The Washington herald., 1921-06-17


band she adores, because she will
not humor his little weaknesses.
And she realizes the situation and
is breaking her heart over 1t. but
she will not change her tactics
There's nothing fundamentally the
matter with the man, except thar
he is a little too human. He has
made money a little too rapidly, pen
haps. and perhaps he Is little TO
pIeasure-Ioving. but he Is the kind
est and most generous soul allve'
and one of the sort who wants
everybody to like him. and pat him
on the back. and share in his good
times.
That type of man can no NOR.
live without the accompaniment OF
the glad hand than flower can
live without sunshine. He Is as
naively vain as a child. He wants |
to be told at every turn how good |
looking and wonderful he is, and
he turns as inrinctively toward
those who feed him on sugar plums
as the needle turns to the north |
pole.
The wife understands the ele-
mentary principle of masculine psy-
choIogy that every girl baby Is
taught in the cradle, and that Is. that |
vinegar never catches the male ny. |
Also, she is perfectly well aware |
that il il Is true that every man
has a sweet tooth, her husband was
born with a double row of them, but |
in spite of her expert Information
on the subject. she has clamped the |
lid down hard and fast on the candy |
box and refuses to hand him out
even a single bonbon.
Il will not minister to my hus-
bands vanity" she says with viz
tuous air, Il will not pander to his
weaknesses. Nobody realizes more
than / do what a noble nature he
has, but he has faults that / feel il
my duty to correct.
Which she does in season and our
Of season. When he comes to her
beaming with joy over some big
trade he has just put through, she
drenches his enthusiasm with ice
water by telling him anybody else
could have done IL, and that il only
takes a mediocre intellect to make
money. anyway. When other peo-
pie praise him, she points out t.
him that they are trying to work
him. and that the men and women
he thinks are his friends have
motive in their professed pleasure
in his company.
In all the husbands little world
there is Just one discor6ant voice.
Everybody else he knows tells him
how clever and marvellous he is,
except his wife The criticisms he
has to listen to come from his wife.
Everybody, so far as he knows, adj
mires him, except his wife. It's
only when he goes home that he
finds a poor, miserable worm OF me
dust he is.
The result is exactly as one would
expect it to be. The easy-going,
good-natured fellow, who likes to
be joIlied along. is following the
line of least resistance and drifting
farther and farther away every day
from his stern mentor. He finds
business excuses for being away
from the home where he hears un-
pleasant things, and he basks IN
the society of women who do not
feel any obligations to remind him
Of his shortcomings.
So the wire-~Sees her husband
turning from her to women who
have not a 1.-THE of her looks, or
brilIiancy. And in the end she IS
going to lose out, because it avails
YOU nothing to hold all the trump
cards, unless you know how to play
the game.
OF course. from a highly ethical
standpoint. the wife, in this case, is
right not to initiate her husbands
ego by tanning it with hot air. but
she ~ dead wrong from practical
point of view.
As Mr.. Cleveland airily observed
about something else. in matrimony
IL is a condition, and not theory
that confronts us. and what either
a man or a woman most desires, he
OF she is mighty apt to get. either
at home OF elsewhere. Especially
men.
A woman is more or less depend |
emit upon her husband for her mental |
and spiritual pabulum. but no man
is dependent upon his wife. II he
desires to amuse himself and his
wife won't play with him. he has
no difficulty in finding plenty of
sportively inclined ladies who are
willing 10 divert themselves in his |
society. II he likes to be fattered |
and joIlied, and his-yife declines to |
be a salve spreader, there are legions |
of sirens with honeyed tongues who |
are just waiting for chance to sing |
TO him.
II he likes to talk about his bust |
ness. and his ambition. and his wife |
yawns in his face, and tells him |
that she thinks he might leave the |
horrid old shop behind him when he |
comes home. and not bore her 10 |
death with II. there is sure to be
some other woman. in his Office, or |
just around the corner. who will |
understand and sympathize with him !
and make him think she is having |
the time of her life while he mono |
loguesN along about his plans and |
dreams.
Oh, no man has to be lonesome.
No man has to listen to curtain lee
lures. No man has to stand meekly |
around and let his wife apply cold |
cloths until she takes the swelling /
out of his head. And, more partic- |
ularly. no man has to listen to dis
agreeable home truths when he's
got his pocket full of money. There
are too many women who know the |
job. and are experts in working men
for that.
Therefore. every woman who has |
q husband whom she wants to keep
had better face this fact, that she's
got TO play her husbands game. II |
he Graves amusement. she must play
with him. "r some other woman will.
II he is vain. she must jolly him, or
some other woman will II he wants
understanding and companionship,
she must chum with him, or some /
other woman will. And she must 1
always beat the other woman IN n