1935-08-03 — Page 7

No. 21

China Mail

HOME SUPPLEMENT

HONG KONG, SATURDAY, AUGUST 3.. 1935 -

No. 21

SLIGHT HOUSEKEEPING

Introducing...

A Marriageable Age

W

age to

L

AST Spring, when the well- dressed man blossomed out with a jaunty little feather in his hatband, many of our pro- fessional trend-detectors view- ed

it with alarm.

Their alarmi was not esthetic, through perhaps it should have Here, they told-them- selves, was just one more symp- tom who

the increasing

THICH is the best

may-that is, when are the contracting parties most- likely to make a success of it?. The Registrar-General, who, we presume, cannot lie. proves that the number of

women

01

marry at and over is steadily effeminacy of the modern male. increasing, and that last year

Not content with colourful 21,8% middle-ared women weat

cravats, he was going in for to the alture-half of these being

plumage. spinsters.

Idealists may declare that those who wait until the age of discretion before they enter matrimony" miss the fine rapture in the experience that only youth can bestLOMAT

But

the cold hard facts. in statistics reveal that muse anions are dix-- solved in the courts when' the par-

huve marriag Young han among those who take the plunge as a more mature ag". Of course. the idea of a "mature" age changes with each generationL -I'm 40," says a woman character in one of Barrie's plays. -Tre left youth behind me. I'm up to my knees. in middle age.

That occurred in a play, however, s produced about 20 years ago; we -have- different views `on maturity*

to-day

In this age, too, if a youth mar- ries at 21, it is usually because; he is irresponsible. Yet the latest fixares show that in oze Year 4 brides and 13,425 bride-

married under Were

the

age of 21.

Against this 1; is significant to note that in one oat of every four divorces the woman had been wed in her teens The "Happer" does not seem to make an outstanding success of marriage.

Why has it always been. declared that the first year is the most diffi- cul in the matrimonial adventure? There may be misunderstandings and disillusion, but, again, àgures prove that the eighth year is the most dangerous in wedlock-the оде in which there seems

the greatest- tendency for the marriage to be dissolved. Particularly does this apply in early marriages,

If, then, one is to draw dedac- tions from figures, it appears that marriage which take pace when the parties have arrived at the age of discretion are happier than those contrafted in youth. Far more than in a previous generation, for youth is now intolerant, more. avid for experience and the best that can be got out of ife. It does not want to make the sacrifice that matrimony so often demands.

Yet in one year 268 boys of 16 and 1 had the courage to take on the responsibilitties of marriage. It is almost ludicrous. We are all of the type arquainted with mer who have been handicapped for their whole lives because too. they married young: those, who have worked their way up because they married young; those, too, who have worked their way up to good and important positions. Yet the unsuitable wives they chose in their beedless, undiscerning youth seldom seem to have risen in their own sphere.

The widow seems to have irresistible lure, for it appears that she captures one in every 20 of the men who make their way to the altar. It appears that these second marriages are successful. 10 there is much to be said in favour "of the widow who brings her ex- perience into this difficult business of marriage.

It wasn't so long ago that the wrist watch was causing a similar futter in the conservative deve codes. The idea of a man wear- ing a bracelet, even with a good sturdy timepiece attached, was re- pugnant to the reactionaries,, who preferred to sport. a heavy gold chain across the midriff, as their fathers and done before themi Al- though they could find no record of the wrist watch having been worn in ancient Rome, they felt iýstínc- tively that it was a decadent device. It took a world was to remove the stigma of sissiness from this use. ful title orzament

If men to-day show a tendency to borrow an occasional item of adorn ment from the ladies they are cer- tainly justified in doing so. ladies have borrowed plenty from them including hats. smokes, drinks and jobs.

But there is little danger that men will ever take over the domes. tic duties of the dista side, even in a matriarchy. Every summer when their wives, go to the country. the have a glorious opportunity to 22822273 certain distinctly feminine prezogatives and try their hand at housework. Yet time and experi ence do not improve their techai- que. They come out of their an nual 'dip into domesticity no wiser, and much sadder.

the average wife were requir ed to assume the sole manazement of her husband's business for six weeks-every summer, she

would soon learn its whys and wherefores and adapt barself easily to the un- fazalar office environment. But no matter how often the average husband assumes the sole manage- ment of a house, he remains novice to the end. And his inept. ness in household · matters is the indisputable proof of his masculin- ity. He may wear a feather in his hat, and a lavender cravat. Ho

may even succumb to the blandish- ments of the haberdashery sales man and put on a pink shirt. But after one glance at his single- handed efforts to keep the bom fires burning no one could ever accuse him of effeminacy.

His

A Woman's Work Is Never Done—At Least, No: by Her Husband While She's Away On Vacation,

menage is 100 per cent, bé-man. “

Masculine housekeeping is as dir- ferent from feminine housekeeping as black is from white. It gets down to fundamentals and reverts atavistically to the age when exis- tence was merely a struggle to keep body and soul together. It is reminiscent of prehistoric days when the human species was blund- cring through life by the trial-and- error method.

Yet in its crudity there is an in- nocent sharm which is lacking in the refined efficiency of the home. economics experts. Only after liv- ing alone for a couple of weeks can a man appreciate the full flavour of unburnt toast, the cool smoothness of a clean sheet, the esthetic per- fection of an unclouded drinking glass. As an involuntary ascetic, his lenses grow keener through privation until all the misor com-

VICTIMS OF BOWEL TROUBLE

suffering from digestive disorders, constipation, Haemorrhoids. and the evil consequences, such as Headache. Dizziness, etc., should try. Hunyadi' Janos--a real blessing.

Hunyadi János

NATURAL AFERIENT WATER

--it has stood the test for 70 years, is praised be physicians, and recommended for extended cures in accumulation of fat, in chronic diseases of the female organs, congestion, skin eruptions, etc.

(All good chemists seli tt)

forts of life have a new signifi-

cance.

Variety is the keynote of mascu- line.housekeeping. A constientious housewife may pride herself on the number of new dishes she can serve. But to her a dish means something to eat, whereas to the housekeep- ing husband it means something to be eaten from. He finds variety not in the cuisine, but in the croc- kery. During the first week be runs the gamut of the china closet. from soup plates to nut dishes.

Common sense tells him that it is more efficient to wash all of the dishes some of the time than to

wash some of the dishes all of the time. So he stacks them in the sink, intending to stage an ap cralyptic clean-up at some future date,

As the stack mounts higher, his choice of utensils KOWA MOTE bizarre, and by the end of a-fort- night you will be likely to find him eating beans from a cut-glass panch bowl and drinking beer from a silver mug marked “Baby.” Only when the last available food-recep- tacle has been used does he get down to the grim business of tidy- ing up.

Soap is a negligible factor in the Most manly art of dishwashing. -men prefer the percussion method; they turn both faucets of the sink wide open and let the force of the -water knock the dirt off the dishes. This is easier than the friction method, by which the dishes are rabbed with an embroidered guest- towel until reasonably simooth. The only disadvantage is that the drain-pipe of the sink often becomes clogged with fragments of rare old Lowestoft, But you will discover that as the summer advances you have fewer and fewer dishes to wash-and that's something.

(Continued Over-Pagi)