Housekeeper or Homemaker

THE warm sun of April shone own lovingly on the little white house, and from an open window the head and shoulders of a pretty young girl followed a dust mop suddenly poked out of the window.

"Oh, Aunt Anne," cried Merrilee, shaking the dust mop vigorously, "that was the loveliest party I have ever seen. Everything went off so smoothly, and the dec­orations and refreshments were wonderful. It was so nice of you to think of having a shower for me.

"You really are good at parties. But it makes a mess to clean up afterward, doesn't it?" "Yes, there is a lot of work to entertaining. You have to clean up before they get here and again after they leave. But the pleasure of see­ing young people have a good time is more than enough reward. In time you get more used to it and have more ideas. Just remember to keep it simple at first and concentrate on the important things, like seeing that everyone is mixing in and enjoying everything."

"Is entertaining an important duty of a min­ister's wife?" Merrilee wanted to know.

"Well, yes. I'd say it is. Not just frivolous en­tertaining with no goal, but entertaining with a purpose."

"With a purpose?" quizzed the girl.

"Yes. You know the world entertains just to have something to do, somewhere to go, or be­cause they owe it to someone. Our entertain­ing should be from a different motive. For in­stance, at church some Sabbath you discover strangers from out of town. It is your place to invite them home, if you possibly can, and help them to have a good Sabbath day.

"Then there are the young people of the church. They need some social activity. Prepare something interesting for them. You will hold your young people that way. Make your parties simple and wholesome. Refreshments are not the main reason that we come together. Picnics are fun and they provide opportunity for every­one to help with the refreshments."

"I suppose we have to entertain visiting con­ference workers too," suggested Merrilee.

"Of course. Never think that you can send them off to a restaurant and have them feel kindly toward you. It may be true that they will get better food than you have on hand at that particular moment, but you know we do not come together only for food. The associa­tion with others of like interests is much more important than the food. Of course, you want it nicely prepared and served, but again, keep it simple.

"And don't do more entertaining than is necessary. When your husband is engaged in evangelism, as he will be most of the time, nei­ther he nor you will have time for parties. Your home and family and work in the church will keep you busy enough without too much entertaining.

"If possible, let others in the church lead out in the social life and activities. You take a back seat, if you can, and put your time to weightier matters. But when you are called upon to help, you must know how to go ahead, and it is your duty to do so.

"There," Aunt Anne concluded. "This room looks straight again."

"Yes, you'd never know there were twenty people here last night, would you?" Merrilee moved the vacuum cleaner into the hall. "How did you ever manage when the children were home?"

"Well, it kept me busy. I always tried to keep the front hall and the living room ready for visi­tors at all times. Sometimes the rest of the house didn't get as much attention as it should, but a shepherdess cannot afford to have the members and neighbors say she is a sloppy housekeeper. However, it is more important to be a good homemaker than a good housekeeper, you know."

"Ye-e-es, I guess so. But just what is the differ­ence?"

"A good housekeeper can run around all day keeping the house so spic and span that one would never believe there were children in the house, and she may get lots of compliments. But unless she has time to enjoy her home and family, she is a complete failure. I said that we should see that everything is ready for visitors at all times. This is important to a man in public work. But if you are caught someday playing ball with Johnny or building blocks with Susie, and your house is not in ship-shape order, don't let it bother you too much. Your children need you too.

"And folks can see through a little disorder where they will not excuse dirt. Be sure your kitchen and bathroom are always shining. It is more important to have cleanliness there than to have a dust-free living room. Your guests will soon see that they have come at an awkward moment when you weren't quite expecting them, but if the kitchen is piled with dirty dishes and the walls and sink are grimy and the floor filthy, they will say you are dirty.

"Take time to live, yet do not neglect your work to do it. While you are being a good housekeeper and enjoying life with your family you are teaching your children habits that will go with them throughout life. If you are sloppy, your children will be sloppy. If you keep things spotless, your children will want to do the same. This is especially so if they are trained to help in the organized work of running the home."

