by Helen B. Andelin:
My mother-in-law was a Real Domestic Goddess. Not only was she an excellent housekeeper, she was a devoted homemaker in all areas of endeavor. She managed her house like it was a five star hotel. The most noticeable thing about her was that she seemed to enjoy it. She usually arose about 4:00 am, not because she had to, but because she was anxious to begin her day. She reminded me of a little girl anxious to begin playing house. To her it was a career – her career in the home.
In the afternoon her husband urged her to take a nap. She earnestly tried to but she enjoyed working more than sleeping. Finally he resorted to paying her for each nap.
My husband told me much about his mother during his childhood. When he was six years old and ready to begin first grade he put up such a fuss to stay home that he got his way. He began school when he was seven. Home, he thought, was the very best place to be. When he was in school he described how great it was to go home. As he and his brother walked home in the snow they were thinking of home. Soon they smelled fresh bread baking. When they arrived they never had to raid the refrigerator for a snack. She had freshly baked bread and homemade jam waiting for them.
Shortly after we were married we spent a month in their household. They had five children and my husband was the only one married. I observed many things about my mother-in-law during my stay there. It was quite an education. They had two pantries, one on the main floor near the kitchen and one in the basement. Both had well built shelves nicely painted and well stocked with food. The one near the kitchen contained fresh fruits and vegetables including squash, potatoes, yams...apples and oranges. She kept the produce by a window to keep them cool. Everything in the house was well painted, even the furnace. It was a large coal furnace with large pipes going here and there but they were all painted light green, including the furnace. I have never seen such a clean, bright, well-kept furnace before in all the days of coal.
Not only was the house well stocked with food but with sheets, towels, soap and clothing. In the beautiful tiled bathroom was a little tiled nook with a faucet, especially for bathing babies. My husband was the only child to have a room of his own. It was always immaculate and his drawers always filled with carefully laundered shirts, socks and under clothes...I could easily see that here was a woman who had her heart in her work and that housework could be a real pleasure. What an abundant blessing it was for this little family, and how sad that many women of today desert their posts and run away from their work.
One more thing I observed about my mother-in-law: She was so very good at taking care of babies and little children. What a wonderful example she was in this regard. They were always well bathed and well fed. She prepared them for a nap, not by just laying them in their crib with all of their clothes on, but by first removing their shoes, then dressing them in comfortable pajamas.
She sensed when they were tired, hungry, thirsty, or needed some soothing cream on their sunburned faces. She was truly in tune. What made Gladys what she was? This is what I wondered. I think one thing that made her what she was is that her mother and mother-in-law were almost the same. They were both shining examples. They couldn’t help but be a positive influence on a young woman who observed them.
One day while I was visiting Gladys’s mother, I looked around to observe a well-painted, immaculate, orderly dwelling place. Humble but very nice. While there I asked for a needle and thread and was handed a little sewing basket. I have always remembered the moment I opened the lid to see the most tidy sewing basket I have ever seen. Instead of the sewing things being jumbled together as in most sewing baskets, I saw neat little rows of spools, little skeins of embroidery floss, a pin cushion, needles, thimbles and scissors, all in a place of their own. Another thing that made Gladys what she was is that she went the second mile. She did more than her duty required. This is what takes the burden out of work and brings soul satisfaction. It makes “our yolk easy,’ and ‘our burden light.”
Besides the benefit of homemaking bringing soul satisfaction and inner happiness, did you know that the exercise required to fill this role is the best for a woman’s body? How do I know this? One morning when I was lying on the floor doing my exercises and listening to TV, I heard a news report that medical research had found that the use of the various muscles required for doing housework and carrying for a family – bending, stretching, picking things up from the floor, pushing a vacuum cleaner around and carrying a toddler on your hip is the best type of exercise for a woman’s body. They made no comment about men. I will end this discourse by saying that I believe homemaking is the best therapy for a woman’s distress, the best career for emotional and physical health, the most soul satisfying, and the greatest contribution a woman can make to her family and the well being of society.