Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-11-26
Unfitness Greatest Bar to Happy Married Life
WHAT WRECKS HOMES

The marriage of the "spider-legged
dude" and the "undomestic butterfly"
is the greatest peril to home life in
| Atlanta today, according to Adult Pro-
baton officer Sidney J. Coogler, At
| lanta's official home member who has
| been investigating and repairing bro
ken homes for the past six years. In
| this time he has heard unfolded the in
dividual tale of woe in fully 500 shat
tered Atlanta homes-homes in, various
walks of life-and from this accumu-
lative experience gives to The Geor-
gian an expert opinion of what he con-
| siders the seven greatest causes Of
this astounding mass of matrimonial
wreckage.
He declares that fully rs per cent of
the unhappy marriages can be traced,
along one line or another, to the unfit
ness of the husband and wife. Fea-
| lures of the remaining six great causes,
he says. are evolved from this primary
unfitness and aid in the building of
| these other causes.
The proverbial mother-in-law RUNS a
I close second in officer Cooglers list of
perils, with race suicide a hard third.
These all eclipse drunkenness, which Is
rated as fifth.
The Usual Romance
| "a vast number of our marriages to-
day can be gagged by this illustration
that / will give" says Mr.. Coogler. "A
young, spider-legged dude-a cigarette
| fiend and no telling what else-who is
| working on a salary of probably SIC
per week, falls in love with an undo
nestle butterfly, who knows absolutely
nothing of proper home life, and her
self probably is at work down town In
some shop or factory. She has no more
idea of the seriousness Of life than has
| her admirer, and the result is a quick
iage-anything you know. to keeE
| from being dubbed an old maid The
| honeymoon is over in short order, ano
| then come the stern realities. The but
| terfiy finds that a dude is an entirely
different individual from a husband, and
the dude finds that the butterfly Is who'll
ly unreal, and that instead of marry
ing a wife he married a paint and pow
der box, a lot Of fancy millinery and
clothes, and a sweet, little, biting tenn
per. Then the beautiful dream fades,
and the nightmare opens up in all OF
its horrors.
"Of course. this doesn't mean that a
working girl is not fit to marry, not by
any means-it refers merely to the typ
ical butterfly, who can be found in all
walks of life, at work and in the lazi-
ness of idle home life
! AS to the mother-in-law, Mr. Coogler
i has this to say:
| Then There's the Mother-in-Iaw.
1.-THE mother-in- law, who is contin-
ually prying into the business affairs OF
| young couple, who makes it her bust
ness to try to shape their every action
and has a whole lot to say about every
| thing, whether publicly or privately, is
d dangerous being and menace to the
| happy home life. She is the kind OF
woman who terms the husband a mon
ster, and thinks the wife is q little dove
that should be carried about in the hus-
! bands arms and petted and humored in
her every whim. She soon finds her
self wondering why the husband and
wife couldn't get along and had to sep
arate. She ought to know"
Mr.. Coogler lays much stress on the
problem of race suicide.
This is one of the most delicate, and
at the same time one of the most Sc
rious, problems with which we are con-
fronted in the home life" he says. The
number of complaints and pleas l re-
ceive from husbands along this line is
simply shocking The general public
has no idea Of the staggering proper