San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-09-04
Listen, World!
Sulkers
BY Elsie Robinson

The Little Gray Man sat on the
edge of his chair and fused with his
hat. He wanted to tell me about his
wife, yet didn't want me to think that
he was complaining about her. The
Wife, it seems, was quite a wonderful
girl. The most wonderful girl in the
world. So sensitive. So refined.
One of those Big Thinkers. And nat
urally you couldn't expect a person
like that to stand all those little nag
ginS worries that other people didn't
mind.
Why things he'd never notice cut
The Wife right to the heart. He
himself, was guilty of many of those
offenses. Before he knew it he'd dc
some fool thing-never gave it a
thought. And then he'd realize that
The Wife was all upset again. No,
he didn't blame her. 1t was all his
fault. But didn't 1 know of some
way he could make her understand
that he didn't really mean to hurt
her?
How did she oct? Well, that was
the worst part of it. She didn't act
up at all like some women did, cry
ing and taking on. She just shut
up and didn't speak for hours, some
times for days. He supposed that
was because she was sensitive. But
often he almost wished she'd take 1t
out in tantrums. 1t would be easier
to bear.
Yes, tantrums are much easier to
bear than the Silent Simmering OF
the Sulker. For that's what the Lit
tie Gray Mans wife was-a Sulker.
Neither sensitiveness nor intelligence
lay behind her puckered mouth and
stoney eye. A plain case of cussed-
ness-that's what allied that lady.
You've met 'em, Pal. Our homes
and offices are full of them-those
soreheads who carry their fostering
hearts around for days in plain sight,
refusing to say what's biting them
but managing to look like Christian
Martyrs. And somehow making you
seem responsible for all their suffer
ings.
In all probability the trouble arises
over some perfectly trivial matter. You
may have dropped your ashes on the
best rug again. Or asked them 10
stay ten minutes over" time to finish
a letter. They'd make themselves ap-
pear ridiculous if they busted right
out in q temper over such a trifle.
But by keeping their mouths shut and
looking unutterable, they magnify thu
offense into Important Crime. And
YOU'RE the goat.
The Silent Sufferers are usually
feminine. This is not because there
is more cusSedness inherent in femiu-
inc than in males. Quite otherwise.
The Masculine Griever would also
flourish were it not for the excellent
institution of the Swift Kick. Billy
generally gets the sulks pounded out
of him before he's been playing TWEEN
ty,four hours on his first baseball
nine. But Bessie encounters no such
discipline. There's very little direct
action in her feminine world. She
starts sulking with excellent results,
when she first toddles. 1t is a most
satisfactory go-getter process. 1t
combines the maximum of trouble.
raising with the minimum of personal
discomfort. Unless acutely discour-
aged, she's apt to keep it up until it's
time to send around the lilies.
l think the reason we tolerate Sulk.
ers so long is that we seldom size
up their conduct in the right light.
They put up such a convincing pose
of being representative souls that they
fool us. As a matter of fact, they
are not any more sensitive than anv
other human mammal. They're merely
more selfish and stubborn, more bent
on having their own way.
SULKING IS SIMPLY ANOTH.
Err FORM OF DOMINATION.
THE SULKER is A SILENT
BULLY.
It's a pity that we can't treat adult
Sulkers as we treat Juvenile ones. We
spank children for sulking. This is
hardly fair. The odds aren't even. The
sulking child should be disciplined, but
in some fairer way. BUT IF
THERE'S EVER A VOTE CAST
FOR SPANKING ADULT SULK
Frs, COUNT ME IN!
No punishment could fit the crime
more perfectly, and I'll be willing tC
stand an extra three cents taxation il
they'll install MUNICIPAL SPANK
ING MACHINES FOR SULKING
Copyright, 1928, King Feature Syn. Inc