The Washington herald., 1917-12-26
The Virtue Of Explaining Things.
A. NJ DOROTHY DIX.
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.

You have seen this scene on the
stage . hundred times. s-,..
The heroine Of meIodrama, q
nobel, angelic being who has lived
. blsmeless life. is discovered by
her husband or sweetheart reading
. letter. The man asks her who the
writer IL. Instead Of answering the
woman thrusts the letter in her
bosom and refuses to tell. There
upon there ensues four acts Of sus-
picion. Jealousy. general heart
break. tears and woe, until. at last.
chance brings about the revelation
that the letter was from the hero
ines grandmother and contained
nothing but grandma's recipe for
making spiced picked peaches.
or course, in the theater we can
understand why the heroine didn't
explain at once the inocuous char
acter of the scrap OF paper. It
would have ended the play imme-
diately. There wouldn't have been
any chance for injustice, recrimina-
tion sob stun and big scenes. We
smile at such twaddle when we
think OF 1t seriously. and yet such
plays are built on one OF the fun
damental peculiarities OF human
nature that, often enough, bring
about real tragedies in real life.
And that is the deep rooted aver
! sion that most Of us have TO ex-
planning things. We would rather
be misunderstood. mis;udged. sus-
pected of any crime under the sun
than to say the two or three words
! that explain why we do a thing
We prefer breaking the hearts of
our family. alternating their afTec-
tions and losing our friends to Civ
ing them some perfectly simple and
adequate reason that would justify
the course OF action we pursue.
Queer. isn't It? But true As
sliiy as the act "f the woman I'm the
mclodrama, but isn't it what We all
do?
It's the lack OF explanation that
i is responsible fnr half Of the fric-
tion in domestic life. The average
man would rather die by slow tor
| ture than tell his wife anything
| about. his business affairs, and be-
cause his wife hasn't got any facts
to go upon in piCturinE how he
spends the hours that he is away
from her. she gives her imagina-
! tion full scope TO conjure up gcenes
OF revelry with puIchritudinous la
dies that he meets in business. and
she IS filled with torments OF jeal-
ousy that she takes out on him at
home.
Women are not such fools as they
often appear to be. and there are
very few wives who wouldn't under
stand and appreciate the exigencies
of business that keep a man down
town now and then Of evenings. or
that make it polite for him TO en-
tertain business associates at res
taurants and theaters If only the
husband would take the trouble TO
explain Just the situation that ne
cessitated his doing so.
But when husband stayer away from
his own hearthstone and gives no rea-
son for doing IL but n cryptic mur-
muir OF business" il Is no wonder
that the wife IS filled with suspicion
Of she knows not what.
Men are always complaining that
their wives are extravagart, yet there
isn't one woman in 4 hundred who
a little explanation from her husband
Of why she should cut down expenses
A man grumbles about the bills un-
I'll his wife comes TO think It is a
constitutional ailment that he can't
help. She has never been told any
thing about the state Of his business,
so she goes along spe7Fing money
because she has been given no esDe-
cial incentive to save
Far otherwise would Il be with her
II her husband would explain 10 her
that the reason he asked her 10 econ
omiZe was because he had a note com
ing due that must he Paid. or that
some particular condition made trade
had this year, or that he was trying
TO save un enough TO buy an interest
in the business, or start little store
for himself.
It would be money in tho pockets
OF husbands TO explain their business
problems 10 their wives. because once
YOU give n woman a definite object
and a good reason for saving, she