The Topeka state journal., 1913-12-26
EVENING CHIr
BIZ RUTH CAMERON.

An Unreasonable Husband.
A feminine letter friend asks me to
please write on the subject, Should
the mother be able to lay aside all
household worries and cares when the
father gets hcme?"
Can't you picture exactly the con-
ditions behind that request? The
husband coming home from his days
work, tired and irritable, wants his
wife to drop everything and be ready
to greet him with a smile and devote
the rest Of the evening to making
things comfortable for him; she for
her part has also had a hard day, and
more than that she is still busy; there
Is the dinner to serve and clear away,
the baby to feed and put to bed. sew
ing. mending. preparations for tomor-
row, all the innumerable details OF
that work that is never done. He
claims that she ought to manage
somehow SO that she should be COM
pletely at his disposal during the few
hours which he is at home. She de-
clares that it is impossible. He says
that is because she doesn't know how
to manage. She cries over the baby
as she puts him to bed. He sulks over
his newspaper or goes out with a
wooden damn.
This idea that a busy wife and
mother ought to be ready to drop
everything and. spend her evening
making things pleasant for himself
is as common as 1t is absurd. Sup
pose, in the first place. she were free
to do it (Which no woman who is
nursemaid. cook. waitress, seamstress
and general houseworker possibly can
do), even so. why should she? The
chances are that she has worked every
bit as hard as he and at more monoto-
nous work. Why shouldn't he exert
himself to amuse her? That would be
Just as reasonable.
We hear a great deal about the
woman who drags her poor, tired hus-
band out to social functions. AS a
matter of fact she Is a product OF q
small upper class and not half SO COM
mon as the woman in the humber
home whose husband wants to keep
his poor mOnOtony- y-maddened wife
cooped up within the four walls Of her
hcme seven evenings q week. and who
furthermore expects her to look pleas
ant and exert herself to make him
happy by way OF recreation.
Did you ever hear the expression
''KHJ 2" It means Keep Him Jump
Ing" and is supposed to describe the
way many women treat their hus-
bands. Now I'm going to invent q
new code, "KHH," which means
''Keep Him Happy" and which I
think describes the average womAn's
was calling with her husband ended
the call very abruptly. one evening
Afterwards she apoloeixed for her
rudeness, ''I knew Arthur would be
cross II we didn't catch that car" she
said. That little incident Is typical
Of the attitude Of constant anxious
watchfulness. of willingness to sacri-
flee anything to placate his lordship.
which many women take toward their
husbands.
To my mind all these matters
should be compromised. Each should
he willing to gfve up something OF
personal comfort for the others hap
piness The wife ought not to pour
out the annoyances of the day into her
husbands ear; the husband ought not
to expect q hard-working housekeeper
and mother to be ready to cheer him
up and wait on him.
The only right basis OF happiness in
married life il reasonableness and
justice, and the husband who expectg
this II not reasonable or just.