The Washington herald., 1915-02-05

There is proverb, when man marries his
troubles begin
But how about a woman? Doesn't married
woman have any troubles?
wonder if there is any country in the world
where marriage is so ideally regarded as in the
United States. ....
With us, in theory, at any rate marriage is
founded on pure romance. We like to hear about
marriages made for love. We are inclined to be
shocked at the idea of two people marrying for
any other reason
We think it is noble in a girl who has been
brought up in comfort perhaps in luxury, to leave
her home to live as the wife of a poor man.
We don't like to think of such sordid consider
ations as money settlements being in any way
associated with marriage The man is, of course
expected to support his wife and whatever chill
dren may come along.
No writer has as yet done justice to the chv-
airy of the American married man.
On the other hand, no writer has as yet done
justice to the practical effects of this chivalry
including the effect the peace and happiness
of the American married woman.
l once heard young married woman say, a
very able woman, who for several years before
her marriage had supported herself: 81 shall never
forget how felt the first time l had to ask my
husband for money. l knew it silly to feel
Inundated and yet l did feel Inundated And
though l have been married for FIVE years,
haven't got over being Inundated
1t apparently did not occur to this woman
that there anything wrong in system of
domestic relations that made it possible, even
right, that is apparently right, for a woman to
be repeatedly Inundated in this way.
Yes, our American ideal of marriage is beauti-
f,,I af IL.
But what a price the world has paid for mas
culine chivalry toward the world of women.
In New York City there is a woman, the wife
of a millionaire, celebrated for her beauty and
for the splendor of her clothes. At the opera she
is often seen magnhcently attired, shimmering
with diamonds. Her husband is proud of her
He is known to take a personal interest in her
dress He criticises and he advises. 1t is said
that when he goes with his wife to Paris he &C
companies her on her visits to the great dress
makers
And yet, with his wife, he is known to be one
of the stingiest of He secures for her credit
at the establishments that provide for her needs
But he allows her very little money. She has
been known to enter into conspiraces with the
women dressmakers so that they shall send to
her husband bills overcharged. The amounts in
excess of their charges they turn over to her.
There well-to-do men nowadays who are
careful to give their wives a reasonable allow
ance. 1t saves the wives the humiliation of ask
ing for money, of begging and arguing and plead
ing and crying for it, many wives do But
these exceptions
In large numbers of families the money turned
over to the wife for the support of the household
is the of unending contention. 1t opens the
door to many other kinds of contention.
For it creates between the husband and wife
spirit of ll-will which, engendered, is con-
stantly seeking means of expression.
If we could discover the real causes of divorce
in this country, not the obvious or the apparent
causes, but the causes that lie way back of the
surface, we should find that they come from
ideal way of regarding marriage, from child
like faith in the chivalry of