Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1907-12-26
Published by request.
Lodge-Going Husbands.


pulpit we are regularly RECALLED with
the wickedness of the wife with the
club-joining habit. 1t is a subject
with which the so-called popular
preacher can always ''make a hit"
and the harder things he says, the
more pronounced is his chit. The
picture of the poorly kept home and
neglected children can always be
made effective. Pulpit orators Of
national renown make the club wife
a feature of their regular stock in
trade, and the newspapers are eager
to give space to u%tterances on the
subject. while the funny writers and
cartoonists can always get publicity
for their efforts at portraying the al
legged evils. The club habit is not
the best thing in the world for the
wife, and when it is carried to ex-
tremes the home is bound to show
the effect, for it is beyond dispute
that without the right kind Of a house
wife there can be no right home life.
But bad as the club habit is in
woman, it isn't a circumstance as a
producer Of evils to the lodge habit
in husbands, for the very simple
reason that it is not so prevalent.
Where one wife belongs to clubs
hundreds and thousands OF men be-
long to lodges. Where a woman be-
longs to one club a man belongs to a
dozen lodges. 1t is the rule for a
man to belong to lodges; it is the ex-
ception for women to belong to clubs.
Either in moderation or within reason
is all right. But the growth in num-
Der Of lodges of various kinds, with
their social, insurance and mutual
benefit features or all combined, has
been marked. These lodges, socie-
ties and orders begin in the school
room, and men stick to them all the
way through life. 1t is in a measure
a natural development of the gregar-
ious nature of the animal man. He
likes to be with his fellows, or thinks
he does, and it is all right for him to
allow the nature to have its way to a
certain extent. But the money-mak-
ing features OF some OF these lodges
have brought into the field organizers
who leave no effort untried to secure
members. No matter how many
lodges or orders a man belongs to-,
there is always somebody alter him to
join another. 1t is not at all an I'M
common thing for a nan to have a
lodge meeting Tor every evening in
the week, and some time two or more
meetings on the same evening. Sim
ply to attend these meetings means
the monopoly of all of the time he
has away from business or work,
leaving the victim" of the lodge
habit practically no time for his fam
lily or his home. Where that con-
dition of affairs exists the results are
far from good. 1t is all very well for
a man to argue that he must mix with
men, and that he cannot do so any
where hall so satisfactorily as at his
lodge. The argument will hold good
only so far as the lodge is made a
means of such intercourse. But
where the lodge is allowed to domi-
nate all other interests and to sup
plant the home lie the claim OF ne
cessity for mingling with fellow men
becomes but little more than the
shabbiest sort of a pretense,
There comes to mind a little incid-
ent that illustrates the evil. A wife
found herself left at home every even
ing month after month on account OF
the manifold duties imposed on her
husband by his many lodges. Her
pleas for a part at least of his time
and attention were vain, and she
took other means. She astonished
her husband one day by telling him
she had joined a female branch OF
one of the lodges OF which he wa:
a member. The following week she
wore three lodge pins and explained
that she had joined two more secret
orders exclusively for women. She
carried the thing on for a month OF
SO, and it came to be a regular thins
for the husband to come home in the
evening and n a note on the table
set for supper telling him he woulc
find cold meat and similar viaDds ir
the pantry that she was compelled
to go to lodge meeting, He fnall,
awoke to the realities OF the situation
and waiting for her to come HON,
one evening he held his hand toward
her and said: ''In quit if you will
She was only too glad, for she ha'
grown awiully weary taking" ne'
names for her lodges. 1t might be
good thing for other wives similarl
afflicted with lodge-going husbands
a. 49,. ---.l. "