The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-13
Men Get Some Wrong Ideas Of
 Marriage
By JULIA HOYT

\ not write an article on the sub iect of marriage, but here l am do- ing 1t. The reason? l happened to read an article on marriage, the other day. written by a man, which l thlnk needs an answer.
 The gentlemafi.s point of view about women and their lives dates back not to ten years ago, but to fifty years ago. I will quote some of his oOserva- tions:
 "A woman's idea of good time is to get herself lot of pretty new ana expensive clothes, go to smart ho.e' At an expensiye resort, ride along the boa rdwalk. daintily coiffured and mani cured. seeing what the other women are wearing. or else looking into the shop windows to see what they will be wearing next week"
 Shades of the past! Does he really believe that today that is what the average woman is thinking about and doing? I admit there are stll proDa- bly many of whom this is true, but deny. that it is true of the majority.
 He says further:
 ssThe wife's dominant idea is to have dinner served at a regular hour, so that everything will be piping hot and the cook in a good humor. To the husband it is vastly more important, or at least more interesting, to finish ms game of cards at the club, or to finger chatting with some of his men friends.
 The author does not go on to say, however, that probably that very man who has fingered at the club chatting with his friends will not only grumbfe but probably raise a decided row when he returns home to a cold dinner. As . matter of fact, probably the reason the wife is worrying about the din- ner and the cook, is not nearly as much on her own account as of the ob- vious displeasure she knows her hus- band is going to show on his return, If things are not exactly as he wants them to be.
 "With most girls" the gentleman continued, "matrimony is an escape, for if they have been engaged in business, and are economically independent. mar riage at least frees them from the monotony of office routine"
 Yes, to the monotony of perhaps cooking three meals a day, mending their husbands clothes and taking care of the children. That is great free dom!
 "A man, on the other hand, until his marriage, is a free creature. In his bachelor days his time and his income are entirely his own <. If $3 necktie strikes his fancy he goes and buys it.p
 May I ask about the girl who is economically independent working in .the morotony of an office routineT Does not marriage confine her ex- penditures and her hours for pleasure and recreation? Men often say that wives fail to realize how much more men give up than women, when they marry. consider this an extremely exaggerated statement. Let us just look at the average day of the man and woman who are married, and remem- her, we are taking now, not the long dead type of girl, who was confined to a narrow and dull home, but the girl of today, who has a life of interest and freedom open to her. The man, after he is married, goes to his office, as he always did, has lunch with his friends, and possibly stops in at the club or some meeting place with his friends on his way some. He also has many eve- nings during the year that he spends playing poker, or at so-called "busi- ness dinners" with his friends.
 The girl, after she is married, takes care of the home, perhaps cooks the meals. Not having her own money to use as she wants, she has to go to her husband for every cent; has to ask his permission to be able to go to a matinee with her friends. Later, when she has children, has to give up most of her recreations or pleasure to care for them. She stays at home all day, and in the eveing when. her husband comes home after having been out, his life being practically unchanged, he probably picks up a paper and reads all evening.
 must quote once more from this article written by a man:
 But alas for his freedom, under the illusion of love he lets some woman lead him to the altar. As he prom ises cheerfully to love, honor and cher ish her for the rest of his days, he little suspects what is in store for him At the wedding hour he is confident she is the most wonderful being on earth but sooner -or later, he wakes up. He realizes that he has sometimes before the honeymoon is over, he wakes up. He realizes that he has sold himself into bondage, that he is no longer a free man, that hence forth neither his time, his money, his tastes, his recreations, his habits, nor anything else that he has are his own."
 Is it possible that this is true measure of the average mans inteIIi- gence or strength of character. Is he poor little sheep being led to the slaughter by superior and forceful person in the guise of female? He knows nothing about marriage or what IS in store for him, but she knows all about it? Where the superior knowledge comes from I don't know, unless women are endowed with an amazing and immensely superior DOW CT of observation. What about the girl waking up?" Has she, no illusions about the man that will be broken Is the average man the perfect person that the girl thinks she is marryinR?
 / Of course, neither of them are, We are all human. But I deny that the average disillusionment is any great