The Washington herald., 1920-05-17
DANGER AHEAD, LADIES.

bands drive their own automobiles.
The court has ruled that it is no
crime for a man to beat his wife
when she laughs at him because
he stalls his engine. and can't MAKE
the pesky old thing go.
A Missouri doctor and his wife
recently went out for a pleasant
spin in their car. Presel.dy some
thing went wrong with the spark
plug. or the armature. or the feed
pipe. or the electric whatyou-may-
call-it or some of the other million
thingamajugs with which the little
insides of automobiles are so lib
orally supplied.
Anyway, the doctor got out and
put up the hood and poked and
pried around. and jammed this. and
jabbed that, without results. His
wife made fun of him. and he
dragged her out of the machine and
beat and kicked her. whereupon the
lady had him arrested, when the
ed. But instead of sending the hus-
band to Jail the Judge dismissed the
case, and handed down this mo-
mentous decision:
las a rule" said he, 'I do not in
any sense condone wife-beating. but
it appears that in this case the as
sailant suffered great provocation-"
This ruling OF the court calls at
tention to a strange phenomenon OF
masculine psychology which every
observant woman must already
have noticed. and that is the strange
effect that driving an automobile
has on a mans disposition. No one
has ever attempted to explain II, so
far as I know. but the effect OF sit
ting behind the steering wheel of
a car appears to be precisely that
Of the evil spirit which turned the
amiable and kindly DR.. Jekyl into
the cruel and brutal Mr.. Hyde. Any
kind of a car will do II. men ex-
hibiting the same curious metamor-
phosis of character whether they
are. driving Rolls Royce or Fords.
When automobiles were first in
vented they were called devil
wagons. Perhaps this was because
we had an intuitive knowledge of
the malign influence they were des-
tined to have upon the tempers of
men. and that, like some tabled
genii of old, they were to have the
power of changing lamb-like gem
tlemen into roaring lions going
about seeking whom they would
devour.
Whatever the reason, it is indis-
putahly true that the man driving
a car, and the man at home are two
entirely different beings. Sitting in
his own library, or on his own
front porch, a man may be the most
patient and long-suffering OF hu-
man beings. He may be thoroughly
housebroken, the kind of a man
who calls his wife mother" and
asks her advice, and lets her pick
out his clothes, and go with him
when he buys a new hat. The mo-
ment he takes his seat in a car,
however. he is a changed creature.
He who was a loving husband
and father, snaps and snarls at his
womenkind II they so much as ven
ture an opinion about the rate or
speed they are going. He who
never makes q move in business
without getting his wife's good.
hard, horse sense on the trade,
looks bloody murder at her II she
reminds him that a certain road is
shut OF for repairs, or that the
Blue Book says that you turn to
the left instead of the right to go
10 oQuoeQunk.
As for making suggestions to a
man who Is trying to diagnose the
case of a temperamentl machine
that has suddenly stuck, or enter
ing into pleasant and cheerful con-
versation with one who Is chang
ing the tire of a wheel-well. that
is something that no sane woman
ever does a second time. 1t makes
her shudder to her dying day to
recall the short, sharp. ugly word
that her erstwhile chivalrous and
devoted husband flung at her, and
the baleful look that accompa-
MED It.
That is why, when you see a car
in trouble by the roadside and
grim, perspiring man with damn"
written all over him tinkering with
IL, you will also observe that the
ladies of his party ere Garthering
wild flowers, or are gazing raptly
at the view, or otherwise commun-
ing in silence with nature instead
Of helping the toiler with his task
or sustaining him with their pres
ence. Safety first.
But just as the automobile has a
deteriorating influence on the char
acter of men. 1t has an Uplifting
one on that OF women. In a few
brief years the motor car has done
more to teach women self-control.
and patience and humility, and es-
pecially to hold their tongues, than
all the moralists and preachers have
effected in all the centuries. In