The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-14

I many . husband would get the jolt I of his life if he knew his wife's real | opinion of him. A slouchy man with | two days stubb1e of beard on his | face and spots on his clothes is as 1 illusioning and as unkissable an ob- ject to woman as any lady with | cold cream on her face and soiled kimono and curl papers Is to a man. It Is just as much a mans business ! to keep his wife fascinated as 1t IS ! wife's to keep her husband en- ] thralled.
 Why, then, is the loud pedal put on the wlfe's part in making a happy concern? Simply because. in the words of President Cleveland, 1t is a condition, and not theory. that confronts us," There are certain | amenities of domesticity that must be prscticed to make 1t a success. and men won't take the trouble and | make the effort. or even realize the | necessity of practicing them. so there Is always a hope that women will. Also, 1t is more important to | a woman to protect her home than it is to 8 man, for the homo means not only the love nest. 1t means her meal ticket as we'll. It means not i only her happiness. but her physical comfort.
 For a woman to say that she will not make an effort to make herself attractive to her husband Is to take a dishonest advantage of her situa- tion. She would have to make a able if she got along with her boss. She daily does things she doesn't feel like doing in order to get along in society. So it seems to me that it is an obligation of honor to try to please the one man who fs legally fG
 DOROTHY DIX.
 Dear Miss Dixi What ds you think of 6 man who does not allow his wife, who Is not yet "A years old. and who is healthy and strong and vivacious. to make any acQuaintances, or to so to parties, not even to oc- cupy herself at home or outside, but just to sit up at home with nothing to do and feel as if I would go crazy.
 My husband knew when We were engaged that 1 was used to a very active life, and to having my time well occupied. Now I have nothing Do you not think 1t Is dangerous for a woman to be absolutely idle. with nothing to do but to think and think, and build air castles during tho lone- some hours of a lonesome day2
 VERY TROUBLED.
 Answert I do, indeed, Troubled. It is true that Satan finds work for idle hands to do, and he invariably gets on the job when a woman has noth- ing to do. You have only to read the newspapers to have this proved to you. The women who figure in the scandals are the idle rich or the we'll to-do women who live in boarding houses, and who, having nothing with which to occupy their time. go out and hunt for fr0mh1a--au nd, find
 It is the idle women who are the victims of lounge lizards. and tea hounds, not the hustling business woman nor the busy housewife, who find the day all too short to do all the work that Is piled up.
 It is the women with nothing to do but think and think and think about themselves who are the neurotic in- valids who enrich doctors and fill sanitariums. It Is the idle women who have the leisure in which to vivisect themselves, who discover that their husbands do not understand them, and are not their soul mates. You never hear of the woman who has to cook and sew and patch. and scrub for half dozen children. wondering if her husband Is her real affinity or not.
 Work Is the salvation of women just as much as 1t is of men. And any husband who doesn't see that his wife has plenty of real. constructive work to do-work that counts and that she is responsible for doing: work that keeps her hands and her mind fully occupied-is not only do- ing her a deadly wrong, but he Is steering his matrimonial boat straight for the rocks. DOROTHY DIX.
 Dear Dorothy Dix: Please give a rule of thumb for telling when a man is in love. QUAERE.
 Answer: There Is just one infalli- ble rule, and that Is when a man pops the question and names the wedding day.
 All other signs are worthless. Put no faith in words, in oaths of devotion that are not backed up by a bona fide marriage license. A man may come to see you for seven years and mean nothing more than that he finds