Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-10-17
BY DOROTHY DIX

Il
A woman writes a letter to me say
Ing she is married to man she loves
dearly, and who Is fond of her. and
that she has little girl devoted to her
daddy The man is good, and kind
and considerate to his wife, and is lib
eral about money. She has u nice
home and good clothes.
Everything would be we'll with this
fortunate woman except that her hus-
band doesn't come home at the hour
at which she thinks he should. He
is a night worker, and, instead OF
rushing home when his nights work is
over. he fingers for an hour or SC
chatting over late supper with his
fellow workers, or goes for an auto
mobile ride with one of them who has
q car.
1t doesn't appear that there is the
slightest thing improper in this loiter-
ing of the husband On the contrary
the wife says that he doesn't drink OIL
fiirt, but she doesn't approve of his
not coming straight home.
So she has read the riot act to him
and presented an ulumatum. If he
doesn't rush from his work to his own
fireside she is going to take the child
and go back to her own people. She's
not going to stand his dilly-dallyine
on on the way home. And she wants tc t
know II l don't think that a woman Is
justified in leaving her husband fol
coming home late of nights.
i do not thing it's a good enough
excuse for divorcing him if man is
mean, and stingy, and grouchy, and
cantankerous, and disagreeable to live
with. But if a husband is kind, and
considerate, and generous, and amia-
Bile, and pleasant, u wife certainly has
no justification for leaving him be-
cause he wants an hour or two out OF
the twenty-four for his own, when he
is spending the balance of his waking
time toiling to make her comfortable
Easy to Understand
OF course it's easy to understand
why woman who loves her husband
likes to have him with her as much
as possible. IT is also easy to surmise
the wifely jealousy that makes sc
many women grinding tyrants to their
husbands. who demand that every
minute that a man is not toiling he
shall be devoting to them.
Likewise, it's easy to comprehend
the fact that domestic labor is dull
and monotonous, and that women re-
sent their husbands amusing them
selves on the outside of the home
while they are shut UP on the inside.
The ideal state of affairs would be
for every man who is married to be Sc
domesticated that he would never de-
sire any amusement more exciting
IMAM w eiihillto illc btibSy VI any COllN ti
sation more thrilling than his wife:
rehash of neighborhood gossip.
Unfortunately, however, all men are
not built along these connubial lines
There are men who are smothered by
too much domesticity, men to whom
the society of other men is just a:
necessary as the air they breathe.
These men may be devoted hus
bands and fathers. but they simply
won't be tied to an apron string, anC
the pity of it is that their wives
haven't enough sense to realize this
and enough liberality to grant then
a few hours of freedom without max.
ing a row about it,
Women appear not to be able tc
understand a mans desire for the so.
ciety of his own sex upon occasions
although every woman knows that nc
matter how much she loves her hus.
band, nor how much she enjoys his
company, she would die of ennui il
she didn't have woman with whom
10 discuss things.