The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-17

It would be interesting to know how many estransed husbands and wives began drifting apart with the advent of the first baby.
 Children are popularly supposed to be the tie that binds man and wom- an indissolubly together in body and spirit in marriage. Often this is true, and in their love and hopes and ann, bitions for their children husband and wife literally do become two souls with but q single thought, two hearts that beat as one" Also very often for the sake of their children men and women endure a marriage that they have come to loathe and hate, and are bound together like pris- oners whose balls and chains clank at every movement they make.
 Unhappily, children's hands do not always draw husbands and wives clos CT together. They just as often push them apart, and when this happens it is Oftener the ,woman's fault than the mans.
 Few men prefer their children above their wives, but for the great majori- ty of women their husbands exist only as stheir children's father and as pur- veyors to their children.
 The firsteAabx, definitely and for all time pnsl hei husbands nose out of joint. Uln that time husband has been king o domestic realm. His wife has pt her prettiest clothes and adorned hlQself for him. She has been chum and piaymate. She has exerted herself Co amuse and entertain him. She has looked out for his com fort, has seen, that he. had the best of everything, and he has revelled in the bliss of having the center of the stage and the spotlight turned always upon him.
 Then, arrives the baby, and from having been the worshiped head of the house, husband finds that he is noth- ing, with no one so poor as to do him reverence. S
 Wife. no longer cares. what sort of d figure she cuts in his eyes, or whether he admires her or not. She looks sloppy around the house because the baby pulls at her Y clothes and musses her chiffons When husband wants to go out at night she refuses because she cant leave the baby, and H terrupts the most thrilling part of a play to ask him if he thinks the nurse has. forgotten to give the baby his bottle.
 There are no more chatty evenings at home, because she is off worship ing before the baby's shrine She quits reading anything but baby books, end her conversation gets to be about as stimulating as sterilized milk She is too busy with the baby to show her husband any of the little attentions that. men so love-. or to see even that he has the things he likes to eat
 There are thousands of homes which are run exclusively for the children. There is never any food on the table except just the simple things that children can eat. There is never any conversation except about the children. The wife never manifests the slight est interest in her husband, or shows him any affection. All of the tender ness, the caresses, the sympathy and understanding is lavished on the chil- dren. It is the children's likes and dislike and pretndices that are remen- bered and catered to.
 There are thousands of women who begrudge every cent that a husband spends on himself because they want the money to throw away on the chill dren. They will nag their husbands into giving up smoking so that they can buy the baby real lace cap. There are thousands of women who literally work their husbands to death that their daughters may go off to finishing