Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-06
Lne'S Problems
Are Discussed
BY MRS, WILSON WOODROW


In that greatest masterpiece of
literature, the Book of Job, there is
"A description of the day when the
sons OF God appeared before him,
and Satan came also.
And the Lord said unto Satan:
Whence contest thou? And Satan
answered the Lord and said: From
going to and fro in the earth and
from walking up and down in it."
Satan did not particularize fur
ther regarding his activities, but
just as much as he admitted has
always struck me as the complete
description of the ideal life-"going
to and fro in the earth and walking
UP and down in it," with ample leis-
ure to observe, to draw deductions
from those observations, and to put
| ones finger on the motives that gov
ern the actions Of the people.
No matter what the object of
your observations may be, whether
it is a human being or a work of
art or an abstract science. it's real
interest lies in the fact that it can
be viewed from various angles.
| II UT lHSldIlCt, SuppOSC al tullOI
asks a writer to give him a fiction
story on a certain theme, the writer
! first decides from what angle he will
| handle it, whether he can get the
most out of it and gain the best ef-
fects by treating it humorously or
seriously.
The old saying that there are two
sides to every question is only half
true. There are always many sides
to every human story.
This is occasionally brought home
to me in various ways. Several
months ago I got forlorn little let
ter from a mother telling me of the
unhappiness her daughter caused
her. She said the girl was clever and
held an excellent position, but that
she was always irritable and i'll
tempered at home. 1 published this
letter with some remarks of my own,
and very soon received letter from
the daughter. which 1 also inserted
in an article.
She gave the other side of the
story. She explained that her duties
were exacting, and that when she
came home in the evening her
mother ceaselessly piled her with all
sorts of questions in regard to her
work. 1t would not have been so
difficult to bear If the mother had
! been content to wait until she had
| had something to eat. And in addi-
ton, she said, she could not sake 1t
understood that she was not at lib
erty to discuss her employers busi-
ness affairs. There you get the
same facts from two different angles.
| have recently had a similar eX-
perience. l saw an account in
newspaper of a man who had made
10 off ha 1n
was nervous wreck from too much
we'd tape and iron discipline in the
home. 1t struck me as such an un-
usual and amusing plea to present
in divorce proceedings that l used it
IN one of my articles as an illustra-
ton of the horrors of efficiency car
ried to its nth power, and which,
according to the published affidavit,
even attempted to regulate the cats
appetite.
Now the other angle of the sub
ject has presented itself, as the fol-
lowing letter will show:
My Dear Mrs. Woodrow: / read
your articles every time I see one.
I like them awfully well. and think
you've taught me a lot about good
many things; so now l am taking
the liberty OF setting you right about
something, and l fancy l am not
wrong in thinking you big enough to
take it in the spirit in which l write.
II am referring to your recent ar
| ticle o. efficiency. 1 give you due
credit for saying at the start of it
that you had only a reportorial note
to go on. Put didn't it strike you
as a little bit silly for a man to ad-
NIT his Inability to cope with the
petticoat tyranny he so graphically
pictured in his defense? Would it
be possible for any one to waste
imuch sympathy on a masculine spec
linen, over six feet tall, who didn't
have the gumption to regulate his
affairs instead of running away from
them?
"As a matter of fact. this wife is
very far from the able tyrant she is
made out to be. She is just a poor
little sick, miserable bit of woman.
And be very sure, my dear Mrs.
woodrow, the "persecuted husband"
hass not drowned his worries by
plunging into the battlefelds of Eu-
rope. Are you a good enough sport
to write another article on the sub
ject of men who are neither fish,
fowl nor good red herring; who are
neither upholding their honor at
home nor following their country's
flag abroad?"