Omaha daily bee., 1915-11-05
The Bees Home Magazine page
Women and Love

1t is a feature Of the age. part OF
the worlds progress. away from the old
drudgery and the narrow limits which
made womars hor zon in the past II
has. unfortunately for good taste be-
come the habit Of an undiscrlminating
public to take 1t for grantcu that
mediocre talent. or even an ability to do
some social trick agrceaply, establishes
mental superiority for a woman.
Il Is also. unfortunately, the habit Of
the same undiscriminatinE and indeli-
cate public to assume that this superior
woman" likes to be thought the best
man in comparison with her husband,
who is more frequently than otherwise
her superior in every respect, save the
one which makes hcr superficial per-
former.
But while one can forgive n blind and
unthinking public 1t is difficult to for
give the silly and self-cultured WIFE who
talks about her deeply sensitive and re
fined nature and her great capacity for
loving, yet who fails to resent any re-
Elections cast upon the man whose name
she bears.
For It is a reflection. when those un-
acquainted with the qualities Of man
in private life take It for granted that
he is dominated by his wife, and pre-
sumo to suppose that his wife enjoys
the situation. II she does she - incapa-
BILE of love absolute; OF course there is
n type Of man who kills out the power of
love in woman's nature
He is the man who, after he wins a
woman, proves the petty tyrant and en-
beavers to obliterate her individuality and
to crush every ambition she may have
for self-improvement. Such a man sneers
at his wife's opinions, doubts her judg-
ment, ignores her feelings in a thousand
contemplate ways, makes her conscious
OF his belief in his own supremacy and
superiority and Of her nothingness.
That the wife Of such a man might
enjoy her hour of triumph when some
time regarded by the indiscrlminating OBJ
server as his superior, would be but nat
ural. But such men are not as fire.
quently encountered as the New
Woman" whose pride is not In the man
she loves, but in her own achievements,
be they lesser or greater, and whose talk
OF love does not ring true.
When woman really loves man It
is a pain to her to prove him mistaken
in his opinions or judgments.
She would rather, when in argument
be proven wrong herself, even while mo-
mentarily piqued, for the very foundation
of woman's love must rest on the rock
of admiration.
There is a maternal love In most
women. but It is quite another emotion
from the great primal instinct which
causes a woman to select one man from
all the world as her type of the ideal
protector and friend and comrade.
1t is an impulse Of maternal love to
feel pride and happiness in being the
stronger nature, and in giving pity and
comfort to the weaker child, and to laugh
over its faults and weaknesses. Every
mother considers herself stronger and
wiser than her child. But when a wife
is proud and satisfied to think herself
stronger and wiser than her husband she
has not known real love.
She may be the natural mother, but
not the fully developed woman. In every
great love the maternal element must
enter, but It most not be the dominant
element 1t is impossible for woman
TO feel admiration and pride and respect
for man unless he deserves It; but let
no woman pose as an intensely devoted
and loving wife while feeling gratifica-
ton and vain pride at being thought ''su-
perior" to her companion.
And II man wants to arouse the high
est type of love Of which woman is
capable let him make himself one to
compel her respect, her admiration and
her love all in one