The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-04
FOR FEMININE READERS
AMERICAN WIVES WHO KNOW LIT
TIE OF THEIR HUSBANDS AFFAIRS.
The Extravaganza of Long Skirts and
Silk Linings-WoInen Who Board
Said to BE Triffing.

Treated however, in the abstract and as
a general question, is it to be supposed, says
writer in the New York Post, that Ameri-
can women are the sort of women who
would materially aid in the political or pro-
fessional advancement of their husbands?
Perhaps so when they are transplanted to
other countries and married to foreigners
and placed in an entirely new environment,
but certainly not so when they remain at
home. Henry James somewhere says that
the only impression which an American
woman has about her husbands affairs is an
impression that they of no particular
consequence. So far as concerns his exter-
nal life, that is to say the life spent in his
profession or other occupation, an American
husband and an American wife usually live
in different worlds. He does not greatly
concern himself about the things that in
terest her outside OF their home, and she
seldom takes the trouble to inquire about
the things which are of interest to him.
So long as all goes well and everything
that is necessary for their mutual con-
venience is attended to she does not bother
her head about the ways and means, but
takes it all in the same spirit as she takes
the air which she breathes. She knows lit
tie or nothing beyond the mere fact that
her husband is in such-and-such an occupa-
tic1l and that he is, in a general way, get
ting on pretty well. If his prosperity in
creases she discovers it in an immediate en-
hancement of the sums of money which she
has to spend. If his affairs begin to be
little complicated and unsatisfactory, how
ever, she is generally the last person to per-
ceive it or to hear of it, and sometimes she
never does hear of it at all until they are
both involved in a general crash which
wipes out their whole establishment and
forces them to begin again upon some other
basis. The result of all this is to be seen
in the curious differences which exist be-
tween the American man and the American
woman in their intellectual standing and
general cultivation. The men know, first of
all, that which belongs to their own occupa-
ton, and only Secondarily and in a much
less degree what belongs to liberal culture.
They do not read great deal, they are not
inguists, they seldom are possessed of any
accomplishments, and when they meet to-
gether their talk pretty nearly always de-
generates into shop" They are very keen
and very clever, and even their shop is
interesting; only il is rather narrow. The
women, on the other hand, know nothing
whatever about the details of the professions
or of business, and they are rather proud
of their utter ignorance of whatever relates
to politics and government. They do not
know even the simplest facts relating to our
national life. while an English woman is
as minutely informed concerning the ms and
outs of politics and legislation as is her hus-
band. American women, however, possess,
as a rule, great deal of knowledge about
other things. They know something of the
Languages, they have Il variety of accom-
plishmcnts, they cultivate their taste in
many ways and they do things, when they
do them, very well.
This differentiation of interest between
the American husband and the American
The thing has become traditional in our
life, and 1t springs from the peculiar feeling
which the American man entertains regard
ing kiS own responsibilities and regarding
what is due TO woman. TO him the hard
work of life Is wholly mans, the duties are
mans the responsibilities are mans. To
woman belong both ease and pleasure, and
hers are the privileges only He would have
ner with any of the cares and worries that
peset his path in life. 1t makes him proud
TO think that he can shield her from these
thlngs, and he takes 1t as a matter of
course that the material side of his own
existence could not have any real interest
Tor her. Perhaps, also, he has a little dread
OF her 1ntermeddling, and he marks out.
therefore, independence for himself in his
external life while giving to her an equal
independence in social and domestic mat
tiers. This essentially American theory is,
IN itself and In the motives back of it, rath-
er fine, yet it is none the less a sad mis-
take. The men and the women both would
be far better could each share much more
fully, the one in the pleasure and the other
IN the work. This would make the men less
crude, less narrow, and more entertaining,
and the women more seriouS-minded, more
purposeful, and less frivolous. Furthermore
1t would mean more perfect union as they
go through life together and would, there
fore, make the American home in every
way ideal.