Poverty is picturesque only to the outsider.  “It’s hell to be poor” is the poor man’s summary of the situation.  There are serious psychical injuries in poverty which will demand our attention later, and still more serious bodily ones.  In the case of the housewife, poverty on the physical side means (1) never-ending work; (2) no escape from drudgery and monotony; (3) insufficient convalescence from the injuries of childbearing; (4) a poor home, badly constructed, badly managed, without conveniences and necessities.

That there are plenty of poor women who bear up well under their burdens is merely a testimony to the inherent vitality of the race.  A man would be a wreck morally, physically, and mentally if he coped with his wife’s burdens for a month.  Either that or the housekeeping would get down to bare essentials.  If a man kept such a house, dusting and cleaning would be rare events, meals would become as crude as the needs of life would allow, ironing and linen would be wiped off as non-essential, and the children would run around like so many little animals.  In other words an integral part of what we call civilization in the home would disappear.

Perhaps men would reorganize the home.  The housekeeper of to-day is only in spots cooeperative; her social sense is undeveloped.  Men might, and I think likely would, arrange for a group housekeeping such as that which they enjoy in their clubs.

This digression aside, there are debilitating factors in the housewife’s lot which need some amplification.  We have referred to the insufficient time for convalescence from childbirth.  There are sequelae of childbirth, such as varicose veins, flat feet, back strain, that render the victim’s life a burden.  The rich woman finds it easy to secure rest enough and proper medical attention.  But the poor woman, not able to rest, and with recourse either to her overbusy family doctor or to the overburdened, careless, out-patient department of some hospital, drags along with her troubles year in and year out, becomes old before her time, and loses through constant pain and distress the freshness of life.

It is impossible to separate the psychical factors from the physical, largely because there is no separation.  One of the aims of a woman’s life is to be beautiful, or at least good looking.  From her earliest days this is held out to her as a way to praise, flattery, and power.  It becomes a cardinal purpose, a goal, even an ideal.

Unlike the purposes of men this goal is attained early, if at all, and then Nature or Life strip it away.  The well-to-do woman or the exceptional poor woman may succeed in keeping her figure and her facial beauty for a relatively long time, though by the forties even these have usually given up the struggle.  For the poor woman the fading comes early,—­household work, bearing children, sedentary life, worry, and a non-appreciative husband bringing about the fatal change.