Arizona republican., 1911-10-23

tied hard and fast to one man till
life's end-to one whom / do not
regard even with friendliness or re-
spect, with whom ! have not single
thought or idea in common, only
fear and repulsion.
l say had for instinctively knew
it would come to that. We sepa
rated, and l took the children. Two
there were. boy and girl. Strange
that as the British law now stands
the woman managed to get her right
full belongings-her joint property
Were il not that the mans resent
ment at the woman's fast growing
coldness and indifference found means
of expressing itself in uncontrolled
rage and brutality means which
would assuredly have ended in
scandal. had not the families wisely
interfered-our departure would not
have been so easy.
l thought / was happy then, with
my freedom; to be no longer mans
slave-a toy to play with in his bet
ter moments and a something" to
vent himself upon in his worst (Which
were plentiful enough. God knows).
But, oh, the loneliness of it ALI
To be thrust aside into life's back
water. one of lifes failures-a mar
ried failure, The cold hard stares,
the contemptuous glances, sometimes
a plying, sometimes cruel, which
only a woman can give to another.
especially To one who has dared to
leave her husband and refused to sac
rifice her life, her very soul and body,
to the needs of one who could be
appropriately styled a male thing"
and nothing more.
Little they care. those women, may
be happy in their own husbands and
homes, what some less fortunate wo-
man has to suffer she has made
her own bed and she must lie on it,
says the world. And it's only too
true; there's no unmaking, once you
are married.
Perhaps if the boldly suggested
''ten-year" trial ever came into vogue
the world would become a Utopia
place where one could still hope for
happiness in the future: after first
wiping out the mistakes of ones
youth and inexperienced, But. alas.
the world moves but slowly, and with
it, more slowly still, do old established
rites and customs.
AS il is. | must needs go on living
from day to day, year in and year
| cut, this lonely, ostracized existence,
bereft of all that is most precious,
and essential as life itself-love. COM
partnership. friends. social intercourse,
and all the little diversions which
brighten the daily routine, the monOt-
Ony of domestic life. The continual
struggle To make two ends meet on a
| miserable pittance; the stitch, stitch.
stitch from morn till night to try and
keep the children and myself decent
and presentable; the putting up with
a dirty and ignorant little general:
seeing dishes and pans half cleaned.
floors unwashed. children running
wild, disputing and quarreling with
each other, and keeping the air cleo
trio with their noisy disagreements.
| Poor little souls; it is their only way
Of expanding the superabundant vi
tally which demands an outlet in
! games and exercise in the open air:
| but one cannot be cook. nurse. dress
maker, hOusekecper and marketer at
! one and the same time; so one gives
! up the fight and let's things just slide
| and take their chance. 1t is all very
sordid very cruel. after what one has
been used to. What ! think luXu-
ries now were habits to me before,
How hard a taskmaster man can
become if he is thwarted-and by a
woman,
What is it TO him who was once
my husband. my protector" whether
my life is gray-gray as ashes, with
TO hope Of anything different-ever
Human nature. eternal youth. call it
what you will, is so great and strong
in us all that we still go on wanting
the sweets of life; yearning for love.
JOY and soul sympathy. And to pro-
cure these we must needs have a
man. just as the man must have a
woman. neither being complete with
out the other. Why. then, cannot
man meet us on our own plane? Why
cannot he forget his selfishness. his
rapacious appetite. and let the soul.
the mind and the heart hold sway
over the rest?
For mans idea and conception Of
love is as yet fathOms and fathoms
below that of the womans. She
wants a soul mate as well as a lover.
and apart from the lover. being
with understanding, sympathy and
corresponding mentality to her own:
while the man asks for one thing
Orly-response to his advances,
Who can wonder that marriage is
all establishment and failure when it
is all cross purpose and misunder-
standing; all take" on the mans side
and give" on the woman's? Surely.
woman is happier unmarried I'M
less she is mated, too. And how many
are?
The sO-called odd maid need not
not think she is pitied, for she is
very often secretly envied by those
who would not admit it if they dared.