Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-05-04
THE first desire Of wife. as I


bride even when she is grandmother
The second desire Of a wife Is TO he
t-eated as a doll baby. vet seeress
Vow the mistake that the avers &c
husband makes is that he treats his
wife either as doll baby. or as a ra-
tionsl human being, and he never Hnds
out that she is not altogether either
one or the other. but that she Is partly
both
No woman il wholly a fool. and no
woman is wholly wise. bG- evEy WON
an displays unexpected, ana stsrtllns
bursts Of intelligence and stiffness. In
fact. II may be said that the normal
feminine mind Is built after the plan or
The hest Irish bacof-a streak Of Jean
and a streak of fat. This Is the rea-
son that Il is so piquant and appetiz-
Ing a dish on the menu OF HE.
Only few men. who have them
selves much Of the feminine tempera-
ment. ever sense this great initial fact
that Won cannot deal with woman on
the same platform on which you can
deal wEh a man. because what man
Is. ne is but what woman Is she
isn't Therefore. the Average good nus
hand loving his wife and anxious TO do
his duty by her and make her happy.
goes laundering into the mistake or
treating her in exactly the way she
doesn't want to be treated, and that
makes her get that wiSbful Reno look
on her face.
Suppose the man. for instance. is of
the David Copperfield type who has
recollection for baby-faced girls. with
large. sdorfng eyes and a cute way OF
looking up at a man so that ne ieels
about seven feet high. and that ne mas
the chest measure of Jess Willard or
Inf mo Il
Turing and fascinating as sweethearts
than they are as wives, and after the
nan GETS his bargain home he is apt
to wish that he had made another
choice
But. be that as IL may. he is a just
man and a good sport. He realizes that
such as his wife is, he picked her out
from all the multitude or women ana
married her OF his own accord. so ne
doesn't propose TO blame her for the
qualities she is shy in So he accepts
Ter as a doll baby. and does the pest
he can by his pretty little toy:
II she makes an intOlerable mess OF
housekeeping. and can't manage serv-
ants or cook herself. he stores the furni-
ture. and goes 10 a hotel 10 live, now
ever much as he may pine for real
home. He heroically tolls overtime TO
dress his little doll in fine clothes, ana
give her an automobile to ride in He
listens patiently TO her tvaddling talk.
and trots around with her to parties
that he loafhes. and generally keeps his
pretty little plaything in cotton wool
even after the years have begun TO
wear off the red paint and the gliding
The man hasn't a doubt but what his
little doll considers herself a very happy
and lucky little doll. but she doesn't
for the very good reason that the hu-
80 .
with sawdust. Somewhere In Its anat-
ouv there Is a heart and a brain, even
II thew are not very big ones. ~
The doll baby wife may be silly, nut
she isn't fool enough not 70 know that
sire is nothing but 8 toy 70 her nus
band. that she is not real wife she
knows that she Is outside OF his ire
not the center Of It and that she knows
nothing Of what he really thinks, what
his real aspirations are. what he really
hopes and plans. She knows that ne
wouldn't turn to her IL he needed ad-
vice or someone on whom to lean
And the knowledge outs her like a
knife. She resents her husband regard
ing her as his mental inferior. She
resents his treating her like a child.
She would like TO be chums with him,
and to feel that he enjoyed talking with
her. not because he had husbands
f0nnnHEE TOT neTr DuA BGGduSc AAO ASA-AN
her conversation interesting And she
would be fIattered to death II he would
ask her advice about his business al
fairs
True she still wants TO be bsbied,
tn be petted and cajoled, and relieved
of responsibility. and for her husband
not to expect much OF her, because she
- his child wife, but at the same time
sh. desires TO be also treated as q
nN
by right of woman's mystical intuition,
in which nobody believes so thoroughly
a women themselves. And because the
moor husband isn't mind reader enough
10 know when 10 treat his wife as II
.hs were a three-year-old infant and
when % treat her as If she were
solomon in petticoats, innumerable wom-
en- consider that they are mistreated
ana have failed TO find their affinities.
Nor is the man who assumes that
an Intelligent well-educated woman Of
voting age can be treated like rational
human being any more successful in
his solving OF the matrimonial prob
lem than is the man who thinks that
a woman should be treated as a doll
baby.
The man who In married 10 a sensible,
practical girl congratulates himself upon
his acumen. He thinks he can dispose
subterfuges that make domesticity so
burdensome 70 so many men
He thinks that he can tell his wife the
plain unvarnishsd truth, and that she
will Re intelligent enough 70 prefer IL
10 TRANSPARENT fDs. He thinks that she
will be broad enough not to be consum-
ed by petty jealousies and 10 realize that
a man is not in love with every pretty
woman that he meets. He thinks that
she will have wisdom enough to perceive
that the test OF a mans real affection
- not what ne says 70 a wife but vhai
he does for her.
So the man begins his married life BY
treating his wife as ne would treat a
business partner. He talks 10 her OF
the state Of the green grocery trade In
stead Of telling her that her eyes are
stars from Heaven He shoulders or
her half Of the work and the response
bflity OF their Joint business. He criti-
cfzeS her mistakes. and holds her down
on the expenditures of her department
He IL paying her the highest cOmpli-
rnent of which he Is capable, for he Is
taking IL for granted that she is putting
into the new firm that they have organic
ed lust as much brain and energy and
ability "a he Is He IS making her his
hslpmeet, his friend, his comrade, and
he never doubts but what she Is tickle