mily with three delicatessen meals a day. The
overemotional housewife may flood the household with her tears over
trifles but be a very Spartan in the grave emergencies of life. And the
neurotic woman, a chronic invalid for housework, may do a dragoon's work
for Woman Suffrage. It may be that no man can understand women; it is a
fact they do not understand themselves. But in this they are not unlike
men.

One might speak of the jealous woman, the selfish woman, the woman
envious of her more fortunate sisters, poisoning herself by bitter
thoughts. These traits belong to all men and women; they are part of
human nature, and they have their great uses as well as their
difficulties. Jealousy, selfishness, envy, three of the cardinal sins of
the theologian, are likewise three of the great motive forces of
mankind. They are important as reactions against life, not as qualities,
and we shall so consider them in a later chapter.

Though we have discussed the types predisposed to the nervousness of the
housewife, it is a cardinal thesis of this book that great forces of
society and the nature of her life situation are mainly responsible.
From now on we are face to face with these factors and must consider
them frankly and fully.

CHAPTER IV

THE HOUSEWORK AND THE HOME AS FACTORS IN THE NEUROSIS

One of the most remarkable of the traits of man is the restless
advancement of desire,--and consequently the never-ending search for
contentment. What we look upon as a goal is never more than a rung in
the ladder, and pressure of one kind or another always forces us on to
further weary climbing.

This is based on a great psychological law. If you put your hand in warm
water it _feels_ warm only for a short time, and you must add still
warmer water to renew the stimulus. Or else you must withdraw your hand.
The law, which is called the Weber-Fechner Law, applies to all of our
desires as well as to our sensations. To appreciate a thing you must
lose it; to reach a desire's gratification is to build up new desires.

This is to be emphasized in the case of the housewife, but with this
additional factor: that how one reacts to being a housewife depends on
what one expects out of life and housekeeping. If one expects little out
of life, aside from being a housewife, then there is contentment. If one
expects much, demands much, then the housewife's lot leads to
discontent.

What is disagreeable is not a fixed thing, except fo