Evening star., 1899-07-29
COMFORTS OF SUBURBAN WASHINGTON
THE REAL SUMNER GIRL
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star
have made a great discovery. and with
the characteristic uuseIiiShuess of woman.
lovely woman. when find a good thing I'm
not happy till everybody l know is sharing
il with me-
And what have 1 discovered?
Washington in summer. / have sum-
mered in Maine Massachusetts, Long
Island, New Jersey and the far northwest,
and from the pcint of view Of a poor, re
spectacle married LADY, with only one hus-
band and three children. l declare Wash
ington is the most delightful summer
sort l have found.
Ill tell you why.
In the matter of going away summers. as
in everything else. the majority OF people
are sheep. They do il simply because the
others do It, and they never stop to ra-
tiOuully consider either the end sought in
their action or the means at theIr command
10 accomplish it. There's Il vague general
notion prevalent that you are obliged 20
get out of Washington in the summer on
account Of the children. There's still
yaEucr notion that everybody needs
change In executive sessions OF ladies
clubs l have also heard the idea advanced
that the first step IN solving the problem
How 10 he happy though married Is al
ways To 90 away for at least TWO months
should separate not less than Cne-siXth OF
the year in order to aVcid the expense and
scandal of a permanent separation
This Is argued furcibiy by the same
logical lady minds who hold that the only
thing that Will keep one man loyal TO you
is another man that during the eight years
Of married life l have spent in Washington
/ have never dared stop at home through
the summer. Though / Were willing to
take chances on The children. having half
a n, tiOn that carrying them to the country
for their health is Il great deaf like carry
ing them to q circus Tor their eGUc1tlOn,
and though my eaSe-lDViug nature yearned
to endure almost any hing rather than the
confusion of The awful annual change gen
orally recommended as bs!Hs good for NE,
] had not the courage {" ii s what an un-
interrupted YEAR or my society might do to
tn devotion If my cHe husband. Surely,
thought 1, it Is better to shiver in Maine.
or S-zzip in NeV Jersey. for TWO brief
months than have whole year Of solid
comfort at home. only to g to Oklahoma
or South Dakota at the end
This Is such a very solemn thought. pre-
scn:ed a my club, that not later than July l,
and commonly by June l.. | have Sc my
teeth. packed my trunks. turned my house
hold gods. done up in TAR paper, over to
anybody that would assume their care, and
with the children and the nurse. three bags
a shawl strap and nursery refrigerator
alcohol stove small tea kettle. sterilized
milk. bottles. lunch basket. and sometimes
the cal. have set forth her0ically bent on
wardiuG of divorce. and, Incidentally
cholera infdatum, malaria. neurasthenia
and death by sunstrGkc- Washington in
summer stood in my mind as the hidcous
incarnation Of every social and physical
evil MOI only were husbands eyerlastiugly
10 be lost by families remaining together
through the summer. but my feVrred imag-
nation pictured every body left in Wash
lnStoI after July l living under a
sc"urst IF devastating disease ard still
more fearful climate. When I would get
letters t~iHnE ne that II was really very
nice at h1me-sO cool that men Were sleep
ing under blankets understood from this
merely THAT jUcy were lying TO me in order
10 deep % the effect which q Woman'S going
away summers has upon he popular mind
livery body says You must do it, ana vet
tNeFNHo"E hr.-eves-the notion prevails not
alone ia This country. but abroad-tE3t
msrIgau wives and children always go
away summers To have q good tine-a good
and terribly expensive ;iTue-wh.Ie the poor
s'-t-S.'eT-i.gifS American Usblud and
iH--tf 3 ;GH rs III home. al! alone toiIinae
and sweating 10 pay th. bills Nnv /
Con pretend To- say I know what the
american husband really does while his
W. IS a"4}-tns', Is. not all he does. He
'~.-a-N looks Ur'-ty well at the end IF the
season, aE1 Sc ms 10 bear un toIrr: bi,. nm
HrF ""iA tHa burden of expense and M. he
i.LE' hirht h-S absent family entail upon
What the Absent Wife Endures
hdt / do know. and 7 never have seen it
writer down. al the work and Woe tbasa
summer months of impose upon the poor.
Respectable married woman. Ii is under al
clTcHms tauces q great misfortune TO ne
or ana respectable at once. one can
b riah and respectable and not find re-
ki'"'tdMity such an awful grind or onc
can %" q poor outcaSt and Get along very
We'll with poverty, But To hc poor ana re-
sp-rtan.t- arG do it, moreover win xrb ,
you can get ON that basis in :, sI,no,ns,,
h1tel-"h' ! draw long breath t. think
- tH' '"tluF" and the temptation the cx-
I'Flrh't mas subjected me to. 1 think of
last summer at an exclusive Jersey COAST
r'SpTt-Huv Of those untarthIv pIacrs y,bara
good Philadeiphiaus mostly 20 waiting to
die l recall the price | paid and what I
got for it-beds and board calculated 10
NrlNt even my Well-deYelOped reSnecta-
biity TO drink and two rooms in which
sometimes j sat on a trunk and some
times l sat on the baby. and whichever
way l turned | bumped against something
quite often the small boys until | was
black and blue all over, though never exter-
Many 81 black as my soul grew within nor
ever SO blue as the profanity nv heart com
tained without utteru2.
l think especially of the getting up morn
iugS-huw ] would turn ont about = a m
ara dress 10 be out of the way of the chill
C:cu. and then, while | sterilized milk over
an ell stove in the smaller room in the
other one the baby lay on the bed yelling
the ueNt-tO-the-bIby screaming with laugh
ter. while Clf NANNY chased and couIdn'
eaten him 10 dress him, and the third boy
shouting above il all for his shirt pants
st"c kings. Shades of St. Elizabeth, And
good people at home were praying for me,
one OF many crring wives who go to the
seaShpTe for a good timet II YOU ever
near OF me starting a womans rights
movement II will BE- movement to give
women the right to stay at home in spite
OF not weather. little children and the not
to-be-oored constancy of husbands.
The Pro and Con
Indeed il is just such movement that
I'm writing now to establish, and. first of
all, let US reason together about the wide
ly advertised benefit of change
assume, OF course. that I'm talking to
people ike myself, who have q limited