The daily Alaskan., 1918-06-11
Little Problems ScNarried Life @N~NNNNNN~~ ~~NNNNN~NNNN
 WILLIAM GEORGE JORDAN
WHEN THE FAMILY INTERPRETERS
Copyright

Many SOOu HlAlTlLnOuIAl SHhpr Hllu It's sunlit cargo of happiness and hope. has been wrecked on the rocks of fam lily interference. If 1t were customary to erect tombstones to the memory of dead loves the cause of the death of marital happiness In thousands of homes might be given in the chiselled epItaph: "Died From an Overdose ot the Interference of RelatiyesW
 If there be one place in the world where the justice of "home rule" should be unquestioned, that place is the home. Marriage makes the cou. pie new firm, an independent partner. ship, not branch house under the management of parent company
 It was interference and bad advice that spoiled the first marriage, started the first quarrel, and broke up the first home in the world in those early days, long, long ago when Eden was the only spot on earth that had even name. This was the first lesson to man and now after sixty centuries some people have not learned 1t yet. Husband and wife must work out their own problems in their own way,
 The problems of two must be solved by two. They need only kindness, sympathy, a reserve of help in emer. Reneies and a free open field all the time. There is no justification for gos. sip, criticism, complaint, condemnation and incendIary meddlIng by members of the family. These things should be put on the list of unnecessary luxuries in the home and gently, firmly, definite ly cut off.
 We may sometimes be privileged to help others to live their lives; 1t is ar rogant assumption for us to attempt to live their lives for them. We are told that we should not bury our talents but there is one talent-that of spe' Cial aptness for impertInent manage ment of the affairs Of others--that we should carefully wrap In napkin and on some dark night, quietly bury for | ever.
 It is In the first years Of married | life that foreign interference Is most irving and dangerous and tiS this very 1 time ,when 1t Is most conspicuous anG dominant. No need for the family tc l remind the wife that the husband Is not eighteen karat, that he will never make fortune, that they fear greatly and then let their fear expand Into a ioug catalogue of detail that fades 1 away into the dim perspective of the 1 rnspoken. After the goods are bought 1 md sent home and cannot be returned what Is the use of discouraging the purchaser?
 The wife may think she has the fin est little home in the world; every thing seems beautiful to her and sas has even pride in the array of cooking utensils, dazzling and new in aluminium and tin, and the dishes ranged care fully on the pantry shelves. She often stands at the door and smiles as she l looks into get the general effect at if glance. When the family makes @ tour of inspection, her indiscreet sis' ter may say, "Oh, what mite CT 2 kitchen. You can only wash the small dishes llB. cups and saucers In little box like this" It had never seemed small t6 her, none of the rooms seemed small; they held so much love and hope and happiness that the size did I not count; but now her heart sinks and the joy note seems gone and a cloud comes over 1t all and she begins to compare her home with that of some friend and it- suffers. She thinks o1 all the other deficiencies pointed out 1 by the visiting inspectors. She triet 1 to be brave so she will be smiling when he comes home but 1t Is hard tG keep back the tears.
 When her husbands sister tells heI | in confidence, "just to put you on youl ; guard so you will know how to handle him." what temper he has, 1t comes to her as a surprise and grief, for Il does not seem possible he could evel sneak q cross word. When she hears still in confidence, about the "girl he was so much in love with two years ago md was going to marry" she feels twinges of vague jealousy and she wants to be alone. F.
 He too may suffer from the early stages of family interference if his mother begins her maternal vivisec tion of his wife. She doubts If sht will prove a good hOusekeeper, but "ol course we have to hope for the best
 Soon the family may begin a "am paign of education on how she snoult manage him. She hears with irritation the words: "You surely won't let hin smoke in the parlor! You know yol can never get the odor out of the cur tains and that cartridge paper drinks in smoke like plotting paper absorb' ink" If she weakly assents they in crease the dose; if she rebels the! think she is Overconfdent and setting her right becomes more than pleas
 ure-it is a duty. "Never permit hin
 to be five minutes late at dinner. Jus
 assert your independence" Is the nex
 shot. from this peace-congress in thu
 interests of domestic war.
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