Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-11-02
Oh, How Could She? And
He Has Been So Good
and Kind to Her

at times by the death of the woman
who never had anything to do but
"the few things about her own
home"
Such Husbands Lack Sympathy.
Besides lacking vision, such men
are deficient in sympathy. They are
unable to grasp how deadly and
monotonous is the daily round of
cooking, dish washing, scrubbing,
washing and ironing, not to men
ton the care OF children. They
see only that "she" does not have
to work outside of her own home;
that she has food, shelter and
clothes, and these things to the
misunderstanding in vision and
sympathy-'are paradise enough"
He does not realize that when a
woman nags and is peevish it is
her tired. overweight nerves that
are goading her, and not her ugly
disposition" Women have written
me letters saying there is no re-
form, for husbands of this type,
like camping trip. There. in spite
of the God-given-out-of-doors there
are meals to be prepared, eaten,
washed up after, and the same pro-
gram started all over again. The
preparation and clearing up after
meals then dawns on the masculine
mind with true significance. 1t is
not the trifling pastime it appears
to be when someone else does it,
Sympathy means understanding, it
means the power of valuation, it
means the gift Of saying the right
word at the right time. For this
women will cheerfully face pow
erty, hard work and drab monot-
ony. And it is lack Of sympathy on
the part Of the husbands-the feel
ing that men don't care-that make
women commit the wholly unac-
countable crimes that fill US with
horror.
A woman on trial for her life the
other day-she had shot her 2
year-old son, of whom she was jeal-
ous-testified that her husband had
no sympathy with her.
1t is lack of sympathy that leads
unhappy wives to SEEK the society
of other men. They are plain lone
some, these women who are sup
posed to forego all desire for COM
panionship, recreation, little trips
and amusements as soon as they are
married. Husbands do not realize
it, but often their wives have no
companionship in their own homes.
Their husbands will not talk to
them, they will not even listen when
their wives talk, they rudely read the
paper or become engrossed in some
thing else. When a woman tries to
tell her husband about something in
which she is vitality interested, he
yawns, looks bored or openly SCOTS
at her.
And she takes to the unwhole-
some habit of brooding in silence.
He is not in sympathy with any,
thing she is doing, or aspires to do.
His sole concern is how cheaply
she can run the house, and yet peo-
pie wonder that one marriage in
every 10 ends in divorce.
1t is sympathy, and sympathy
alone, that makes the relationship
of marriage possible. 1t bridges the
raging flood of differing tempera-
ments; it takes the WEAKNESS from
the daily treadmill; it offers heal
ing pity "for the sings and arrows
of outrageous fortune" and there
is no real marriage without it.
This is the secret of why so many
women will stick to a scapegrace
husband through thick and thin. He
may be deficient in all the other
virtues, but if he possess this one
saving grace of sympathy she counts
herself blessed among women.