ere,
start a rebellion. When the smoke has cleared away you may see a new
path to follow, and it may lead to somewhere. It is not necessary to do
this often, because the fault is usually our own, and not that of
environment or conditions, or our husbands. All we need to do is to
think things over, and begin something, and all the other conditions
will take care of themselves. The moment we step outside the humdrum
path of existence, the moment we are curious enough to do this, there is
hope for us. A little mental fresh air will dissipate a good many brain
fogs. The instant we begin "working for something" definite, we cease
to follow in the procession of the average helpless and hopeless
citizen. So to the young housewife we would strongly suggest that she
"think things over" and decide what she is going to work for.

Now, what will it be? Of course it will be different with each
housewife. With many it will be "a home of our own." It may only be a
piano for the children, or it may wisely be more insurance. Possibly you
live in the country, and you long for the social and other advantages of
the city. You may be a city wife and may long for a farm in the glorious
country. It may be a trip to Europe; or a college education for the boy;
or a musical career for the daughter. It does not matter what it is, the
"it" is the thing itself, and, having found it, the world for you has
changed. The lonesomeness, and the hopelessness, and the wretchedness of
life have disappeared. There is always in the future the "it"; no matter
how dark and gloomy the road may be, it is illuminated at the far end
with the realized "it." It is the bearing of the burden of life that
makes a wife, and when we have "something to work for" we begin to live.
Love is the explanation. We don't want the home for ourselves. We want
it for those we love, we want those we love in the atmosphere, which I,
as mother, will make in "our home." It is the elemental mother that
speaks,--the motherhood spirit that pours out eternally in
self-sacrifice and keeps no debit account. It is the cry of the primal
mother that echoes through all the ages and which has kept the race sane
and safe and hopeful. Having something to work for supplies the element
necessary to cheerfulness. In the darkest moments, when everything seems
to go wrong, the thought that we can look forward to a time when a great
change is coming, when we will move to the new home, when we go to the
far