Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-15

others acquaintance, to discover new
traits, thoughts and tastes. man
and woman can live together life
time and never know each others true
selves, of all of those selves.
ION the other hand, a man and
woman can be married 80 years and
every day find new things to be inter
ested in. / speak mind you, from ex'
perience."
We wondered If Mr.. Steuer's son
and his two happily married daugh'
| tiers had been insured against pitfalls
| by some special line of early teaching
| But their daddy says 1t is not the case
mot in the usual meaning, ne
says, "of teaching them about sex an!
the so-calied facts of life. But 1 dlo
tell my girls that some day they
would hear birds singing in the air
when there were no birds there, and
flowers springing up around their feet
| when they were walking on city pave
ments. and that these lovely phenom-
ena would mean love! And that then
they must study the person who made
life rosy and make sure they knew
him and that he was the right one,
| Also, / taught them marriage was oil
ferent from walking pink clouds, with
rosebuds swaying and birds singing.
what did you tell them to do when
the birds stopped singing?' we asked
him.
Told them to make birds! When
the first illusions CO." he answered,
still in that quiet voice of his, literally
voice with a smile, lis the time to
begin manufacturing new ones. And
it can be done, provided you really
care.
Indifference is mostly habit. We
fall into it because we don't take
trouble to be interested. When wife
fails to ask her belated husband where
he's been, that's a bad sign--sign of
Indifference, either real or feigned.
Even If she doesn't feel interested, she
should act SO.
eff a man thinks his wife doesn't
care where he has been, he gets dis
couraged, reckless or (which Is worse)
Indifferent. If husband never looks
at his wife's new dress, or the way
she does her hair, or some new orna.
ment she has bought for the home
she gets discouraged or reckless or in.
| different. She will find some one whe
does look at her.
Believe me, no husband worthy OF
| the name, no wife. who is a real wife
| is Indifferent to what the other does
| Underneath the surface there in al
| ways jealousy--there should be. With
out jealousy, without the desire for
exclusive possession, there is no love
But even then there can be friend.
ship"
Mr.. Steuer thinks that closeness and
intimacy of modern life has lot to
do with disastrous marriages. The
spirit may be willing. he thinks, to
nf low h.,k a.
cannot stand lone room, one bath
room, one set Of everything common
ly used and no reticence at all in
using them.'
Too much money and leisure also
destroy married happiness. Com
petitive extravaganza" is an evil to
be guarded against with every
nerve and faculty. 1t Is harder nova
| days to make go of marriage than
1t used to be when life was simpler
and less rushed.
he, ''the $25,000-a-year stage of living
Girls who marry are not satisfied
with Less And young men must be
! helped by their parents. This puts
| everybody into feverish pressure of
earning and spending, and we lose
our sense of values. Why, we are
| too busy making big livings to attend
| to our laws.
What kind of laws have we? Look
| at our State laws governing mar
riage and diyorce--frightful!" j, AT
| last Mr.. Steuer's voice lost it's velvet
and took on aedecided edge. .In one
State a man Is living decently with
| his wife. IL they cross the State
| line a couple OF feet away he Is an
| adulterer and shea sinuing woman
/ And think of certain States deriving
a large part of their income from