The Washington herald., 1921-10-03
COUPLES NEEDN'T
FIGHT BEFORE US,
WRITES MISS DIX
Married People Should
Quarrel Privately
At Home.
~ DOROTHY DIX.

One Of the most curious things in
the world is that so many married
people, who are otherwise well
hammered and observant Of the de-
cencies Of life, apparently choose
the most public places they can
find in which to have their fights.
Wherever they may happen to be
Is good enough battle-ground for
them. though their favorite places
for going to the mat with each
other are automobiles and small
lunch or dinner parties They do
not disdain, however. the Hobbies Of
theaters, or the decks of steam
ships, or summer hotel verandas, or
any other spot in which they are
sure Of an audience.
Probably no one is SO lucky A..
not to have taken motor rides with
husbands and wives on which the
quarrel between them waxed SO
fierce that 1t seemed bloody muir
der must be done, nor are many Of
us fortunate enough not to have
been forced to become the unwil-
ling referee in matrimonial fights
where both parties threw sports
W bhC anu VIZ ohA
gouged, and kicked, and used every
foul tactic.
And in such fracases we, who
were the innocent bystanders, were
the ones who suffered. We were
the ones whose sensibilities were
outraged, whose dignity was af-
fronted. We were the ones who
were humiliated. Not the dougaty
warriors, who retired battered and
bruised but with the air of those
who have come to the end OF a
pleasant day.
OF course we all know that the
theory that getting married makes
a man and woman two souls with
but a single thought. Is a myth. As
a matter of fact the difference OF
sex makes 1t impossible that any
woman and any man can ever think
exactly alike on any matter. or see
1t from the same angle. Nor can
any man and woman, born with
different traditions and ideals
agree on every subject II every
husband and wife were as much
alike as two peas in q pod they
W ouid bore each other to death.
Furthermore, as the general run
OF humanity does not tend to pro-
duce long-suffering Jobs and pa.
tient Griseldas, II Is inevitable that
husbands and wives should dis
agree in many things, and tina,
each should stick up for his or her
own opinion, and that there shoulc
be many a family argument. Like
wise, 1t is comprehensive that In
the heat of debate q man might
tell his wife that she had Jelly.
bean for a head. and a wife assure
her husband that he was solit
ivory from the shoulders UP, and
make other uncomplimentary per,
sonal comments. So much for that
Perhaps II married couples could
agree to disagree, and concede &c
each other the right to hold indi-
vidual views unmolested, II would
usher In the domestic millennium
Apparently II Is impossible for peo'
pie to rise to the height Of can
ming the family argument, but. thii
being the case, surely IL is not toe
much to ask that It should be kept
strictly for home consumption.
| None of US really desires to know
our neighbors' private opinions iol
their life partners. when Simp'
kins berates Mrs. Simpkins for hel
extravaganza and tells her that .sh,
is running him, or when Jonel
knocks his wife s cooking and com
pares it invidiously with his moth
er's; when Mrs. Simpkins retaliatei
by accusing Simpkins of being q
tightwad. and Mrs. Jones retort,
that II she doesn't know how 4
cook. it was because her father
made enough money to hire ser
wants. and that she never woult
have married as she did IL she hat
even dreamed she would be put
into the kitchen-why, we who arr
forced to listen to these disclosure.
OF family discord feel as IL We were
assisting to dig yp a fostering
corpse for the second postmortem
1t isn't our idea of spending 6
pleasant hour listening to a famil,
quarrel over things that don't con.
Germ US, and which we have neither
the desire nor the right to know
and whether we are host or gues
at the party we resent beint
trapped into such an unpleasant
situation.
Undoubtedly, the reason tina,
most husbands and wives tight 1,
because married life is monotonou.
and they get bored, and they fnt
that a good, stiff scrap puts per
and ginger into 1t. II they didn''
enjoy a rough and tumble tussl,
they would get along in peace, be.
cause no two people who are moi
driveling idiots can possibly liv,
with eeach other even twelve
months without finding out JUS
exactly how to step on each other'i
prejudices. and how to get arount
each others angles. For all of u,