The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-28
ADVICE TO WIVES
By LAW SON CARTER RICE

We are all familiar with the picture of
 the benevolent individual who could not
 bear to see husband maltreating his bet
 ter half, and on remonstrating found him-
 self attacked by them both the wife if
 anything, getting in the livelier tattoo on
 his inoffensive head
 But I never expected to stir up a tenn
 pest by suggesting in a recent paper that
 many family quarrels could oe avoided by the practice of little thoughtful un-
 selfshness on the part of the head of the family. The most surprising thing in the
 matter is that the criticisms have all
 come from the women. whose side of the
 case l had ventured to espouse.
 To make matters worse. these women, whom l am led to suppose have sometimes figured in family scenes have united to
 assail me with the most vigorous denun-
 citations for laying the blame on the men. Now, l appeal to you, my fair-mnded readers to determine If this is not very
 trying position to be placed in. I must make my peace with this array of of | tended wives. and the only way they
 leave me to do it is by maintaining un- ] AtStA NtOiN lHdt tltN are the parties Tn Ihe wrong.
 It l suggest that in family quarrels the men generally are to blame. 1 will stir
 up this chorus of indignant females. whereas, if l seek to find out any poss- ble conditions under which che women might be considered in error I am wiling
 to prophecy that my troubles will begin 1 afresh However, the matter is too svri-
 ous to be passed over without an effort to
 show at least deep interest in a sub Ject which, in varying degrees sooner or later affects us all.
 I fear it is a lamentable fact that too
 many marriages are entered into with out regard to the seriousness of the un-
 dertaking Too many young couples have little, if any. of the fear of God before
 their eyes, and matrimony, which is the peginnlng of a new life, in which two people solemnly undertake to live as one is entered into with trifling levity, little or no thought being given to what is in volved. The most solemn obligations are
 undertaken, and it is impossible that these obligations can be kept in their seriousness is not apprehended from the start.
 great many of the responsibilities of
 the home depend upon the wife, and equally in the families of the rich and 1 of the poor daughters are too frequently l left with nothing but the most meagre preparation for these serious duties Girls
 are not taught to keep house. nowadays, and no one can expect to get work well done, whether by their own hands or l by the agency of others if they haven't s | the least conception of what that work 1 really is.
 Why don't mothers take this matter | more seriously to heart? If they are capable matrons themselves, they should
 be able to bring up their daughters to
 share with them in their responsibilities l If they are not, and they are filled witf | a sense of their own incapacity, the realization of these shortcomings should | bring home with terrible foce the i'm portance of securing for their daughters | the training which they so sadly missed ] themselves.
 | If the bread winner of the family. whom
 in this case we will suppose to be the
 man. finds that a large share of his hard earned bread is wasted through a shiftless indifference to the care of the crustS and crumbs, he slowly but surely 1 develops sense of discouragement and l disappointment, which is liable to break 1 out in cruel recrimination at any time Moreover the woman who is not | keenly alive to the importance of attend-
 ing to every detail of the household econ-
 ony is too often to be found with many idle minutes upon her hands. This is ab- sclutely true of many of the most hard worked members of the community. | Out of the windows of untidy homes ap.
 pear the heads of countless mothers seek. ing stde seaterta inrpent. of a sooial cal | with a neighbor who gazes from a win dow across the way, or watching witt
 eagerness the passersby in the street be- low. In homes where peering out of
 windows is deemed impolite, the lady oi | the house spends many hours in pre- paring for her daily visits to her friends | and then sallies forth, very possibly iu
 an automobile that can be i'll afforded 1 to fulfill her social duties, Joining in | floods of idle gossip.
 1 Wives whose minds are occupied with obligations like these have no time ;c l care for children at home, and we are pained by the contemplation of chilling | statistics which tell of childless homes
 on every side. Now, no blessing can come upon a home in which the family