Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-06-01
A Mans Rights at Home.

The accounts contained in the daily
papers of a man in New Jersey who has
separated from his wife, and left her.
because he had no privacy in his own
home. is enough to cause CONSERVATION
among the married women throughout
the length and breadth of the land 1t
looks as if the worm were going to turn
at last. ana the poor, down-troddpn
American man was beginning to realize
that he has rights in the home which
even his wife is bound tn recognize
This is a brand-new idea. Heretofore
it has been assumed tacitly. at least. in
this country, that woman was the whole
thing in the home. and that 4 man mere
ly existed in the humble role of bill
payer. 1t is she who decides on where
the family shall live. and when they shall
cast off the ehrysalis of the side street
grub. and emerge as butterflies of fash
ion in a mansion on the avenue Ii Is she
who designs and furnishes the horae.
according to her own taste. and so thor
oughly monopolizes it that there is scarce
a man who has even bureau drawer
or hook III closet that he may call his
own.
Every man has. at times. dreams oe
possessing room exclusively his own in
his own house, where ne may spill ashes
on the carpet and leave books on the
floor. and put his feet ON the sofa cush.
ions and otherwise enjoy himself after
his own ideas. instead of in accordance
with his wife'S. Alas. it is merely a pine
vision. He may hit him up a den or a
snuggery. or whatyer he chooses to ca
it, but his wife inevitably finds it lust
the place for her sewing machine. or that
it has a sunny window that suits the
baby. or is Il good situation for her writ
ing desk and before he knows it the
man is ousted. No man has any rights in
his own house that anybody feels ought
to be respected.
So far as the mana cement Of the home
is concerned the average man. in the
average family. is also an unconsulted
hgure-head. In other countries the hus-
band and fathers position established
the social status of his womankind. In
thus the women of the household e$tab-
liSh his They do the entertaining. They
decide on who is to he invited. and who
iett out, and many man finds himself
the greatest stranger. and the least at
nome person present in his own drawing
room. lie may he quiet and domestic in
ms tastes, with an unalterahle prejudice
against balls, with a deadly loathing of
iohG,courSe dinners. but that cuts no fig
ure IN the extent OF entertainments that
mother and the girls give" if they have
a hankerlns after thc flesh pots Of soci-
ETY..
II the law upholdS the New Jersey man
IN ms contention that man has a right
70 privacy i'll his own home, if he desires
II. we may see all this changed. Man
may assert himself He may refuse to
any longer he put off with any old place
IN the house, and declare that it is the
malienahle privilege of the person with
II" purse 10 have the best Of things, TO
smoke in the parlcr if he wants To. and
% nave affairs generally conducted like
he wants them
There's really no telling how far such
a domestic revolution would 20 once it
was iuaugurated. In many of the states
the failure of man to support and pro-
vide home for his wife is sufficient
grounds for divorce. The time may come
when the failure of the wife to keep
the house properly that the man has pro-
yided will he recognized as legal grounds
for freeing him from an ill-kept hearth
and bad cooking.