This Is How the Modern Woman Lives!

1: He asked her about her profession and she answered: "A housewife, nothing more." The judge smiled and said: "You are not merely a housewife, Madam; you are the greatest personage in the country."

This is the story of one woman, and of millions like her, whose duties and professions are gathered under this one name: "housewife." And though we appreciate her rights and her noble works, we can do no more than present, in these pictures, the situations in which the woman constantly finds herself.

She does not carry out works of engineering; rather she thinks about the problems of life and the needs of the world that confront her at every moment within the walls of the home.

She is a thrifty worker without rival — and yet she draws no wage for it!

2: The kitchen is the most important part of her kingdom, but modern appliances save her some of the time, which she spends in resting and enjoying the delights of life.

3: Besides the kitchen and keeping the house in order, every woman faces additional, enjoyable tasks — working in the garden, or driving a car, or nursing and teaching, or working in the social field.

To her children she is the fount of tenderness, love, and protection; and although every woman prefers the days of maidenhood, with their expansive dreams, to the troubles of motherhood, she doubtless feels contentment and ease, and sees her work as lofty and surpassing.

4: She does not read the newspapers with the exactness and regularity her husband follows, for her time is short; but she keeps in touch with the news of the world, especially what concerns her kingdom... She does not neglect her own pleasures in life: she slips away to spend an hour in the library, and gazes at paintings and objects of art!

5: How did the week go by? Behind her lie 150 minutes spent in buying necessities, 630 minutes in cooking, and another hundred hours in fruitful activity — and here she is now, drawing up her budget with her husband's help.

6: She plays her part at day's end: the meal is ready, the house brims with life, and she still feels herself an attractive girl. How sweet these hours are — for rest after work, and for repairing her toilette after the effort.

Here is the home, quiet, bathed in love and tenderness; the children have gone off to sleep, and some friends have come to spend the evening... The talk wanders from thing to thing: "Today she sewed these curtains and got the clothes ready for tomorrow; I don't know whether Sami's bedspread goes with the furniture of his room." And she catches in her husband's eyes the smile of happiness, which means nothing to others but which, in her sight, is the whole world — as if he were saying: "Thank you for the delicious lunch you prepared today. How sweet you were when you asked me to read the paper to you while you sewed. You are still the girl of my fancy and my dreams..."

And is there any sweeter, more tender way than this for him to express his thanks?..