The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1915-03-30

with him. and thet he beamcd and
gurglcd with delight when anyone
told him how big and brave and
handsome he was, and yet, knowing
this, che felt it her wisely duty to
continually remind him OF his faults
instead of eXpatiatiDg on his virtues,
and so left the other woman chance
to get in her deadly work.
Equally the man who has a wife
! who loves admiration, and who is 80
dense and stingy and tightlipped tnat
plimcnt. is himself to blame II she
packs her trunk and hikes off to Reno
with some more appreciative man, or
If she becomes one OF those near
faithful wives who are the ruination
| OF the happiness of any home
women who remain outwardly respect
able, but who indulge in cheap fiirta-
| tions.
( OF course, men who crave admira-
ton and appreciation, even II 1t is
| only lip service, can always go out
into the world and find tor buy it.
! The average married woman is not
circumstanced so she can do this. She
has to depend upon what she can get
from her husband, and this is gener-
ally nil.
I know of nothing else in the world
that is at once SO tragic and so pa
| thetic as the knawing hunger for some
word OF praise, some token OF pratt
! tude, some sign that their husbands
even think of them otherwise than
as domestic convenience, that most
wives suffer, and which this hus-
bands are either too dull to perceive
or too selfish to make the effort to
appease. For it is literally the truth
that after the honeymoon wanes nine
women out of ten never get compli-
ment out of their husbands until 1t
is carved on their tombstone.
The lack OF admiration and appre-
citation is the main thing that makes
marriage a failure to most women. 1t
isn't poverty. Let man tell his wife
that in his eyes she grows more
i beautiful every day, and she will wear
a $40 suit and feel like a queen in it..
It isn't hard work Let a man still
show an interest in holding his wife's
hand and she'll consider it privilege
to work it to the bone for him. 1t
isn't the montony of domestic life.
Let a man compliment his wife's cook
ing and she'll think housework the
most thrilling occupation on earth. 1T
isn't anything that a man does, or
leaves undone, except handing out q
few compliments that makes marri-
woman.
Nor Is this quite as foolish as it
sounds. A woman's home is her world.
Her husband is her audience, and it's
4 a dreary thing to go on year after
year doing your level best, giving
yourself body and soul, without ever
Egetting one ripple of applause. or even
knowing whether your efforts are even
perceived or not
No actor can play his best to a
cold house. No clerk gives his best
service to an employer who never
commands. Even a horse will pull
his load better for word of encour-
agement or praise.
But most married women have to
live their married lives without get
ting a single glad hand from their
husbands, and it's pitiful to hear them
beg for word of praise. I've heard
of a woman saying. as she tried to
corkscrew a compliment out of her
husband, chow do l look? And with
out glancing up from his paper, he
would reply, ooh, well enough Or
she would say, "how do you like this
dress?" And he would answer that
of all the darn fool fashions he ever
saw, it was the limit. And failing
other means, she would ask how he
liked a certain dish at dinner, and he
would grunt as he gobbled it down
that it had little too much salt or
sugar. Never a word of praise or ap-
probation.
The strange thing about this with
! holding of a little flattery from their
! wives is that men, for the most part,
| do admire their wives. Their own
| egotism makes them think that the
women they picked out are the head