The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-10-26

fused third piece, you must give up
that fruit man
Il told him, James," she protested
feebly, that 1 was not satisfied. But
he is better than the other man"
I'D give him a piece of my mind"
said the calm critic, IF had the rum
ming of this house. You are too meek.
Mary"
And Mary, whose neel1ness was de-
monstrated in no way so much as in
her acQuiescence in his demands, re-
sponded. Yes, James" and I knew
that she would change her fruit man.
not because she was convinced that
she could do any better at the only
other store in the small suburban
town, but because James would nag
in his supercilious way until he drove
her to it.
The men who are sure that they
could settle the help question are le-
gion. They state that they simply
wouldn't stand the present conditions
and insist that If women were more
systematic a house might be run like
an office. They never take into con-
sideration the fact that in a well or
dered Office there are no Interruptions
because the baby has the collie or be-
cause Johnnie comes down with the
measles. Nor does the average busi-
ness men expect to have clerks who
are jacks of all trades. The Office boy
cannot take the place of the stenog-
rapher, nor the bookkeeper that of the
private secretary.
Yet in most households one maid,
or two at the most. must be called
upon in many emergency. Domestic
troubles include a multitude of posi-
b.lities which have to do with plumb
ing, with electric lights, with gas,
with doctors, teachers, trades people.
The house may be one week a hos
pital. the next week hotel, the week
following an educational clearing
house, as the mother nurses. entertains
guests, prepares the children for
school.
In like manner there are men who
believe in their heart Of hearts that
their wives are making gr aat mistakes
in the training of the children Such a
man is perfectly sure that Ted and
Peggy would have had better man
ners. more respect for their elders. If
he had been allowed TO use the disci-
pine which he is sure they need. He
resents the fact that they call him
Dad" When he talks to them it is
rarely in tone of goodfellowship and
understanding. He is likely to preach
and gets a reputation among them of
priggishhess, and they cling to their
mother because, whatever her mis-
takes, che has the human quality of
sympathy which guides them TO bet
ter and richer young manhood and
young womanhood.
The compIacent married man is
usually the disturber of the peace of
the household. Like all self-satisf1ed
people, he cannot see the faults in
himself that are so apparent to 9TH
ers. He lives in a glass house, which
he may at any moment shatter with
stones.
I read a tale not long ago where a
wife cured her husband of his COM
placency by calmly leaving him for one
day to run the house. She did not
tell him the object of her outing. But
one morning during his vacation she
announced a necessary trip. She left
her spouse gayly, and the story told of
the emergencies which arose in her alb
sence. Company came unexpectedly to
dinner, one of the children was stung
badly by wasps. A dozen catastrophes
found the complacent pharisee unpre-
pared. He returned joyfully the next
morning to his office, convinced that
there were things in his wife's phil
osophy of which he had never
dreamed.