The Washington herald., 1917-06-08

The world is fun OF women VINO
have drawn the capital prize In life,
thanks 10 heaven for their luck. They
have good husbands. good homes.
good children, good clothes, and yet
they are discontented and disyruntlsd.
and always signing for some intangi-
bic. nnattainable career that they
think they have missed by getting
For at the bottom of almost every
woman's discomfort with her lot, her
dissatisfaction with her husband, and
her distaste for domesticity. lies the
secret belief that the only reason that
she isn't world famous Is because she
permitted some man to lead her to
the altar. instead OF her going in for
finance.
That's the reason she Is such a fri.-
sie and failure a. q wife, and mother,
You couldn't expect a woman who Is
dead sure she is an embyro Hetty
Green to treat q husband who il 4
k0-a-week clerk with much respect.
You couldn't look for q woman who
= certain she could write novels like
Ellen Gtasgow's, or poetry like Theo-
dosia Garrison's II she had turned her
attention to II, to devote her great
mind nj to keeping the baby's milk bot.
Il would be absurd to suppose that
4 lady who felt that her real mission
In life was to play Lady Macbeth
could come down on Of her pedestal
long enough to sweep under the bed.
and see that the food is decentiy
L is a great pity that these women
VINO tnink OF themselves as awful sac
rinces to matrimony, couldn't have
gone up good and hard against the
SIzeer theory before they married.
Ihat would have knocked Il out OF
tneir systems once and for ali, ana
snho"h sah tnem now lucky the woman Is
Mho mas settled home, ana a good
husky man to stand between her and
~ every woman had tried to sup-,
EoI nerself. IL she had burned into
IT memory the weariness OF LONG
tn which she had stood with
mind the counter, or mad nonndrd
tnrough the binding mists OF a head
1cne, hour after hour. upon a tyne-
Mter " she could recall the thou
sno noisnities TO which every worn-
nome is subjected; II she had but
70 smut her eyes to see again the
miserable hall bedroom, and the
easy table OF a fourth rat board
ing mouse, and feel once more the
coz cog dread Of losing. her Job and
poor sheiter-there would be fewer
olscontented. complaining, critical
wives in the world.
Inc reason that the woman who
mas a KIND husbaH who IA q good
blo'ioer, Is 50 insensible to her blesss-
awning else. She has gone from
ner iathers good home to her hus-
bands good home, and abe takes n
A no more than her due that some
BODY should work for her and pro-
woe, wee t9c her and It doesn't even
way Of spoken thanks and actual
tansiole appreciation is due to the
Two men who have devoted their lives
to her comfort and weII-beinE.
OF course no man who isn't a cad,
ing his horn ana prociaiminz that
ne supports his family. but a man
likes to feel that his wife appreciates
what he does for her, that she Is
not blind nor insensible to the sac
rtnces he makes that she may dress
as well and live as well as her neigh
bors. Above all he likes her 10 be
at least cheerful about being married
to him, and he naturally resents her
rose OF being domestic martyr,
The average husband gets precious
little out Of all his work and worry
but his board and clothes, and his
wife's appreciation, and il he misses
this last he Is poor indeed.
Surely It Is worth women's while
10 remember this and to at least
make the poor return of thanks 10
their husbands, for 1t is 30 easy to
do things for those that appreciate
them. and so hard to have to do
things for those who don't.
Perhaps IL Is because everything
has been made soft and easy for the
average woman, because she has
never earned dollar, or known the
nlshtmare OF meeting payday with an
appreciation Of all that her husba nd
does for her, and Of what home and
comfort really mean. That is the
reason that she neither feels nor
shows any gratitude towar him.
That Is also the reason that she
does not realize how discouraging Il
ls to man who has done his very
best, WHO has toiled and slaved to
provide his wife with comforts, to
receive as his pay not appreciation
nor thanks, but reproaches that he
didn't do better and give her as mucn
as some other woman has.
But there is one sure cure for the
career craze in wives. That is to try
y. The protected woman, who be-
lieves herself a wasted genius, thinkS
that all she has to do Is to reach out
her hand and gather in the laurel
wreath of fame.
She believes that all that she needs
Is half dozen lessons in singing or
acting, and she win have the Metro
politan or Belasco offering her thou
sands Of dollars a night. She thinks
that IL she. could breathe the rarehed |
atmosphere Of Washington Square
that she could sit down and dash on
literary gems that editors would
struggle over.
II only her husband had the nerve
to tell that he would be the last man
on earth to put out the sacred flame
in her soul, and to advise her to go
out and put her talent to the acid test
OF seeing what she really could do
with 1t, and II he would stake her TO
the least possible amount Of money
on which she could live while she
tried. instead, OF trying 70 bribe her
with automobiles and diamonds to
stay at home, why, he could settle |
months
The woman would find that careers,
even real careers that crown real tai |
ent, are won by such blood and sweat, |
by such agony and travail as she has |
never dreamed existed In the world. |
Let her measure her little gift against |
real genius. let her meet snubs and |
Tidicule and brutally frank criticism. |
ing in theatrical offices for hours, let |
her find out by experience the bitter |
disappointment Of seeing her manu-
scripts come back time after time, |
and you will slay the silly ambition |
microbe that has been eating her be-
yond the possibility OF resurrection.
And wife will return not only cured /
OF her career craze. but with some ap-
probation OF the husband who has /
solved the j-sad and butter problem |
that she could not solve. and she will |
be filed with gratitude 10 the man /
who stands between her and the /