The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-10-16
WOMAN'S WORLD

lucky enough not to have time to think
of his domestic misery. He is so hard
worked trying to make both ends meet
that he hasn't time to consider whether
his wife represents his ideal of femi-
nine perfection or not. while Mrs.
Greengrocer's thoughts are effectual-
" and permanently diverted from
yearnings for a real soul mate by hav-
ing to get up and get breakfast and
patch her husbands trousers. Insofar
poverty is the handmaiden of domestic
happiness.
The rich miss this aid to marital
Bliss. Being freed from the daily grind,
they have abundant leisure to take
note of each others little imperfec-
TONS and the state of their own af-
fections. Mrs. Croesus having moth
ing else to do, and having exhausted
all other pleasures, sits with her I'm
ger on her pulse, and observes that
her heart beats do not quicken as
they did ten years ago when her Henri
Adolphus approached, from which she
argues that she made a mistake in
matrimony and missed her real mate.
Or being of a jealous nature, she APP.
plies her little thermometer to her hus-
bands love and finds that from fever
heat it has gone down to normal, and
the result of her discovery figures as
alienation of the affection" in the
divorce court. Or perhaps, it is Mr..
Croesus who, observing that his Ma
thilda's looks are not what they once
were, starts out to hunt for thrills,
the end whereof is trouble, and tribu-
lations, and alimony.
Furthermore, the habit of self indul-
gence is strong upon the rich, and the
man and woman who are not used to
doing without anything they want, are
pretty apt not to deny themselves a
forbidden Irritation But most of all
it is ennui, the desire for fresh sensa-
lions and fresh amusements, and a
general lack of something to do, that
is at the bottom of the domestic infe-
licities of the rich. You haven't time
to hunt for afflnities, or even to know
that you haven't got one, when you
are hustling for a living, and that's
the reason that poor people so seldom
get divorces.
The wisest prayer that was ever Of
fered to heaven was when the psalm
list exclaimed: "Give me neither pow
erty nor riches" and this petition
might Wen be Incorporated in the
prayers of the marriage service. I'm
doubtedly, the happiest couples are
those where there is neither the wolf
nor the automobile at the door. Nor
need one look far to seek the cause
of this. Where both the husband and
the wife must make the home, where
the furniture is gathered together bit
by bit. and every new adornment is
the fruit of plans talked over a hun
dred times together, the couple has a
community of interest that is the
strongest bond in the world. The
friends that all of us find most con-
genial are people who are engaged in
the same occupation we are, who knew
the same things, and have the same
thoughts, and to whom we can talk
shop. This is doubly true of a mar
ried couple, and It Is a great argument
for women assisting their husbands III
their business
But even if the woman is merely the
housekeeper it is q great tie between
her and her husband if she saves and
sacrifices to help him get an interest
in the firm he is clerking for, or If
she denies herself If he is a profession
al man that he may take some special
course of lectures, or get the instru-
ments or books he needs. Such a cou-
pie, working side by side. with the
same ambitions, the same aim, the
same triumphs and successes, know
the very highest Joy that married life
can give. have heard many rich and
famous men say that the days of their
early married life, when they and their
wives were working up together in
the world, were the happiest days of
their lives, and 1 know more than one
bediamoned lady living in a palace,
who frankly bemoans the three-room
cottage in which she went to house,
keeping.
The very lack of money for amuse-
ments throws a couple on each other
for companionship. They have not the
means for the long European trips
and the summers apart, that uncon-
sciously, but inevitably wean husband
and wife from each other, for there is
a habit in loving as In other things,
and we can get used to doing without
people Right here, in this particular,
is where narrow means are most a
blessing in disguise, for when hus-
band and wife have reached the point
that they are not necessary to each
others happiness, the finest flower Of
love lies dead.
So, after all, the story of how Croe-
sus chased Cupid away from the
heartstone is not so remarkable. Life
is full of compensations, and the most
wonderful and beautiful of all is that
the beggar may have that which no
money can buy-true and disinterested
love. Dorothy DIX.