The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-02-17

lully, what were the real grounds Ior
that dlvorce?"
Coffee grounds, perhaps, 1 hazarded.
cor burnt chops or cold onlelet-"
IIitty's dlmple appeared. like sunbeam
bursting from the clouds Of thought
-Or cold kisses" she added. "or hot
words or lukewarm compliments.
We had been reading OF the Maitland
versus Maitland" affair, which began with
"a big wedding In Manhattan and ended
with a big scandal-in Dakota.
The real grounds for divorce, sighed
Kitty, gazing into the fire, are always,
like the grounds in the coffee, at the bot
tom, where you can't see them. on top
and the court register they're clear
enough-dcsertion, incompatibihty, or non
support, but
That's for the public to swallow I re-
marked. We get our version of the at
fair in one big, sugar-coated pill; but the
man or woman who got the divorce has
been getting his or hers in hundreds Of
bitter little doses"
Like the bitter little grounds at the
bottom of the coffee pot" rejoined Kitty
approximately
"Or the little singing gnats on the
beach" 1 agreed.
or the nasty little homeopathic pellets
that YOU have to swallow every hour
and Kitty shuddered.
1 shuddered myself.
4 wish. I said. lighting cigarette,
and gazing reproachfuHy at Kitty, that
you would choose more cheerful topic.
\ girl really shouldn't know
Every girl" retorted Kitty, with her
nose in the air. should know enough not
to marry man for his big virtues and
then divorce him for his little failings."
You don't mean" cried, putting down
my cigarette in establishment, that she
ought to marry him for his little failings
and
"Of course interrupted Kitty promptly;
that is. she should find out all his little
failings before marriage and then make
up her mind whether she viii put up with
them or not. II isn't enough to know that
a man is handsome and brave and honest
and clever. What you really want to find
out is whether or not he has "a good Ill
gestion or is afflicted with curiosity, or
corns, or enlargement Of the ego, or acute
contraction Of the pocketbook. or the out
at-night habit, or the Cmnr habit And
it isn't enough TO know that a girl is fas-
chatting and tender and acCOmplished-s-'
What you really want TO find out" I
interrupted. lis whether she has d sense
OF humor, and whether she gets her figure
from her mother or the dressmaker. OF is
afflicted with theories, or new thought
H.
The curl-paper habit. OF headaches, or tan
trums, or nerves. or the blues
And yet" said Kitty. with a sigh.
whenever anybody divorces anybody
else, we always say horTid things about
it: when. as matter of fact, we never
can know what sort of daily, hourly in
QUESTION that poor soul has been going
through. We scorn a woman who d.
vorccs her husband for deserti0n when we
know that she herself packed his grip and
made him get out of the house: but we
don't know the fortunes she endured be-
fore she did il; the days she spent making
frocks that he never saw and conversation
that he never heard and plans that he
never agreed to and buildings that he
never cOnglimenteG.
making Jokes that she never laughed at.
and money that she never saved, and
friends that she never approved Of ana
suggestions that she never noticed"
And the only thing either of them is to
blame for. finished Kitty emphatically,
is that they didn't find it all out before
hand"'
How on earth could they?" / de-
manded. "A man isn't going TO say, Ara
bella I'm a worm and a dysDeptic and
brute around the house and curse in the
kitchen, and / can pick a flaw or a quar-
rel with my eyes shut, but l love you
and want EoU TO come and be my door
mat And "a girl isn't likely 10 whisper,
.Algernon. be not deceived, my bushes
come in bottles and my temper is like dy-
Mantle and my tongue works on q per
pctual motion scheme and the things 1
don't know about cooking would fill a
book. That would be turning ccurtship
into catechism and love-making into
hard labor; and, besides, such little
things"
q Little things" exclaimed Kitty, waving
the paper c0ntCmptuOusly- a drop OF
water is a little thing, but they used TO
kill hundreds of Christian martyrs by let
spot until it ate its way 10 their brains;
and that's the way love is killed by the
little things that rub on one spot IN your
nervous system until your mind threatens
10 give way. Two married people who are
in love can forgive each other the biggest
sort of crimes. a woman can forgive her
husband for murder or bigamy or arson,
but she never can pardon him for calling
her "a fright or neglecting her in pubic.
or c0mpiimeuting her worst enemy; and
the fact that she knows him TO be a thief
won't diseuchamt her half SO quickly as
the fact that he eats with his knife, or
wears an unbecoming collar, or smokes an
ili-smelliug pipe. / know q woman who
got divorce for nonsupPort when the
real. soul-Tacking secret that gnawed at
her heart was that her husband always
got her letters first and opened them and
then handed them out 10 her. page by
page. after he had finished reading them"
And I know a man." I declared who
got a divorce for incOmpatibiIity when
the actual sorrow that was eating out
his soul was the daily sight Of the cape
In the back OF his wife's belt where the /
waist and skirt never met A man viii /
forgive a woman for any sort of crime |
sooner than for sloycnliness or a frazzled /
skirt binding. And l knew another chap /
who deserted his wife because she /
couldn't see a joke. There is nothing
that fails with such a dun. sickening |
thud on the masculine heart as the dead |
silence that follows one OF his most scin- |
tnlating remarks"
And / knew another woman Tejoined /
Kitty dcfanuy, who left her husband I
because he never noticed what she had /
on. If there is one thing that "a woman /
can't stand il is being taken for granted. I
like the wall paper or the porl0r lamps /
and only missed or observed when she /
isn't in her place or is out of gear The /