The Washington herald., 1911-07-15
HOW THE YOUNG MAN
MAY KNOW HE Is
GETTING A GOOD WIFE
Jealousy and SelfiShnesS and Other Unpleasant Traits
May Be Discovered Before Marriage.
By DOROTHY DIX.

The other day we discussed some Of
the earmarks by which girl could tell
what sort of a husband a man would
make before she got him, aud in time to
sidestep a bad matrimonial bargain.
1t is equally important that a man
should Judge of the kind of a wife that a
girl will make before he has agreed to
stand for her board bill for life.
Matrimony is generally conceded to be
the greatest game of chance in the world,
and the picking out of life partner is
believed to be attended with about the
same degree Of certainty as locating the
bean in the shell game at a county fair
To a degree this view of the matter is
true, but it is only true because both
men and women play the game of mat
rimony with their eyes shut and their
ears stuffed up, and they refuse TO take
note of the guide posts that are erected
along the road to the altar.
In reality matrimony is only a stage of
evolution. 1t develops whatever is best
or worst in mems and women's natures.
II doesn't give them an entirely new set
of characteristics.
Can BE Learned Before Marriage.
Whatever a girl is before marriage, she
is going to be after marriage, only a lit
tie more so, for marriage is a mordant
that sets the color of a woman's nature,
and. this enables any man to forecast
with sufficiently reasonable accuracy the
sort of wife a woman will make from
the kind of girl that she is.
Every man, for instance, prays to be
delivered from a Jealous and nagging
wife, but he looks to his guardian angel
to preserve him instead of depending on
himself
Yet the matter is absolutely in his
own hands, for a hunchback woman
could easier conceal her deformity than
the green-eyed woman her Jealousy. If,
therefore, you are engaged to a girl who
has fits and Mysteries every time you
notice another woman, and who can't
accept a reasonable explanation of why
you should have taken some old woman
friend to lunch, or why you walked up
the streeI with some good comrade girl
that you work with in the Office, why,
son, be warned in time Break of your
engagement with that girl before you let
yourself in for lifetime of misery.
VIII Be Constantly Spying.
She will make the sort of wife that
will keep you in terror all your days
and that you will have to lie to and
deceive until you hate her and have
contempt for yourself She will go
through your pockets after you are
asleep looking for letters from women,
and sniff at your clothes to see II they
smell of perfume and If there is any
poudre de riz on the lapel of your coat,
and she'll be forever popping into your
office to see what you are doing, and
you won't dare to employ a stenographer
that is under sixty-five and bald and
with false teeth.
Jealousy doesn't develop suddenly, like
appendicitis. It's a chronic complaint that
is constitutional with some women, and
it's an incurable malady. So pass up
the maiden who gives unmistakable signs
that she is afflicted with it.
Domestic Tyranny.
Every man, likewise, has a horror OF /!
getting a wife who is a domestic tyrant |
And well he may, but It is his own fault |
If he does. Just take a good long
squint at Angelina in her own home |
son, and see whether she bosses her |
family. If she rules the roost and her |
mother looks at her before speaking and |
her little sisters and brothers keep in |
the background when she is about, duck |
and run, though you were on the very !
steps of the altar, unless you feel that |
you wouIu actually enjoy being hen
pecked.
The girl that can run her own family |
can rur a husband with one hand tied |
behind her. In marrying her he hasn't |
even got a show for his white alley. and
he will spend the balance of his life eat
ing what she thinks is good for his diges-
ton, going to the church she approves
of, visiting her family and friends and
wearing the neckties that she picks out.
Would Avoid Extravaganza.
Every sensible man also desires to
avoid marrying a woman who is extravs-
CANT and uhduly fond Of dress. He can
blame nothing but his own stupidity II
he marries one. Every woman wears a
price tag on her clothes that proclaims
whether she is a good bargain as a wife
or not. When a man deliberately picks