The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-11
FLEE THE NAGGING WOMAN,
One of the Greatest Woes Failing to Man
kinds Lot.

If We could all compare NOTES with
one another as to our life experiences
we should probably find that IL is not
the tragedies. the great sorrows, which
are hardest to bear. a young man is
despoiIed of his first love and he thinks
he cannot endure to live But he does
endure, gets over it and is probably so
! much consciously the better for the
heart lore he has learned. Men who
| have. at one stroke. been reduced from
afliuence to poverty have in time be-
come used to their new condition and
/ have almost fallen in love with it. No.
il is not the tragedies, it is not the
I crushing load Of grief, which rob life
/ of it's interest, il is something much
pettier than that. Many a man would
/ suffer far less from the loss of his for
tune or the death of his dearest friend
than he would from some daily trifiing
| irritation, such as being within hear
/ ing of a noisy sleeper or having to do
I with some stupid person who entailed
hourly worry Perhaps the most bur
densome and torturing of these minor
| trials of life is to be compelled to live
I permanently with "a nagging woman"
! for in the great majority OF caeSs 1t is
/ women who are guilty Of this exasper-
/ ating action, which has probably done
more to break up homes than all the
I immortality from the earliest times on
ward to our day. There are nagging
men. but they are comparatively rare.
| 1t is mainly upon the nagging woman
| that our eyes must he fastened, and,
/ surveying her and the undoubted mis-
| chief she has done and will do, we nat
! uIaly ask why this disagreeable trait
| of conduct should he more general
| among women than among men.
/ On the surface it would seem both
| that violent temper was more frequent
N a
| life of man was more of the kind to
/ aggfaVate the temper than that of
woman. Undeniably nagging is fault
of temper, yet it is far more common
among women than men, How is the
paradox to be explained? In domeS-
/ tic dispute it is usually the lady who
Will have the last word" The poor
woman who appears in police court
with her head bandaged to hide the
marks of her lords affection is asked
to explain the facts. How often it turns
cut that the man was, as he would say
aggravated" by a long course of ir-
l1tating comments on his character and
behavior, such as those which Mrs.
Raddle, Bob Sawyers landlady. be-
slowed on Mr. Raddle in vigorous tones
for the benefit of Mr. Pickwick and his
friends Isolated instances of this
could easily be borne. but that would
| not be nagging in its proper sense.
1t is the daily, hourly infection of
rough irritable tongue from whose
perpetual Wagging escape seems hope
less which constitutes real nagging. 1t
has the effect after Il time of driving
the meekeSt man to something like deS-
peration, and he goes out to the pub
lie house or walks in the rain or mends
his fence to get away from that weari-
full curse. The public houses of Lon
don are probably full of the victims of
nagging women, and one night, when
the Victim has imbibed more freely
| than usual, he returns to the partner
OF his joys and intiicts those physical
injuries which lead to his appearance
in the police court. Now, why should
nature have 19 times out of 30 50 con-
trlVed things that ii is the woman rath-
er than the man who causes this dis
tresSing experience 1t is not an acct
dent. There is some definite reason for
it, and the reason lies. we think in the
| physical difference Of the sexes and the
different life experience of each sex.
Women are born with a different ner-
Vous organization from that of men.
While they are probably less Suscepti-
BILE to severe pain of many kinds than
are men, and therefore give an appear
ance at times of greater courage las in
the dentists chair). their nerves are
essentially weaker. and therefore less
capable of prolonged strain than those
of men. If there We're no other reason
this alone would prevent them from
effective competition with men in such
careers as those of the military com
mander. the statesman. the great fin
ancier, the explorer Now the daily
lives of many, if not most women do
demand no little strain on the nervous
system. y few women are rich. Sc
Guided, with no occupation and with a
legion of attendants to minister on
every want. The poor sometimes envy
them. but they are not to be envied
for they are the victims of settled en-
nui, which shows itself in all kinds of
nervous disorders A fashionable doc
tors records would furnish some
strange stories as To the means adopt
ed by women of this kind to give some
Zest and interest to their faded, aimless
lives. Probably the prescription said
to have been given to the queen of
Sweden-a little household work every
day-would be their salvation did they
but know it.
Disordered nerves and a vacant life
bring out latent infirmities of temper,
and a woman who might have been
bright. eager, affectionate. becomes
ptevish, fretful, fault finding. disturbed
by a zephyr, agitated by a crumped
rose leaf. Such a woman will soon
dege nerate into a confirmed adept in
the art of nagging. 1t is vain to try to
please heI. to live with her in purga-
tory. to serve her is worse even than
that The best thing that could hap
pen to her would be to he stripped of
her riches to be obliged to share in
the daily common life of mankind, with
its joys and sorrows. its tasks and
simple pleasures. For a poor. burden
ed woman of work who exhibit faults
of temper much allowance can cas-
lily be made. but we find it hard to
make any for peevish. naggng wom-
an surrounded by every object of lux
urious desire. And yet probably the
one needs the charitable pardon of her
eXasperated fellow creature no less
than the other. So far as We can
trace human faults to environment
rather than To personality. we cannot
help seeing that the life of the idle.
rich woman with an initially fretful
temper is about as unfavorable me
! dunn for the growth of beautiful hu-
man qualities as can well be conceived.
BY far the commoner case of the