Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-09-05

foreign critics went mad over the So
called revelation, the truth about wom-
ans nature craving for love, her re-
volt against the staid, middle aged hus-
band, her regret that she had been so
prfm and respectable!
French. in fact all continental critics.
always are greatly excited over any
declaration that women have passions,
as well as men. The doll-like girl Of
mid Victorian literature was a fragile
creature with wasp waist, who tainted
at stated intervals. OF course, she
loved and married. IN a prim, precIs sc
manner, and refrained from any analy-
sis OF her spouse, or searching study
OF her own state. She was a wife
that status should suffice any respecta-
BILE female.
After these wooden creatures came
some of the Scandinavian heroines, who
revolted from their husbands and from
marriage, and left their children, be-
cause they realized they never had been
trained to rear children properly--left,
and went out into the world.
The clarion note Of feminine emnnci-
patton which Ibsen's Dolls House"
struck like the first gun fired at the
Battle OF lexington reverberated rou nd
the world When Nora shut the door
OF her house and went out into the
night alone,' she fired the first gun!
On the modern stage, good many
wives size up their husbands and specu :
late about them. or regard them with
quiet irony. Such plays as Mrs. Fiske
manages 10 select usually have such q
married pair. The woman is mildly
cynical. but makes the best of a bad
bargain, apparently with the philoso-
ply, "All men are impossible: / guess
may as well tolerate mine" Her
comedy last season showed a wife who
bad four children and a huge country
nome. but possessed q husband who
did nothing but make millions of dol
lars. Such a mountain OF money proved
absolutely uncomfortable.
1t Is indeed a dangerous age for a
man, any age when his wife begins to
enalyze! To question the existing or
DER OF things, including matrimony, is
In the novel by the Scandinavian
woman, Karen Michaelis, the heroine
was at the turning point OF life, when
age Is supposed to come on apace, and
the hot blood of youth to subside.
The woman has led the stupid con-
ventional existence of the ordinary.
well-to- do matron In all countries. She
has raised her children. or never has
had any-it is immaterial-and is about
~ 'iHh luto Ola age, Wnen she sud-
denly awakens into a realization that
life. glorious, pulsing life, has passed
her by. She has been a dutiful and
vtrtuous wife. listened to the man's 9
same stories and stilted statements, and
prtsgish declarations, az IL he were
Supreme Judge, or a king or a god, for
2 quarter of century. There Is moth :
Ing the matter with him, in the ac-
cepted sense Of the term. He has quail
ifed as a good provider," a decent.
law.abiding citizen. who stays home OF
9 night, refrains from dissipation, and
does not firt with women. He Is in
deed a model husband.
4. The only thing the matter with him
u that he is wholly and utterly impos-
stble to endure. She opens her eyes
and looks at him. She opens her ears.
and hears dis platitudes; his II am
holier than thous" his SNUG decisions
on all subjects. Wives may come snd
wives may 60 in his life, but his con-
eeit remains unpierced, his self-com-
placency undimmed. She decides she
will leave him-amicably. Her friends
are scandalized, for Is he not a model
husband?