The Washington herald., 1918-06-19

had merely reached the years OF in
discretion There Is no folly which
either Q man or q woman is incapa-
Bile OF committing between the ages
Of forty-1ve and sixty. Talk about
the lack Of wisdom and prudence Of
youth! Seventeen is Solomon and Poor
Richard rolled into one compared 70
ifty-seven or forty-seven."
Il think that the reason the man
few the domestic COOP" said a man.
with a sidelong glance at his own
wife, was because he was deter
mined to enjoy a little personal liberty
before 1t was too late. For thirty
years he had been a slave without
so much liberty as a ticket-of-leave
man. Every night he had had TO
punch the time clock at six-thirty.
He had never been able 70 so away
from home for tventy-four hours
without furnishing an alibi for where
he was every hour of his absence.
For thirty years he had never
smoked q cigar at home without be-
ing told that It was bad for his
heart. He had never eaten q meal
without being warned against his
favorite dish because II was sup
posed TO Agive him indigestion. He
had never taken drink without
having to eat cloves. He had never
gone down the street on q rainy day
without being warned to put on
his rubbers. or OF q cold morning
without being adjured to turn up
his coat collar. He had never done
one single solitary thing without
having to give a long explanation
about why he did it.
Finally. the time came when he
could endure il no longer. The worm
turned. The last straw was laid on
the camers back. He suddenly re-
allied that he was getting old. Per
haps he figured out that he couldn't
reasonably expect to have. at the
best, more than ten or fifteen years
OF life. and he determined to spend
them as a free man. to do what he
wanted TO do. and had always want
ed to do. and had never done in his
life. So he made a break for lib
erty. and here's hoping that he will
enjoy it."
Il think you are right" agreed
the dark woman with shrewd UNDER
standing eyes. and II that mans
wife had enough intelligence and
grit to hold steady and wait until
after her husband has had his fIl
OF being alone and doing as he
pleases. he'll come trotting meekly
back to her and be glad enough to
slip his neck once more into the do
mestie yoke. For there is some
thing psychic about matrimony.
even about unhappy matrimony.
that units both men and women for
single life.
"A man may be bored to extInc-
tion by the nagging Of q fussy wife.
A woman may rebel against the ex-J
actions of a tyrannical husband, but
when they come to the place where
they realize that nobody cares
whether they make themselves sick
or not, and nobody watches for their
coming they find out that their last
estate is worse than their first, and
they are glad enough to take on
even q family boss. oh, the wan
dering husband always runs back
home to wife when he gets old and
rheumatic. and dyspeptic, and needs
somebody to nurse and coddle him.
Il will venture to say that the
trouble with this man was that he
had no youth" said a lawyer. For q
good many years I have kept a close
| tab on the scandals and follies in
which middle aged men and women
have become involved. and / have
not found a single case in which
they had not had q poor. starved.
hard worked youth. At the playtime
of life they had to toll and sacrifice.
They were denied the joys OF bright
ness that they craved and that be-
lOnRed to their are
Always in their souls was this long
ing for the joys that they could have
taken innocently and wholesomely in
their youth. but that were a crime
in their middle age. for when the
time came when they could indulge
their longing they were too old. They
, made themselves ridiculous, and
brought sorrow and shame on others.