The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-12-23

A group Of men and ONE were
recently discussing matrimony.
Marriage may moi be an unqualltled
success as a promoter OF happiness,
a twinkle in them. but it is the great
est educator in the world. 1t is a post
graduate course in philosophy, diplo-
macy, walking on eggs, general plain
and-fancy juggling and Straightforward
performing. The dullest man and Wom-
an who have celebrated their silver
wedding know more about life and the
inner workings of human nature than
the cleverest and most brilliant bache-
lor student could learn in a thousand
years.
And matrimony is a great and I'M
paralleled maker OF character. we go
into it poor, half-baked young crea-
lures, fermenting with the yeast Of ro-
mantle theories and h%ighfalutin' ideals,
and we come out Of 1t either angel food
or hard and soured war bread that
gives everyone who comes in contact
with us a mental indigestion.
mo man or m is the same
after marriage as they were before.
Sometimes they are made better peo-
pie; sometimes they are made worse,
but they are changed. Marriage is
not only the great adventure, 1t is the
great alteration shop In which we are
made over according to the cut pat
tern Of a wife or a husband OF the
one we marry"
"Right-o," exclaimed a man, ''matri-
mony Is a school where we get inten-
sive courses in self knowledge under a
teacher who does not spare the rod.
Speaking personally, the thing that l
have learned from marriage Is a deep
and abiding humility, and Imagine
that / am not the only student who
has taken a diploma in that particular
| hra nph nf LEARNING in which mAtrlm0nV
seems to specialize. At any rate, II
| you will look about you, you will see
that nearly all Of the chesty people
| you meet are unmarried, and that prac-
tically all reformers are bachelors or
spinsters.
"They are the only ones who have
the nerve to point out their faults to
other people, Those of us who have
had a conscientious husband OF wife
who felt 1t his or her sacred duty to
point out our weaknesses to us are
! too crushed with the sense OF our own
imperfections to hand out advice to a
worm"
Same here" smiled a woman. Il
suppose the main lesson Of matrimony
for all of us Is hat we are not the
only one, nor even the biggest one,
Also for a woman it reaffirms the old
principle in physics that We learned in
our school boks, hat two bodies can
| nut occupy Tue SdIlC SpdlC Il TX ollt
time and that when a husbands and
wife's vanity collide, one or the other
has to get out of the way.
AT any rate, the chief thing that
marriage has taught me is that any
woman who wants to live in peace and
happiness with her husband mas got
to sacrifice her vanity to his. But, as
a reward, she can draw a hundred per
cent dividend on her sacrifices"
THE thing that marriage has taught
me- said the second man. lis that
men and women have entirely differ
ent standards Of value, and that the
things that men consider all-important,
women put no stress upon, and the
things that men consider too small to
notice loom big as mountains to women
"a woman cares more for words
thar she does for deeds. A man may
work himself to death to keep his wife
soft and easy, and protect her from
every hard wind that blows, and she
will doubt his love II he happens tc
be one Of the silent kind that finds
it hard to talk about the state Of his
affections, but she will believe that she
is Supremacy adored by any glib
tongued rascal who quotes poetry &c
her and tells her that she has eyes
like stars, even If she has to take ii
boarders to support him.
IL got the shock of my life when
discovered that a wonan will overlook
anything her husband does and forgive
him everything and still consider thai
she has drawn a matrimonial prize Il
he will bring her home an occasiona
bunch OF ~violets, remembers anniver'
saries and notices what she wears
once a man gets this combination o
treating a woman he solves the prob
lem of how to be happy though mar
ried and to do as he pleases."
THE thing that marriage Ia laugh
me-" said the third woman, is tina
you can not treat a husband as II h,
were a rational grownup human being
No matter what he Is in the outsid,
world, no matter how important O
famous, or how many other men h,
commands, when he Is with his wifi
he Is nothing but a great big spoiled
baby, and he wants to be treated lik,
u baby.
"And believe me, when a womal
finds out that her husband isn't {
little tin god. but a peevish baby, VIII,
can be managed exactly as YOU woult