The Washington herald., 1912-03-20
BY JULIA CHANDLER MANz.


Few people realize what life means to
the wife of the American drummer.
use the word drummer collectively,
meaning all American men who are trav-
cling for the purpose Of selling goods.
Yesteryear it was word good enough
for all men; a word in general use and
applied without distinction. To-day 1t
is not so. The higher salaried men are
travelling statesmen" IL you please.
The "muckraker," the philosopher, the
scientist, the psychologist and the essay
list have ransacked the annals of America
with a thoroughness creditable to their
energy for data revealing the deplorable
conditions of both social and commercial
life; delving to the bottom of race sui
eide, child labor, frenzied finance, poll
tics, ct cetera, ad infinitum, with more or
less understanding. It seems strange that
in the general agitation, the question OF
the meaning of life to the wife Of the
American drummer land her name is
legion) has escaped 1t Is because her
name is legion, and her position In soci-
ETY. so underlined and desolate, that she
appeals to me.
The love of home is innate with every
woman whose life has not been dvarfed
or contorted by some foreign force. l
know of no woman in society more to be
pitied than the married woman who Is
without children and without a home 10
fashion. The usual, and natural object
in life to the childlcss, homeless woman
Is the seeking of selfish amusements that
kill time" For this reason, II for no
other, She is curse tC society, stumb-
ling block upon the great highroad Of
life. The happfest women Of America are
the married women who have the even
ing homecoming of their husbands. and
the quiet evening meal to look forward
10 during the day. women who may an
ticiFate sweet hours of cOmpanionship
after the meal is ended, whether they are
spent at home or at an occasional enter
tainment. She sympathizes with childish
woes and joys. and tender baby arms
cling about her neck as she sings the
twilight lullaby that makes all the duties
Of the day seem light There is content
ment; a great joy in her heart that no
childless woman can ever know.
Discusses Children with Cold Calcu-
Iation.
The woman whose husband is absent
from home the greater part of the time Is
not inrrequently the woman who dis
Cusses the question of children with cold
blooded calculation. She does not, most
likely, feel equal to their moral train
ing without their fathers support and
advice. Or the question is financial one.
The average man travelling for a COM
merCial house is i'll paid. In nine cases
out of ten he foregOes the pleasures OF
a home, and accepts the separation from
his wife cs a temporary necessity that
lie may advance TO a promotion that Will
compensate for the years OF travelling,
and the sacrifice Of home. advance to the
management of some department upon
which he has set his heart. And in the
meantime what radical changes are sris-
ing 10 stamp out his domestic happiness!
Early 1t is decided to forego the pleas
a,1 he n H.
dren. The wife is left alone and unpro-
tected by home ties-aS often as other
wise a stranger in a strange land-to
pass the time as idleness and desolation
may dictate.
What right has a man to ask a woman |
10 leave her fathers home because he |
pictures to her in rosy lights the happi- |
ness of life, il he is afterward going TO |
ask her TO live that life in loneliness and |
idleness without aim or an object 10 |
make il worth while? He goes OF upon |
the road with confidence and nonchal- |
Rnce. instruCting the woman he has mar |
ried to "amuse herself in his absence. |
How does he expect her TO amuse herself, |
II you please? Her position in society is |
that neither maid. wife. nor widow |
She has perchance pretty room or two, |
and a number OF friends. Suppose she |
wants to go to the theater, with whom |
Is she TO go? Her husbands objections |
she accepted the escort OF some gentle |
man friend, yet matinees become tedious |
20 a woman attending them alone. and |
the evening is the time the well-bred |
woman most desires entertainment.
Amusements Inadequate.
Clubs, teas PARTIES. and cards do we'll |
enough for a time but they soon fiaunt |
their emptiness frankly before ones |
more sober thought.
The travelling mans wife has no escort |
to any evening entertainment then, un-
less she accepts the escort of some male |
friend Ggnoring her husbands probable |
anger and society's certain criticism), or /
accepts the alternative OF tagging along Il
with some friendly couple, which isn't
the most pleasant thing in the world
10 do.
Still her husband leaves her thus alone
for weeks at a time. making her an oc-
casional formal visit travelling twelve
months of the year, calmly saying to the
woman he leaves, ''Amuse yourself my /
dear. and dent be lonely
The occupations OF which he approves
empty little hen parties-may amuse |
her for time. hut sooner or later the L
woman who has no home duties or in
fuences, and who is forced to live with
out the companionship OF the man she
~ married, will become Indifferent to |
heI husband. and will accept some other
mans escort and companionship-and In
taany cases some other mans love like
wire.
men would stay at home there would
De ever divorces. There are of course |,
instances in life where travelling for a
EeN-years is inevitable. have met many