The Washington herald., 1911-06-26
SOME WOMEN MAYBE
VERY AGGRAVATlNG
But There Are Men that Are
More So.
Bx DOROTHY DIX.

BY DOhOVAL OlAs
A man, who says that he is no admirer
of the female sex, and that he wouldn't
marry the best woman living. not even
II shs was a raving beauty and had
her pockets lined with golc certificates
winds up letter to me by asking this
question:
did you ever see anything more ag-
gravating than q woman?''
Oh, yes, have I have seen a man
Whole hordes and droves Of men; and
when it came to being aggravating they
simply left woman tied to the post
Perhaps my correspondent thinks that
his mother and sisters are aggravating
because, they have fussy ways about
sweeping and cleaning and dusting and
keeping things in order about the house.
Men, Too, Are AggravatinE.
But, believe me. these little peculiari-
ties are not one, two, three, compared
with the "aggravatingness'' OF q man
who strews cigar ashes all over the
rugs; who soatters his newspaper from
one end Of the house to the ether; who
hangs up his clothes on the floor, and
who can't take a bath without leaving
the bathroom looking as II q water
spout had struck Il.
The women who have their work dou-
hled and trebled by the inconsiderate
oarelessness of men are the only ones
qualified to give expert testimony about
the sort Of people who are aggravating.
Doubtless, my correspondent has medi-
tated upon the aggravation of some
woman who is never on time, and who
made him miss half of the first act of
q play while she put on her har in forty
different ways
But did he ever reflect on the ag-
gravating quality of those men who keep
their wives waiting up until 2 or 8 o'clock
in the morning, while the said men In
dulged in game of poker or have Just
lone round more OF drinks?" The worst
that can be said Of the woman who
keeps a man waiting, is that she spoils
his temper, while the man who keeps
a woman waiting is breaking her heart.
Not Many Such Wives.
1t surely must be aggravating to q
man to have a wife who wastes his
money In foolish clothes that they can
not AFFORD. But there are not many such
wives.
On the contrary, there are millions Of
men who throw away in drink money
that is needed at home to buy food and
clothes for their families. Just think
how aggravating 1t must be to a poor
wife with an empty larder and hungry
and ragged little children when her hus-
band comes home late OF a Saturday
night, maudling and foolish, and with an
empty pay envelope.
Nobody will deny that a nagging wem-
an is aggrayating and that it Is exasper-
ating to her husband to have his wife
forever harping upon his little mistakes
and weaknesses.
The NaSEing Husband.
But the nagging wife is no more ag-
gravating than the nagging husband. and
he's just as common as she is. Witness
all the wives who have their bad cook
ing continually flung in their teeth. and
whose mistakes are the chief staple of
their husbands' wit and are always trot-
ted out to entertain company.
There are also some things in which
men are more aggravattng than any
woman can possibly be. For example
no woman has the M-m-m-m-m-m habit;
and it's very, very common among men
You can't imagine how much you feel
Ike throwing a coffee pot at q persons
head until you try to make conversation
with him and get no reply Dut grunts.
A woman viii, at least. talk back and
not sit up through an entire evening as
silent and stupid and unresponsive as a
store dummy.
Show No Appreciation.
It is also mighty seldom that a woman
is aggrayattng enough not to give some
sign that she even notices what q man
does who is trying to please her. Yet
there are millions OF men who daily re-
ceive ell the work Of their wives hands
and the result of all her planning with
out batting an egelid to indicate that
they are aware Of IT.
Maybe you don't think It's agEravat-
ing TO spend half day stewing over
q cooking stove, preparing Just the kind
of dinner your husband likes, and then
have him gobbl8it down without making
q single remark upon it,
And maybe you don't think It Is ag-
for a woman to take all sorts
of trouble with her personal appearances;
to starve herself to keep her figure; TO
pull her hair out by the roots curling
It, and to sew her fingers to the bone
trying to make a dress allowance 70 as
far as possible-so as to look young and
beautiful in her husbands eyes-and
then have all Of her efforts go for
nothing.
And isn't IT the quintessenoe OF ar
gravation, when she asks him how she |
looks and how he likes her new dress. |
for him to respond, without raising his
eyes from the papers, "Ok, all right Is |
that new dress7 Those thingumbobs |
always look alike to me-"