“THERE persists much of the harem in every well-regulated home. In every house arranged to make a real man really happy, that man remains always a visitor, welcomed, honored, but perpetually a guest. He steps in from the great outside for rest and refreshment, but he never belongs. For him the click and hum of the harem machinery stops, giving way to love and laughter, but there is always feminine relief when the master departs and the household hum goes on again. The anomaly lies in the fact that in theory all the machinery exists but for the master’s comfort; but in practice, it is much easier to arrange for his comfort when he is not there. A house without a man is savorless, yet a man in a house is incarnate interruption.
No matter how closely he incarcerates himself, or how silently, a woman always feels him there. He may hide beyond five doors and two flights of stairs, but his presence somehow leaks through, and unconsciously dominates every domestic detail. He does not mean to, the woman does not mean him to; it is merely the nature of him. Keep a man at home during the working hours of the day, and there is a blight on that house, not obvious, but subtle, touching the mood and the manner of maidservant and manservant, cat, dog, and mistress, and affecting even the behavior of inanimate objects, so that there is a constraint about the sewing-machine, a palsy on the vacuum-cleaner, and a gaucherie in the stove-lids. Over the whole household spreads a feeling of the unnatural, and a resulting sense of ineffectuality. Let the man go out, and with the closing of the front door, the wheels grow brisk again, and smooth. To enjoy a home worth enjoying, a man should be in it as briefly as possible…”
The Joys of Being a Woman by Winifred Kirkland, 1918
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Brilliant and true, I can relate this to the days my husband is working from home – he is unobtrusive but is unconciously disturbing the routine
All this sounds true and I have a testimony that it is certainly true in my home. However, I will happily live with the interruption of “machinery” to welcome home my husband because without him, I would be bereft of direction and purpose. He is the reason this house ever gets cleaned up after my crafting/sewing/cooking escapades. My home isn’t worth enjoying without him. {but I do agree with what was said,heehee}
“As briefly as possible.”
How true. I have noticed that if my husband is at home nothing gets done. 🙂
Brilliant and true, I can relate this to the days my husband is working from home – he is unobtrusive but is unconciously disturbing the routine
All this sounds true and I have a testimony that it is certainly true in my home. However, I will happily live with the interruption of “machinery” to welcome home my husband because without him, I would be bereft of direction and purpose. He is the reason this house ever gets cleaned up after my crafting/sewing/cooking escapades. My home isn’t worth enjoying without him. {but I do agree with what was said,heehee}
OMG so true ! My husband has the day off. He is fitting a swing seat with usual cry of these intructions are wrong. He has bought logs for the wood burner, they are in the lounge on the floor cheek by jowl beside the frozen chicken he has bought. The kitchen defies description and I can hardly get through the conservatory to the garden beyond for boxes to do with said swing seat and solar fountain he has bought. He has asked when his coffee is coming. I am seeing to my 4 yr old grandson trying to find a space for his lunch as tools everywhere. I want my domain back. Sigh. He has just said anymore coffee ? ……
I thought I was the only one that felt this way. I can tell my daughter will be the same way. When we are going to clean house or cook we always agree to wait until my husband leaves for work. As my daughter says, ” It’s just easier when he’s not home.”
My husband works from home. You get used to it.
I read it to mine. He just shrugged and stated, “That’s what you’ve always said.” 🙂 Great, fun find, Alison!