The Washington herald., 1917-06-15

One of the reasons why 1t is so hard
to lead women Up to the higher litI,
and induce them, to develop what rsi
noblest and best in their characters is
because they get no help or enCour-
agement from men In doing SO. On,
the contrary, men, perhaps uncon-
sciously and untntentionally, but none
the less definitely and most univer-
sally, put premium eli all woman 81
weaknesses ard faults.
And this being the case woman nat
urally asks herself, WHATS the use -
If the women who are dull and stupid
AMI lazy and eXtTavagant and selfish,
get the capital matrimonial prizes,
and have the most adoring and gen.
erous and considerate husbands,
what's the use in a woman hreakins
her neck trying to be a real helpmate
to her husband, when the kind of a
wife Of whom a man never seems to
tire is one We calls "TiddlumS" and
who has the conversational repertoire
Of hen?
OF course, men will deny this and
swear that their ideal of womanhood
is everything that Is grand and lofty.
Maybe it is, but they don't marry I'll
unless there is nothing else around
handy when they happen to be in al
matrimonial mood. That is why the
women WIZ are fitted to make the
best wives seldom get a chance to 40
1t. and when they do they don't get
many cheers from tneir husbands.
The truth is that while men may 40
mire women for their virtues, they
love them for their weaknesses, ana
every married woman will bear tesu-
mOny to the fact that her husband is
never SO tender and affectionate to her
as when she is making three-ply fool
of herself.
Take the matter of brains. for in
l.
are scrambled in a feminine head. the
better the average man likes them.
1t is truism to say that any pretty
idiot can marry five times to a col
leEe graduates once. This is such a
palpable fact that thoughtful moth
daughters a thorough education, and
when they do they adjure them for
heavens sake to keep quiet about
IL and never let any man find out
how much they know.
OF course, there are a few excep-
tional men who like intelligent women
and enjoy their society, but they are
as scarce as hens teeth. The rank
and file fee a woman of reading and
culture as they would the smallpox.
II you were inviting young men to
come and see a girl visitor, you would
conceal the fact that she was highly
educated as carefully as you would
a physical deformity. for well you
would know that wild horses couldn't
drag them near her. It's the maid
ems with two-by-fOur minds, who
think Browning is the name of a ko-
because it has put up the prices of
silk stockings. who are bellies with
men, with swains galore signing at
their feet. Never Miss Vassar, of
Bryn Mawr.
And the queer thing is that the
charm of the marked down intellect
in a woman appears to hold even af-
ter marriage. You would think that
an intelligent man would be bored TO
death by a wife with whom he could
not discuss any subject more pro-
found than the cost Of groceries and
think he would pine for some real
companionship in his own home, a !
woman who would read what he
reads, think his thoughts, catch his
subtle illusions, but this does not
seem to be a masculine need.
Generally speaking, the happiest
marriages are those in which the wife
is not in the husbands class intel
lectually, and where she prefaces ev-
cry sentence with John says" and
thinks he hung the moon instead of
having taken a course in astronomy.
Also, generally speaking. men have
so little appreciation OF the sacrifices
wonders why generation after genera
ton of wives continue to make them.
A girl marries poor young fellow.
In order to help him along she makes
OF her shoulders a ladder on which
he may climb to success.
She tolls and stints and saves. She
burns her beauty out over the cook
ing stove. She wastes her youth in
petty economies. She denies herself
all the little daintinesses and luxuries
hot d,
that the nobility of soul that could
offer itself UP that freely on the altar |
of love would fill the man with such |
awe and reverence that he would wor-
ship before it.
You would think that he could not
do enough to show his devotion to |
such woman, that he could not be
tender enough to her, thank her
enough, make her feel keenly enough
his appreciation. But does he? Not
at all. Oftener than not the man
knows in his inner consciousness that |
his wife has made him, hates her for |
1t.
He is not big enough to be grateful
to a woman. When he doesn't hate |
her, he is Indifferent to her. That she |
lost her looks in his service counts |
nothing to him. All he sees is that !
she is faded and homely, and behind |
the times, and doesn't match with his !
altered fortune.
Therefore Patient Griselda is left be-
hind at home while the Successful |
Man fares forth into the gay world of |
second-class women who haven't |
worn themselves out toiling to help |
any man. but whose hardest labor has |
been in assisting him to spend his |
money. And the man holds their soft, |
nanicured hands, and pities himself |
because he is tied to a wife with knots
on her fingers that she made at the