Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-08-01
Life'sProblems
Are Discussed
BY Mrs. Wilson woodrow

other day. One of them said:
when 1 was married my husband
! and l mutually agreed that the queS-
! tions, Where have you been?' and
| What have you been doing?' should
be taboo. We were not going to
mar our companionship by that i'm
pertinent catechism of each other in
which so many married people in
dulged. 1t is not only an infringe
ment of personal liberty, we de-
cided; 1t goes farther. Through in
adSertence or forgetfulness, the per-
son questioned may easily make a
| misstatement and so lead to a SER
ious misunderstanding.
LAS result of our compact" she
concluded triumphantly, I'VE have
never had a really important quar-
rel"
I made haste to applaud her SEN
timent. Since childhood those ques-
tions, Where have you been?" and
What have you been doing?" have
reused my resentment. l might not
have been doing anything-strolling
about. gazing at the passing show in
all robability-but if 1 knew 1 had
to give a reason for following my
vagrant impulses, the JOY of follow
ing them was gone.
quoted to my two friends the re-
marks of a girl in one of George
Moore's books: This is the first time
l have ever lived alone, that 1 have
ever been free from questions. 1t was
a pleasure to remember suddenly as
1 was dressing that no one would ask
me where l was going, that l was
just like bird myself, free to spring
off the branch and fly.
'At home there are always peo-
pie around one. Somebody is in the
dining room. Somebody is in the
drawing room. And if one goes
down the passage with ones hat on
there is always somebody to ask
where one is going; and IL you say
you don't know they say, Abe you
going to the right or the left? Be-
cause If you are going to the right 1
should like you to stop at the apoth-
ecary's and ask. -
But the other woman's eyes and
mouth rounded in protest. "Oh-hn
she cried. You take away all the
shelter and security and sweetness
of home. Why, if my husband did
not want to know when he came
home at night every place I'd been
and every little thing I'd done all
day long, I'd think he was losing
interest in me, and am sure he feels
the same way. We both believe that
the happiness of our marriage is ow-
lllS CliNllSiS " NiAAS SPAiAb VI AA1AAH
and open comradeship."
And so it stands. oYp pay your
money and you take your choice.
The only moral to be drawn is that
there is more than one way to
reach a given result. Two and two
undoubtedly make four. but so do
three and one.
Mark Twain said: IF everyone
thought alike, there would be no
horse races" And he might have
added that there would not be a lot
of other things considerably more
important.
Contrary to the old song, it is
disagreement that makes the world
go round the pull of two opposing
forces. AS a race we thrive and
progress on our difference of opin-
ion. That may sound like an argu-
ment in favor of war, but it isn't.
Because l don't like the color green
and another woman doesn't like blue
is no reason for us to scratch each
others eyes out. 1t should rather
be an incentive for us to realize that
| both colors have their place in the
universe.
"For the grass to be green and skies
to be blue,
'Tis the natural way of living"
| There are always two sides to
question, and one mans meat is
| another mans poison. Because pars-
/ ley is death to parrots, shall we deny
| the canary bird his delight in it?
| Each of the women 1 have quoted
| insisted that the method she advo-
Gated was the only proper and cor
rect receipt for a happy marriage.
Before left, they got into such an
argument about the question, that
| the atmosphere became too heated
| for me. l fled, and jotted down
these reflections.
They simply couldn't understand
that what would constitute a happy
marriage for the one would spell
/ Hades for the other. L couldn't
help thinking as 1 walked away,
what a perfectly lovely o. Henry
story it would make If should meet
their respective husbands and induce
them to confide their views of the
/ matter.
I'd be willing to wager that the
woman who wanted to ask and be
asked, where have you been ?" and.
''What have you been doing?" has a
husband who SHES at the interro-
CATION point; and that the lady who
| loathes cross examination is welded
to one of those garrulous souls who
delight in smothering every poor.
little happening of the day under a
mass of trivial and irrelevant details.
But each possessing wives so skillful
in hammer-and-tongs debate, these
gentlemen had early in their married
| life decided that discretion was the