The Washington herald., 1918-01-30
Benefits of Matrimony.
BY DOROTHY DIX.
The worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer


1t appears that there Is no train
ing for the trenches equal to that
acquired in the family circle, and
that married men stand shell shock
far better than bachelors.
| This is no merry Jest. It Is cold.
Ihard fact and is vouched for by no
less an authority than Capt John
T. MacCurdy, Of the Medical Officers.
Reserve Corps. Capt. MacCurdy
has had a long experience in the
war hospitals at the front, and he
declared in the course OF a paper
that he read the other day before
the Massachusetts, Society for Men
tai Hygiene on nervous and men
tai breakdown from war strain and
shell shock" that married men
stand the strain much better than
the unmarried.
OF course this piece of informa-
| tion isn't going to surprise any
married man. Every married man
will say right off that matrimony
Is q perpetual battle ground. and
that a married man Is always in
fighting trim. Also that a married
man is SO used to being gassed and
to having shocks administered to
1 MN ludI H6 SUIT OI "
warfare, as 1t were, and SO 1t
doesn't get on his nerves as 1t doeF
on soft and peace-accustomedb bach
elors.
| What's a bomb more or less to a
man who has lived fifteen years
with a woman with an explosive
temper? What's standing in the
icy waters Of the trench to the man
I Itnrh4 hof t. e.
cold feet when he has to explain to
his wife about the money he lost in
a poker game? What's the rain of
ated to the rain of bills on the first
of every month? What's the
shrieking OF q few shells overhead
ing of a baby with the collie?
No. The married man is q hard
ened veteran in the battle of life.
He is disciplined and knows how to
obey orders without wasting his
strength in futile protest against
authority. His nerves are steeled
to surprises and sudden shocks. He
has acquired fortitude and endur-
say, in spite of the difficulties and
IcbSSoSACo poNHs dUONO
all, having survived the days in
which his angel bride was learning
how to cook and keep house, he has
acquired q digestion that defies any
army commissariat.
No. There isn't much that the
Hun can do to the married man
that his Honey Girl hasn't already
done to him, and SO it's no wonder
that the married man stands the
nerve-wrecking experience Of war
better than the effete and unframed
bachelor.
But it is not alone In the trenches
that the benefit OF the matrimonial
training proves itself. At every
turn of life the married man shows
himself to have more stamina and
able to take more punishment than
the single man. and this leads us
to speculate upon whether the real
purpose of marriage is not educa-
tional rather than beatific.
When a man and woman marry It
Is because they believe they will
secure perpetual happiness by their
union. Unfortunately their dream
| of bliss is seldom realized. They
find each other poor, weak, faulty
creatures instead of dsmigods, as
they had supposed, and instead of
their own little home being q sort
OF earthly Nirvana IL is a place
OF jar and fret, work and worry,
regret and recimiuation.
Marriage does not bring happiness
to every couple, but II brings the
great enlightenment to many. 1t
is the post graduate school in life
in which all but fools and cads are
taught courage, strength, endur-
ance, patience and unselfishness.
Matrimony is the great training
school in which character Is form
ed, and in which the unruly' learn
to curb their proud spirits. The
weak somehow have iron bred into
their fiabby souls. and the ma
terial get the vision that enables
them to endure for an ideal.
Viewed as q promoter OF personal
happiness marriage Is often a fall
ure. but regarded as q preparation
for life 1t is nearly always q sue
cess.
As proof Of this take the fact
that very few men achieve any
thing until after they are married.
and that among your acquaintance
you will find men with families
are as a rule more prosperous than
bachelors.
The great majority Of men never
save any money until after they are
married. Many of them never even
formulate any definite ambition, or
set any goal that they moan to
reach. They can make what they
need as they go along. and so they
live in a happy-go-lucky fashion
that gets nowhere.
With marriage this autlook on