Omaha daily bee., 1911-12-30

man gets the girl he has to prove that
he can take care of her and provide for
q family.
That is nothing more than sane and
right, for every man knows that no mat
ter how much in love a young couple are
they cannot stay in lave, nor be happy,
unless they have enough to- eat and
roof to cover them and plenty of fire to
keep them warm. II may not be poetic,
but it's true, that all romance is based
on physical comfort r
But when a young man goes to get
married why should not his mother 90
to the girl to- whom he is engaged and
put few questions to her concerning
her fitness to marry? Why shouldn't a
mans mother turn a stern and inquiring
eye on the girl and say: you woman,
can you take care OF my son in the wRy
in which have always been accustomed
to doing? Am safe in trusting his
digestion TO your cooking? Am justified
in leaving his pocketbpok in your handsF'
And before the mans mother says BLESS
YOU my children" why shouldn't she re-
qulre the girl to show that she knows how
to manage a house well and economically?
This would only be reasonable, for the
welfare of a family depends just as much
on the wife being an expert in her busi-
ness as 1t does upon the husband being
capable in his line. It's blighting thing
TO romance to admit, but the continuance
of domestic bliss depends upon the. state
of ones stomach, Dyspepsia turns loves
young dream into a nightmare before you
can say scat.
Norway has taken up this important
subject and there is now a bill pending
before the legislature that provides that
a girL must show that she can cook q
dinner with her own hands, sew and
mend, superintend the laundry and take
care of a child In sickness and health
before she will be granted license to
get married It makes no difference
whether the girl has enough money 10
employ dozen servants or not. She
must be able 90 do her own work ii 1t
should be necessary.
That's a wise law, and II would be a
glad day IL one like 1t was passed in this
country, for ii would do more to settle
the divorce question and promote con-
nubial happiness than anything else in
the world,
Not many of us have the courage to
face the truth, but 1t Is true, neverthe-
less, that the principal one OF the thirty
seven different reasons why marriage
is so often failure is because the wife
does not know how TO cook and keep
house when she marries. OF course, when
man is courting q girl he thinks that
it doesn't make any difference whaSHer
she can tell a kitchen range fromA
phonOgraph or not, because he's unAv
the impression that when he's married 10
his eharmer he'll live In = subliniEfed
state. where he'll be entirely above such
sordid things as beefsteaks and pieN
To his surprise, however, he finds ouNS
that after marriage his appetite returns
with a rush, and that the physical CT n
forts Of a clean and peaceful place IN
which TO live are as necessary to him as
they ever were.
Indeed, men marry just 10 get home
more often than women do, and there
can be no other thing 50 utterig distia'
sioning to the man who has dresned Of
home. sweet home all of his life, TO re-
turn OF an evening 20 q place where a
Ted-eyed and weeping bride Is struggling
vainly and ineompetenty with a problem
she has not been trained 20 solve, One
week OF dinners OF soggy bread, and
Wstery vegetables and burnt meat will
dim the brightest romance. and most
young wives subject their husbands 20
three OF four years OF this ordeal
Doubtless the reason that the men who
marry widows are proverbialiy happy Is
because by the time a woman has allied
off her first husband with her cooking
she has learned her trade.