The Washington herald., 1921-04-15
WIVES WHO MAKE Or MAR

WIVES WHO MAKE OR MAR
Among my acquaintances is a
brilliant young lawyer who has al
ready got q toe-hoId on the ladder
of success, and has 1t in him to
climb to the very top Of j. Three
years ago. when he got married.
/ he was q strong. husky chap. with
out a nerve in his body. Now he is
thin, worn-Iooking and jumpy as a
cat.
John looks SO badly What's the
matter with him?" asked someone
the other day.
starvation and overwork, and
lack of Sleep" replied q woman who
knows the secrets of Johns home
life. He Is married to a wife who
feeds him out of tin cans and paper
bags, and who makes him run her
errands. and sleep with a teething
baby at night. She says that the
home Is just as much his home as
Il Is hers. and the baby just as much
his baby as 1t is hers, and that after
she takes care of 1t all day, it's UP
to him to wrestle with II at night.
Il don't suppose that he's had a
single unbroken nights sleep since
the child was born. and he has to
get up early to make the coffee in
the morning, and wipe the dishes,
and help straighten up the dining
room after dinner at night. \And it's
all killing him. No man haslgot the
physical strength to be a lprofes-
sional man, and q cook. and a
nursemaid too"
when my husband has a big case
on" said the wife of a famous Grim
inal lawyer, Il cancel every engage
ment 50 that may stand guard at
home and sec that nothing annoys
or interrupts him, or takes him mind
OF his work. answer the tele-
phone myself so that he will know
that someone with judgment is TAX
ing care Of every call. l keep the
children in another part of the
house SO that their noise may not
reach him. l do not even speak to
him unless he addresses me first,
and unless the house was on fire |
would not enter his study, where
he Is giving the best that is in him
to working out his problems.
Il also see personally to the pre-
paration Of every mouthful that he
eats, SO that he may have the most
nourishing and easily digested food
AS for dragging him around to
parties at such a time. or burden
ing him with my own worries, or
! complaining because 1 have to stay
at home and he can't take me out
to receptions and theaters.
couldn't be such a fool. For 1 want
him to win his case. / am ambi-
tious for him. / want him to sue
coed, and that's my way of helping
him on"
And it's the only way" COM
mented a gray-haired woman who
was listening to the conversation.
Il am an old woman, and in my
long experience I can hardly recall
a single man who has succeeded
who wasn't either a bachelor. or
who didn't have a wife who made
him physically comfortable. and
who didn't look after her own end
of the matrimonial partnership.
And / have never known a solitary
man who got anywhere. who had
tcolic half the night, or do the
hVusoWOIN dl1cI ne gu hOuIc LIOul
his own days labor.
IT often think that IL women
realized just how much mans
ability to do things depends on his
having a peaceful, quiet. comfort
able home. the whole sisterhood OF
wives would suddenly be turned in
to Patient Griseldas. and blue-rib-
bon cooks For we wives want the
price of success. We want our men
to bring home the bacon, and We
haven't enough sense to see that
we are like the trainers who pre-
pare the champion for the fight.
Take the women, for instance.
who chooses her breakfast table as
the spot on which to fight over with
her husband every subject on whicn
they disagree. and to impart to bim
every unpleasant piece of informa-
tion in the domestic repertoire. The
row ends ip the usual drawn bat
tile. and the man goes to his work
with his mind surging with bitter
and angry thoughts. that he has
to use all his power of concentra-
ton to push aside. before he can
give his attention to other affairs.
Half Of his brain is worrying
over his troubles at home. and he