The Washington herald., 1917-05-30

IN diplomacy before she Is turned loose
on the world to soothe It, or trritate IL
thlhk What the possession Of tact
means Tor the woman herself. Il Is the
phtiosophers stone that enables her TO
make friends, hold her husbands affec-
Iion, manage her household. keep her
servants. and run her little world with
out friction or trouble.
NO woman ever yet ruled by force
| Every woman may rule by the use of
httle diplomacy, and there is nothing
IN the world more pitiful than to see
the haVoc SO many make of their do
nesuc anairs just because they re-
fuse to recognize this palpable fact.
women never seem to have found It
out, but the greatest field of diplomacy
In the universe Is the home, and It is
! tragicaI to observe how great is the
demand. and how inadequate the do
mesttc supply. OF course when you come
right down to facts, there is no more
reason why a woman should exercise
tact in trying to get along with her
husband than there is why he should
not be a diplomat in dealing with her
peculiarities.
But facts cut no Ice IN the family
circle. There II Is the condition, and
not the theory, that we confront, and
every married woman knows that II
--'J oNgAAALASE anu oAiOCN-H+A6s
and adapting OF one person to another
In the holy estate, It Is the wife who
has to do it,
Many women are either too selfish or
too stupid to do this. Thus we are
treated TO the spectacle Of families in
which there is continual friction, and
where the daily spat is as much a mat
ter of course as the daily dinner. I'm
less man is an actual brute, and few
American husbands are that, there is
no possible excuse for such a state of
affairs. Any woman. not a fool. must
learn in time what subjects will precipi-
tate an argument, what acts will cause
a row, and she can avoid them IL she
will.
II she had a grain Of woman's intui-
ton she must know her husbands little
weaknesses and pet vanities, and II she
fails TO stroke the fur the right way
she is willfully neglecting her emporium
tiles. Any wife who has an ordinarily
good husband with whom she can't get
on peaceably. by the proper exercise os
diplomacy. is either too big a chump TO
live or else she quarrels for the mere love
OF the shindy
And why not use tact instead OF blud-
geon in dealing with children and serv-
ants? Why harp on their faults and
say don't instead OF do? II Jenny
has bad manners, instead of forever nag
ging her about the way she sits, and
stands. and eats, why not seize upon the
stray moment OF grace and praise her for
It? When Nora's coffee is superlative
why not praise her for II instead of
gulping II down in silence. and raising
the roof when II Is luke warm and weak?
1t is so much moro inspiring to be
praised than blamed. and there is such
a natural human desire to live up to our
blue china, and be what people expect
OF US.
Women are not by nature expert with
the hammer. They always bungle the
Job when they essay its use. That's
the reason I'd teach them TO leave II
alone and devote their attention to what
Is vulEarly known as spreading the salve
and pushing the velvet
After all. it's oil and not grit that
makes the wheels Iun smoothly, espe-
cially with the domestic machine, ana
there would be more happy families and
fewer divorces IL every girl was an ex-
pert lubricator.
Dorothy Di1s I-ttcles LTTeA- rezulGty IN this
paper every MnodAy WEDNESDAY and Friday.
Copyright, 1871 by the whselsr syndicate. Inc