The Washington herald., 1920-01-16

enough to learn that of all the bar
riers between q man and woman
none is SO insurmountable as the
barrier of age; that for an old man
to marry a young woman 10 disas-
trous folly, and for an old woman
to marry young man Is fatal I'M
becility?
Nature works many miracles. but
It never unites the springtime bloom
of May with the wintry SHOWS OF
December. 1t takes human beings 10
be rash enough to try that expert
ment, and illogical enough to ex-
pect that the venture will turn out
successfully.
Among my acquaintances Is Q
young woman who has recently taken
part in an escapade In which she
was seriously compromised. although
she was innocent In reality. quite
as IL she had been the heroine OF
popular farce on the stage. When
asked why she did anything SO rash
and foolish, she replied:
II am married to a man twenty
five years older than myself. / am
young, he is old. want to amase
myself. He wants to sit at home
and never stir from his own fireside:
VIC SPChu sDhcbht
weeks and months and years, yawnt
ing in each others faces until / feel
that I could scream. 1t got to the
place where / could stand it nc
longer. I had to do something 10
break up that awful monotony or
die. And I don't care II did. I'll
at least have something to think
about that's got a thrill to II while
my husband groans over his rheu-
matism." .-.----.
And there you are. There you have
a concrete picture Of the disparity
Of age that makes any real happi-
ness impossible. because the hus-
band and wife do not belong to the
same generation. They have not the
same interests or inclinations: they
look at life from different stand
points.
The man has had his hing. He
Is tired. He has seen the wheels
go round. Parties. tneaters. res
taurants. travel. all are old stories
to him. His idea of delightful
evening is to spend II In the quiet
of his own home. with slippers and
dressing gown and pipe.
But the wife is young. She Is
still a young girl eager for the
amusements that belong to her age.
She Is bubbling over with energy
that longs for IN outlet. She looks
out with curious eyes on the pleas
ures of the world that she has not
yet had. Her idea of spending a
happy evening Is 10 rush from din
ner to theater, and theater to sup
per and cabaret.
How Is one to reconcile these two
conflicting desires Of age and
youth Is the old man to squeeze
his gouty feet in patent leather
pumps. and fare forth with his
young wife to eat restaurant food
that will disagree with his old
tummy. and do fox trots that will
agonize his aching old bones? Or
shall the young wife bide at home
with her venerable spouse. and di-
'Nert herself by preparing him
health food messes. and rubbing his
rheumatism with chloroform lini-
ment?
Whichever way the case is de-
cided. one or the other is bound
to be a domestic martyr. General
ly both are made miserable. for Il
Is the privilege of the martyred
one 10 shrek so loudly about the
sufferings of being sacrificed on the
family altar that il is about as
comfortable to be the victim as IL
is to be the victor.
II Il Is a fatal folly for a man 10
marry a woman much younger than
himself. it Is even more deadly a
mistake for a girl to marry a man
much older than she Is. because
II h., -.
every disagreeable feature of the
marital relationship. and robs IT OF
most Of its ameliorating circum-
stances.
Girls are cruelty misled in this
matter. There is an old proverb
that teaches them that il is better
to be an old mans darling. than a
young mans slave. Many girls
marry old men in the fond illu-
sion that they will be pampered
pets. able to wind their doting old
spouses around their little fingers.
and that their grandpoppery hus-
bands will do nothing but sign
checks and urge them on to enjoy
themselves.
Never was there a more baseless
dream. 1t is true that the elderly
husband. IL he be rich. generally
does delight in dressing his pretty
young wife up like a circus horse
and parading her around now and
then in public. Also he provides her
with n fine establishment, for. after
all. a wife Is her husbands show
window where he can make a
splunge by displaying his wealth.
But that's about all the child wife
gets for her bargain. And she
doesn't get that II the old man is
stingy. as old men cry often are.
Some of the hardest working women