The Alaska citizen., 1911-02-20
''HUSBANDETTE" IS
 THE LATEST
MISS VIDA SUTTON. AUTHORESS OF WORD, SWINGS HAM.
 MFR WITH VIGOR.

 silenU: feeble. futile, terrified wrongly thought to be synonymous with man" Found in small and inConspiCuous corners. Use, to pass tea and pay taxes. Common.
 It is Miss Vida Sutton. actress and playwright, who has the honor of adding this new and useful term to the dictionary. Miss Sutton has the blue eyes and blonde locks of a good and beautiful doll But when l asked her yesterday to explain the word with which she had enlivened the weary wastes of a recent suf- frage meeting. discovered that Miss SuttOn's mind was anything but doll.like because its works were never constructed by any mere man.
 The women really did seem in terested in the 'husbandette, she began. with a laugh of frankly mis- Chieyous reminsCenCe. "l fancy they found it filled long felt want. Every woman knows what the thing really is. and she's lucky if she doesn't have 10 endure it in her own home.
 For q husbandette is simply an accessory husband. He's the man whose wife is infinitely wiser and she supports him financially: al ways she is his mental and moral buffer. He is afraid of everything even including her. Perhaps he swaggers about without realizing his terror, but it's there.
 He is little. fearfully, horribly little. and that is the unpardonable sin. If a person is big there is al ways hope for him IL is so much easier 10 direct strength than it is 10 build up weakness.
 By strength I don't mean just football shoulders. \ woman nat urally rather likes them in a man. But the strength which the real woman desires is @.rength of will. and that characteristic Is always lacking in the husbandette. He vabbles."
 One Of the Mysteries.
 But if the real woman wants strength. why does she marry a huslandette?" suggested.
 Mias sutton shook her head dark }y. Its one of the mysteries she agreed "A woman seeks strength and Eet she loves to feel necessary 70 same one. She will blind her self 10 almost anything in a man if he convinces her that he needs her help. her pity, her love. Then well. l hate to say, but it is ire qucntly true that the strong, clever women are so busy with their work that they do not receive the same amount of masculine attention as the women who merely exist to be ornaments. Their choice is there fore more limited They obey nat ural instincts and marry. and they learn. too late, that they have no real husband, only a parasite thing that clngs to their skirts and would hold them back if it had the strength.
 The majority of American wo- men are very much more developed, intellectually and morally, than their husbands. l admit it is not altogether the fault of the individ- ual men. Rather the social scheme, which keeps a mans nose to the 1 business grindstonc, should be held responsible. But the fact remains that the wives of today, through 1 their clubs. through their reading, ] through their socal and, to an in ! creasing extent. their political in l terests. are fast becoming creatures i of another sphere from their hus- i bands"
 Then you consider the husband n.o They're Common, Too.
 "Tragically common. The mod ern man scarcely ever appreciates | or understands his wife,
 "Um-yes. but does she do much i apprc ciating of him?" l demurred, She tries" Miss Sutton assured me earnestly And now and then 1 she does succeed. l have seen re- 1 formed and rsgenerated husbandet- 1 tes. l have known such clever wO- men to marry such stupid men and simply make them over, give them ambition and energy and will power. i But to do that a woman must love a man very completely and strong i ly."
 And if she doesn't?"
 If she doesn't, the husbandette l is hopeless He will never grow | of his own initiative. He will have his tiny, incOnspicuous place in the | home. fer all the world like kitch- 1 enette. He will be convenient when l his wife gives pink teas, and he will | perhaps serve as a protection against 1 burglars. just as stone dog on the lawn performs similar useful ser i yice-by looking alive and fierce. l Also he will pay at least poll tax, though he will probably know only enough about politics to gasp sur 1 prisedly when he hears his wife discussing them
 Do the husbandcttes usually have suffragettes for wives?" l inquired.
 "A suffragette does one of three things. Either she marries a sui | fragent,' man who believes in her principles. Or she marries hus- bandette. Or she remains unmar- ricd," Miss Sutton replied categori' cally
 She never marries a man strong enough to convert her to his own anti views?"
 Then Should Lose Him."
 Not if she is a real suffragette because that means that she has a free and intelligent mind, not to be dominated by any one else"
 Do you think that woman should have to remain the wife of a husbandette when she finds she has one?"
 Tt is her own fault, or mistake