The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-02-26

ance with a quaint and archaic ritual
OF the church. The bride has not the
slightest intention of obeying and,
nobody expects her to obey her hus-
band.
Nor do husbands, except in the rare
cases where a man is a domestic Nero,
either expect or desire their wives to
obey them. A man is satisfied If his
wife will fall in generally with his
ideas, and If she will make a few form
al and public announcements that she
regards him as the head Of the house.
He likes her to register difference by
asking his permission to do thus and
so. and then she is free to go on and
do what she pleases within reason.
Sometimes there comes, however, a
crisis in family affairs, as in the case
that l have just cited, and then the
question of how far a husband is en-
titled to control his wife's actions be-
ONE not an academic, but a vital
one.
When a man and woman get mar
ried they put all they have into the
partnership they enter into, but how
ever much the woman puts into it, the
man puts in 4 little bit more because
the law makes him responsible for 1t.
He must pay his wife's debts. He
must furnish the money to run the
home. He gives his name to the firm,
Therefore when 1t becomes a ques-
ton OF bankrupting the firm by, wild
1 CA1A a Np9"lA|Ni VI W ihB dlbLlOllpi
on the firm name by dlsgraceful con-
duct, it is the man who should have
the deciding voice.
1t is every mans duty to be as gen.
erous with his wife as his means will
allow, but 1t is equally his duty to
forbid her to indulge in orgies of spend
ing that will ruin him, Certainly 1t is
no more than simple justice that the
man who earns the money should con-
troll its expenditure,
Every married man should decide the
scale of living for his family. He knows
the state of his business, and just how
much they car afford TO spend and
still leave a margin over for their
rainy day which Is sure to come to
everyone. II his wife has not sense
enough to see the wisdom of being pru-
dent in money matters, and If she does
not love him well enough to be willing
to deny herself luXuries they can not
afford, rather han harass him to death
with financial anXieties, he should en-
force his authority rather than let her
bankrupt him.
II a man has a right to prevent his
wife from running him, it is still more
important that he assert his authority
over her to keep her from ~bankrupting
her own life through her foolishness.
For when a man promises to protect
the woman he marries II sometimes
means to protect her against herself.
The majority of men are older than
their wives, They have seen far more
OF the w~ickedness and the temptations
OF the world than any young woman
has even seen. Therefore they know
the dangers that lie in many seemingly
innocent things.
The pretty young wife still loves
flattery from men, and thinks II no
harm to indulge in a tete-a-tete lunch
with some mar who tells her that he
never saw such eyes as she has, and
threatens suicide because he did not
meet her before she was married. Her
husband could tell her tina the men
who make love to married women are
wolves in sleeps clothing who drag
wives out of the safety Of the home
fold down into perdition.
n the husband knows, as the young
woman does not, that the dance of the
cabaret is the dance of death: that its
cocktails are lethal potionS in which
too many women dissolve all sense Of
decency and honor, and that when n
wife and mother forgets her home and
her babies in the arms OF a lounge liz
ard, her feet are set on the downward
road.
II a m will not listen to her
husbands remonstrances it is his duty
to forbid her to go to such places for
her own sake, n because she has no
right to trail his name in the mud.
y husband should use his authority
over his wife as a good driver does
his reins, He should drive with a loose
rein until the mare bolts. Then hold
her in with all of his strength.
copyright, 1919, by the Wheeler SYM
dictate Inc