was darning and mending. It wasn’t her fault that the old-fashioned wife was limited to a few basic chores . . . some husbands will even see great advantages in that. At least he could count on her being home all the time! What was the old saying? ... “A man can work from sun to sun, but woman’s work is never done.” That proverb can go cut the window now . . . together with ancient homemaking practices from A to Z. Packaged foods save hundreds of hours a year for the lady of the house. Cream of the crop, washed and measured . . . just open the package, heat and serve! Goodbye to waste and drudgery. Housecleaning is speedier and more efficient- Take the baby’s room for example . . . bygone days meant scrubbing, disinfecting and sa- Cheting. Detergents and scouring powders with bacteriostats do the job today. Deodorant soaps “double in brass” by inhibiting the growth of bac-
