The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-11-23

and the meanest wife let us
II n now turn our attention TO the
| meanest husband
Tho law, which Is made by man and
| voices the masculine viewpoint Of high
| crime. and misdemeanors, declares that
the meanest husband is the man who
Is unfaithful to his wife, or who beats
her. or who drinks too much, or who
| fails to support her
In almost all Of the states. except New
| York, a woman can get a divorce from
her husband for any one of these faults
| In New York, no matter how man
starves or thrashes. OF Ill treats his
J wife, he is not considered to be really
mean enough to her to entitle her to q
divorce, unless he Is disloyal to her, and
in South Carolina the meenest sort Of
a husband is presumed to be good enough
for any kind Of wife, for there Is no
| divorce at all in that antiQuated COM
munity.
Now, undoubtedly II is narrowing to
a wtfe's feelings for her husband to have
| an affinity, and 1t skaters loves young
dream for him to gtve her q black eye.
1t Is hard enough, heaven knows. on the
| woman who has q drunken ehiftless
husband. but none Of these men. faulty
though they be, hold the championship
medal for the meanest husband.
| Nor will women when they como to
have hand In the law making put either
| infdelity or drunkennesS6or physical bru-
tally or chronic laziness at the head Of
the list OF causes for divorce.
| The man who occasionally strays off
the straight and narrow path is often
the most devoted and attentive and gen
erous husband at home. His sin is OF
women understand this SO well that they
| can and do overlook II in thousands Of
cases, and as matter OF fact, when a
wife refuses to forgive infidelity it Is
generally not because OF that partlcu-
lar ofense. but because the man has
otherwise qualified In the mean husband
| class.
Also. the man who drinks too much al
most invariably has the redeeming virtue
OF being sympathetic and tender and COM
panionable; the ne'er-do well is generally
a brute do not leave such wounds and
scars on a woman's body as the hurts
that the man who is a spiritual bully
can leave on her soul
| No. none of these accepted types OF
the bad husband are entitled TO be the
Eeadliners In the mean husband show.
The meanest husband on earth Is the
petty tyrant of the hearthstone, the man
who takes advantage OF his position to
browbeat and humliate any insult his
vile, and to torture her by every refine
ment OF cruelty through the long years
| OF their married life.
You think there are no such men? Be-
lieve me, they are plentiful. and the only
reason there are not lynching bees in
figure as the guest OF honor, is because
the thing woman never tells until she
Is on the way to the divorce court is how
her husband treats her when the COM
pany Is gone and the doors are shut,
and they two are alone together
Do you never go to dinner In which
embellishments. Of some mistake his
wife has MADE? Did you never watch the
look Of bated rabbit come into such a
woman's face. and observe how she looks
suddenly down at the plate to hide the
tears In her eyes? That was a glimpse
you. got Of the meanest husband in the
world
Do YOU know households. where for days
at time the husband sits up in frozen
silence, refusing to speak and tell what is
| the matter or how his augustuess has
been offended. while his poor humble wife
prostrates herself before him and apollo
glzes for things she never did, and wears
herself to frazzle trying TO propitiate
her lord and master? And have you not
felt, oeholding him. that you came pretty
near to beholding masterpiece OF mean
ness?
pers keep their wives In covering fear
men who. II the slightest thing goes
wrong In the household, pour out upon
their wives such vituperation and curses
as none OF THAR friends would believe
| them capable OF using in woman's pres
ence. to say nothing Of visiting upon their
wives? How's that for meanness?
know women who live In such deadly
fear Of their husbands temper and in
suits that they never speak without first
| canVassing a subject in their own minds
10 if there Is anything In 1t that could
possibly annoy their husbands or give
them an opening for the cruel Jbes that
they lie In wait to make against the
woman or the family. or some subject
dear to her heart. | know OF husbands
whose chief pleasure IN life is In stabbing
their wives TO the quick by sarcasm, or
ridicule. and who take the same fiendish
delight In tormenting the women In their
power that a savage takes in hacking his
victim TO pieces.
And strange to say. these men are
| nearly always men who stand high
among their fellows. who are leaders in
the church. and probably celebrated for
| the home, and esteemed model husbands
| because they provide their wivos with q
decent place to live and good clothes. |
But many smug-faced hypocrite !
husband II his wife would step forth and
| tell the truth, and say this man knows |
| I am' dependent upon him. and he hu-
| initiates mo by insulting ME every time |
| I ask for a penny. No slave. fearing |
the masters lash, ever ouaked with ter
| him. There is nothing that he could say
that would wound me that he has left ,
unsaid and In all the years I have been 4
| married to him he has given me no ten
derness, no praise, no recognition even
OF my faithful service as wife and moth
That's the meanest husband in the
world. the man who takes a woinans
life into his keeping and ruins II. the
man who could make his wife happy
ts too mean TO say It. BY the side OF
that, robbing blind babies is noble and