The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-03-14

woman. She loves her husband but
she considers it her sacred duty to be
the skeleton at his feast and keep him
continually reminded Of his f~railties
single virtue or good quality apparent
ly she never discovers it. Assuredly
she never mentions it.
She finds fault with every single
thing he does, from the way he has
his hair cut to the sort of shoe laces
he wears: II he takes her to the thea.
ter she finds fault with the seats. II
he takes her to a restaurant she Criti-
cizes the food. If hes tells her of his
business schemes, she prophesies fail
ure and warns him that he hasn't the
ability to put 1t through.
Sometimes the chief of the Amalga-
mated Order Of Hammer Wielders is
a man who takes a lick at his wife
every time she shows her head. Every
time she gets a new dress or hat he
wants to know what the fool killer is
doing that he does not get females
who buy freak clothes that are ten
years too young for them. Everything
she cooks should have had a different
sauce to please his palate, or been a
little more done or UNDERGONE. Every
thing she says is an object for his
ridiCule.
No wonder that so many of us fail.
No wonder that s. many of US grow
discouraged and give up and say, "Oh,
what's the USE" when we have had
our morale undermined at home, our
courage Slapped and our enthusiasms
doused in cold water by the killjoys
in our family circles.
The only excuse hat can be made
for the knockers is that they do not
know the harm they do. They do not
realize that none of us can do one
thing more than we think we can do;
that none Of us can make other people
have faith In us If we have no faith
in ourselves, and that the most valu-
able asset that any of us have is en-
thusiasm.
Those who warn us Of our limita-
tons and predict failure for us, bring
disaster upo us. The wife who does
not believe In her husband and who
does not encourage him to strike out
the wife with whom a husband cannot
talk over his plans. secure of her en-
enlargement and OF having his hope
bolstered up by her, has a handicap
that prevents him from winning the
| ace.
The woma whose husband always
criticizes her is not only miserable. She
becomes the poor, discouraged creature
who does not feel that 1t is worth
while to try to be a good h~ousekeeper
and keep up her personal appearance.
AS for criticizing children and find
ing, fault with them. it is a crime as
bad as murder, because 1t kills the
Child's initiative and makes 1t timorous
and elf-distrustful. Rail continually
at a child for being stupid and he will
grow up a dullard, because he will no
think II worth while to study. Ridicule
a child for awkwardness and he will &C
stumbling over his feet the balance Of
his life because he has become NOR
bidly self-conscious.
And a still worse crime is discour.
aging children by pouring cold water or
all of their plans and ambitions and
making fun Of them because they aspire
to the stars. Which one of US is wise
enough to detect the earmarks Of
genius, or knows what hidden powers
lie in a child's soul? Yet the knockers
do not hesitate to get out their little
banners and pound the divine thing IL
a boy or girl into no%thingness.
Fault-finding Is the easiest thing IL
the world and the most useless. W,
don't need anybody to tell us what we
have done wrong, We know that fo
ourselves. What we need is somebody
to tell us how to keep from making
mistakes.
Therefore. don't knock, especially il
the family circle. Boost.
Copyright, 1919. by the Wheeler Syn,
dictate, Inc.)