Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-06-30
NO CURE FOR NAGGlNG
WOMAN, SAYS AUTHOR
BY MARGUERITE MooERS
MARSHALL
Copyright, 1920

NEW 4ORh.-'Ine naSSlnS WOH-
an does more harm than vamps, lady
murderesses and all other unpleas-
ant females put together. 1 have
encountered her in every country l
ever visited in fifteen years of al
most complete travel, including six
Journeys around the world. Many
years of fascinated observation have
convinced me that any one is a fool
who submits to the devastating In
fuence of the nagging woman. 1t is
spiritual suicide. personally
wouldn't live with her fifteen min
utes. 1 have seen, in the course of
my life and travels, sickness, sorrow,
murder, suicide, insanity, death and
a few other beautiful results of nag
gingw
The broadside is launched by C.
Kay Scott, novelist, essayist, editor,
critic and globe trotter, whom ask
ed TO tell the truth. the whole truth
and nothing but the truth about the
nagging woman. The reason 1 went
cozi1y domiciled in a charming cot
tage among the pines of Buzzards
Bay. Mass, is because in his recent
ly~ published clever first novel,
blind Mice" he has drawn perhaps
the most perfect type of nagging
woman to be found in fiction. His
Mamie Merwent is an exact illustra-
realism: THE individual caught in
the fact"
Therefore, 1 thought that this tall,
athletic man of letters, with the
piercing blue eyes that are such a
contrast to his deeply tanned, rugged
fine oE prize domestic pest, but
might-just possibly-suggest some
methods of controlling or circum-
venting her.
Il want to put myself on record at
the very beginning" Mr.. Scott as
sure me, in his slow. softly modu-
lated voice, "as not saying that all
naggers in one way or another. 1t is
the eternal resource of inferiority.
Some men nag, and 1 hate a male
nagger worse than female nagger.
Hates Those She Adn1ires
This is the nagging woman: She
usually hates the people she most
admires. She welcomes trouble be-
cause it brings her into notice. She
expects to receive in exactly the
same proportion hat she fails to
give. She decries herself because
the object of self-depreciation is two
fold: First, to disarm others by
throwing yourself on their mercy;
second, TO bolster up your self-re-
spect by compelling them to deny
your shortcomings. The same prin-
ciple underlies the fact that it al
ways gives the weak person the
greatest delight to discover in others
the faults of which she is most con-
scious in herself. Consequently, she
continually brings out the worst in
others, rather than the best. And
so the jangling goes OH until the
self-respecting party wishes to COM
nit murder
rs the nagger born or made?" I
asked Mr. Scott.
''Both!" he answered promptly.
Born that way, and encouraged by
the experiences of childhood. Nag
when it succeeds it gives the chnd
a taste of power. She has. produced
a result. So she does it again.
las she grows older, she hopeless.
ly attempts to retain by the use of
threats and prosecutions the atten-
ton that no longer comes by virtue
of her attractiveness. And the long
er she is married, the more she
counts on the inconvenience and en-
barrassment it would mean to her
husband to leave her. Likewise, the
less attention she can secure from
him the more she demands from her
children, and so the vicious circle
grows wider"
done to or with herr" ! asked the
author of Blind Mice" published.
by the way, by George H. Doran
company. Il have known men of real
phySlcal anu IHlellSCtud4 Nl6oA ~
give up perfectly harmless pleasures
and friendships because of domestic
nagging. 1 have asked them Why
they did it, and they said that they
simply couldn't live in perpetual
row. In all your travels, have you
found no husband who could coz
with the nagger?"
Mr.. Scott shook a gloomy, negati 1e
Everybody is helpless" he OBJ
served; men especially so on ac-
count of sex chivalry. They cannot
contemplate personal violence on a
creature physically weaker than
they and so, until they are ready to
break away forever anything in the
world seems a small sacrifice for
the sake of peace. During my hunt
ing trips in Africa l feared mosqul-
toes and vermin more than lions, ele-
plants or pythons.
Big Men at Her Mercy
The bigger and better the man
the more he is at her mercy. He is
out of his element because little
natures cope with petty problems
better than bigger people. 1t should
not be so, puJ !, is. If the brave per-
son could adopt the methods Of the
coward he would be invincible--but
he can't. His strength initiates her
she will forgive anything else more
easily And so clashes arise hour
by hour and day by day"
We spoke of men of different ma
tionahties and their respective reac-
lions to the nagger. suggested
that possibly the Englishman, with
his legal permission to beat his wife
provided the stick be no bigger than
his thumb-might cope with naggin
more successfully than the Amer
lean.
~ think he does worse" Nr. ssstt