R-r-r-r-r-ing! R-r-r-r-ring! Aunt Anne's door­bell was being pushed frantically the next day.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming." Aunt Anne hurried to open the door.

"Excuse me, Aunt Anne, but may I use your iron right fast?" Merrilee pushed past her aunt toward the kitchen.

"Of course, dear, but what's the hurry? I thought surely something was wrong the way you rang that bell."

"I'm sorry, Auntie. I didn't mean to scare you." Merrilee took the clothes from the paper sack she was carrying. "You see, the conference presidents are here this week to interview the senior ministerial students for jobs."

"Yes, yes. I know what you mean," smiled Aunt Anne. "A clean shirt every day for Marc."

"How did you know?" Merrilee asked as she plugged in the iron.

"Oh, I remember. We were married when Uncle Lan graduated, and he thought he had to have a clean shirt and his suit pressed every day."

"Yes, and Marc's shirts are all in the laundry except this one, so he brought it over to me and asked if I'd wash it out and iron it for him. We have an appointment this afternoon right after lunch. And my blouse needed washing. But why do they want to see me, Auntie? We aren't even married yet."

"No, but they want to see what kind of girl is going to be the wife of the man they employ."

"Oh, dear. Maybe they won't approve of me."

"Don't worry, Merrilee. Just be natural and sweet as you always are. You won't have any trouble."

Aunt Anne and Uncle Lan sat in the garden watching the sunset over the distant hills. "I think that's the doorbell, Lan. See who it is. Maybe it's Merrilee."

In a few moments Uncle Lan came back fol­lowed by Marc and Merrilee.

"Well, Marc, how did it go?" asked Uncle Lan.

"Well," said Marc, "the president was won­derfully friendly. He didn't ask as many ques­tions as I thought he would. We just had a friendly visit."

"You mean they didn't ask you any," coun­tered Merrilee. "His wife asked me about where I live, what subjects I was taking, if I could play the piano, whether I had ever worked with children. Oh------"

"Yes, Uncle Lan, they asked Merrilee to take the kindergarten Sabbath school at camp meet­ing this year."

"Imagine! Me!" Merrilee straightened up and pointed to herself. "Me, with no experi­ence in children's Sabbath school, they ask to take complete charge!"

Aunt Anne laughed. "Good for you, Mer­rilee. And between now and then you have lots of time to think about what you are going to do, and to visit the children's divisions here and find out what material to use."

"But I don't know a thing about children. I've never gone to a children's Sabbath school since I was a member there myself."

"No, but you'll remember some of the things you liked, and the conference will send you ma­terial and you can go to the kindergarten here and observe. You might as well get started right away. You are supposed to know all about such things when you get into your church."

Merrilee sighed. "I'm afraid Marc is marry­ing the wrong girl."

"What's the matter with you?" Marc put his hand on Merrilee's shoulder. "You're going to get along fine. Really," turning to the two older people, "Merrilee can do a lot more than she thinks she can."

"You must get used to church work, my dear," said Aunt Anne.

"You mean I always have to have an office in the church?"

"No, in fact, it's better if you don't. Then you can help more generally where you are most needed. But you will be asked from time to time to take responsibilities here and there, and you must get acquainted with the different types of church work so you can be more or less of an authority on it all. In one of our churches the children's Sabbath school was not function­ing at all, so I had to take it and build it up. I didn't tell them that I'd never had any experi­ence, except for ten days of camp meeting. I simply took over as if I knew all about it, and I learned as I went along. As soon as one of my teachers was able to handle it, I moved out and turned it over to her. In another church I had to do the same with the Dorcas Society. You don't always have to be the leader to be able to help, either. Sometimes you can simply meet with them on their committees and help them in every way you can."

[Part 7 of an eight-chapter story of a young minister's wife.]