El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-11-29
OverwOrked Hush ands
Either OvervOrlSed Husband or Wife
Is n Stumbling Block to
tie Other.
Nv Dorothy Dix.
By Dorothy Dix.

d
admit that matrimOny, as a general
4 practice. is a pretty dreary affair.
and that most husbands and wives. If
they told the truth would confess to
wondering why they let themselves IN
T for a thing that has so many more
kicks than the ha'pence-
& The average wife complains that she
is nothing but a domestic slave. She
I spends her days in a dun round OF
mOnOtonOus duties and In practiciug
petty economies She cooks and sews
and cleans and walks the colic-suffer-
ing baby and binds up cut fingers and
parcs and skimps and saves, week after
week, month after month, year after
For reward she has the grumbIing OF
a husband who is never quite pleased.
( who takes all Of her labor and her sac
7 rifices without thanks or praise, and
I who dOles out the money Tor the neces-
] sary family expenses with remarks
about her extravaganza that blister her
very soul.
On his part the average married man
says that he is nothing but a beast Of
i burden. That he spends his life slav-
! ing to support a family that can never
/ have enough, and that all that he gets
I out of his labor are the worst clothes
in the family and the bOny parts Of the
I chicken. and the privilege Of being
/ bCssed by q wife VINO makes the car Of
I Russia look like a liberal ruler
/ For reward he gets complaints and
] nagCinE at home and the conversation
| of a wife who is always reminding him
| of August Perkins, whom she might
! have married and who has since made a
I million
I Lot Of Both Proves Dreary One.
/ Also he's fully informed concerning
/ all the good clothes that other mems
I wives have. and that his wife does not
{ have, and would like TO have
Now it is only too true that the
I charges Of both the husband and wife
/ are Justified. Neither one has over
/ stated. the drearinesS Of his or her lot
I 1t takes money to gild the gingerbread
: of matrimOny. and in a family where
/ the pOcketbOOk is always lean and
empty married life is stripped of all
/ the gew-gaws and tinsel that dazzled
/ its victims before they got good close
view of IT.
! For the poor man and his wife mar
ried life is one eternal round Of self
/ sacrifice and pr1vatlon- Doing house
work and nursing babies IS oulI ana
mOnOtOnOus- Doing without pretty
I clothes and amusements and gayeties
that all women crave is a prlVat1On-
/ 1t is hard and discouraglng 10 a man
! TO see every dollar that he earns sWal-
lowed up by family expenses and to
know that he can never get ahead IN
I the race of life because Of the weight
! he carries. 1t is hard on a man-bit-
ter biting hard-tO know that he must
deny himself every diversion and that
he cannot even stop and rest because
he must keep the pot boiling on the
kitchen range
Nothing can be done to alter the
dread situation that tens OF thousands
[ of married couples face every day, ouC
I il is worth while calling their attention
TO the fact that the only thing that
| can HghteR their burden IS the spirit
with which they meet It.
Tt is the point OF view that makes
things easy or hard. and il only hus-
bands and wives could put love enough
into their hearts there would pc no
further complaint about what their
hands had to do
Every young man, when he beseeches
the girl he IS IN love with 10 marry
him. does not think Of it being an IN
toIerabIe harship TO have to work and
support her On the contrary, there IS
a peculiar sweetness TO him IN the
thought that his strong rlghC arm viii
stand between her and the world. and
that he is going 70 be able 10 save neF
from the rOughness and the hardship
that every woman must undergo "nO
has to earn her own living
Nor does the girl in love SILVER away
from matrimOny because OF the bur
dens she knows that the vile OF a poor
TO think Of making him a nome with
her own hands, of saving for him. OF
helping him rise in the world
Progress Cause for Unhapptne8s-
tt is because they lose this illu1din-
ating thought and purpose that mar
riaEe becomes a failure 10 50 many
people Just as long as Ine nlsI -, -" u 80 =
for his wife because he loves hers Just
so long is his daily toll not oruogers-
but a plOriOus opportunity 10 prove MS
devotion in as Chivalrous a manner d
ever did a knight Of old
As long as a woman is in love with
her husband every sacrifice IS rODDeu
of its bitterness She reJolcess IN
stead of complains, that she mas Ile
T7rfvi1ee-e of doing something 10 make
the life Of her adored one soIter anu
easier
1t is because husbands and wives put
no love into what they do Tor eacn
other that marriage becomes the 1r6-
some bondage that II IS IN winch LW0
unwilling parties are forced TO extend
begrudged sacrifices and labor to eacn
This being the case. is it not possible
for disgruntled couples TO go PACK anu
get the old. romantic view Wnlcn was
me larger and truer view, Of married
life? Can they not breathe the breath
Of life once more into the IRE OF rove
that has burned down 1tno aSnes on
their hearthstOne, and put into their
work and sacrifices for each Otner tnAC
spirft which alone can make marriage
worth while?
and the bread we cast upon the WateEs
of matrimOny returns TO US IN anger
food. Let the wife show her husoanu
that she joys in her ability 10 ulaAS
his home a place Of peace and rest
and that she would rather be MS we
and wear hOmespun than be any OIner
mans wife dresses in silks and satlns-
and that man viii not feel that ne IS an
object of public sympathy because ne
has to spend his money on his family
instead of in a poker game
should Apprescfate Hands That Helped
Let a man show that he stlu taxes
some interest in holding MS VIE
rough. knOtted hand and she VIII cheer-
fully work it to the bone for him. nor
viii she ever utter a complaint ABOUT
not being able to buy $3.50 nat II she
feels that it grieves him because ne d,
can't give her a dozen $3.50 ones
Tt is the spirit in which we DO q thing
that makes it work or fun, and the dr.
ference between the happily married
and the unhappily is just a question or
whether they love each other enough
to get their pleasure out OF dong
something each for the other
CEkpCuTTTC EOp CUTTO OPEN