What a Good Girl Am I!

By ELINOR GOULDING SMITH

THE American Woman is the Unsung Hero of the War. Whatever she does is right. When she puts on her lipstick (because she feels sloppy if she doesn’t), then she is Gallantly Keeping Up Civilian Morale. If she doesn’t put on lipstick, she is Saving Precious Fats and Oils. If she goes to the beauty parlor to have her hair set (because she can’t stand it hanging down the back of her neck any more), that’s all right. It is her Wartime Duty to Look Her Loveliest. If she doesn’t go to the beauty parlor, that’s all right too. She is Stretching Her Wartime Dollar, and Saving to Buy Bonds.

When she mends her stockings (because her big toe is sticking through and it hurts), she is Conserving Civilian Goods and should be duly praised. If she doesn’t mend them, then she is Doing Her Part by Giving Precious Silk and Nylon to Salvage.

If she has the couch reupholstercd (because it’s getting pretty shabby), then she is Taking Care of What She Has so that She Will Not Have to Buy New, and she is also Keeping Her Home Attractive in the Traditional American Way and Keeping Up Her Morale. If she doesn’t have the couch reupholstered (because she can’t afford it this year, if you want to know), that’s swell. She is Helping to Avoid Inflation by Not Spending Her Money for Unnecessary Luxuries, she is Doing with What She Has, she is suffering quietly and nobly like a pioneer woman.

If she buys an expensive dress, that’s good. She is Buying Quality Merchandise Which Won’t Wear Out and Waste Precious Materials. Also, she is Looking Her Wartime Best for the morale of anybody who happens to look at her in the subway. If she buys a cheap dress, then she is Saving Wartime Dollars and Avoiding Inflation again.

If she uses her Number 17 stamp for a pair of shoes, then she is simply Doing Her Wartime Duty, according to one ad on the radio. If she doesn’t use it, she is Saving Precious Leather. If she uses it on a pair of low-heeled, sensible shoes, then she’s All Set to Walk and Save Gas and she’s Keeping Healthy for Crowded Wartime Days, and she’s getting shoes that will Wear and Wear and Wear. If, on the other hand, she uses her stamp on a pair of high-heeled, delicate sandals, we’re back in the morale thing again, and she gets the same praise for that as for the low-heeled shoes, or no shoes at all.

Last year when she saved the bacon fat — because who ever heard of throwing away good bacon fat? — nobody said anything. This year when she saves the bacon fat she is all sorts of paragon, and she is winning the war singlehanded.

Throwing things away is all right. They’re needed for salvage. Cluttering up the house with things is all right too: you’re supposed to save things to make other things out of them.

If she puts pale pink polish on her nails, then they are suitable for her Busy Wartime Days. If she puts bright red polish on her nails, then they’re going to Give Her a Lift After Her Busy Wartime Days.

The American Woman of 1943 can do no wrong. Whatever she does, from yanking down her girdle to buying a yard of red ball fringe for the kitchen curtains, is virtuous, patriotic, self-sacrificing, and noble — if she reads the right ads.