The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-05-20
Personality
Main Factor
of Woman

In spite OF the fact that women
themselves are not supposed to
know their own minds, there Is one
man who believes he knows what
thew want IN this world. He has
written a r.-vel II which he points
out this fundamental truth. His
name Is Ro5ert Mcclure and the
book is "A Fable for Wives" Dou-
bleday. Doran). story OF married
people. Of the more prosperous
classes in those mad years just be-
fore the depression when money
came easily and went fast in the
eternal scramble for pleasure.
What women want out Of life Is
what we all want-what Galsworthy
once called that secret sense Of
self-importance without which none
Of as can bear to live Only most
women want to count for something,
to matter in a personal relation
with individuals. For them the per-
sonal human factor takes prece-
dence. as it doesn't with man. over
any larger Identification with the
universe or the general scheme OF
things. OF course. there are the
women with careers. Yet they TOO
want love in their lives.
Love Isn't Everything
But it isn't enough to say that
love means everything to a woman,
continued the man whom Booth
Harrington has predicted viii go far
as a writer. Women want love,
but they want something over and
beyond love: the sense of mattering
greatly to the life or lives Of those
most dear to them.
And how can it be otherwise,
when women must ever be the CIV
ers and the guardians Of human
life? Let them develop any other
talent or capacity they will, they
will still be biologically conditioned
as primarily concerned with the
personal relationships and the hu-
man element in life.
"Of course we American hus-
bands and writers would be the last
10 deny that we live in Amazonia.
We know all about that impression
the foreign visitor receives; We know
how he gets it. We've had Amer
lean women make a bit Of a fuss
over us. We've been through all
that. but now we think that the
visiting European writer has had
his say and it's high time some
one stood up for the American hus-
band"
The American husband, according
to Mcclure. is not an object Tor
either pity or sympathy.
Not the Kites Tail
In his new book, the author has
depicted what ne believes is a fair
~ typical young American husband,
engaged in business and belonging
to the more prosperous class, yet
neither a Rabbit nor a money
grubbing worm.
Yes. I'll defend the American
husband" repeated Mcclure, but
not as an object for sympathy nor
pity. He doesn't get either from
me. He's married to the American
woman and she's one of the worlds
best wives - when her husband
knows how to bring her out. Usu-
ally he does bring her out and she
brings him out. He isn't the tail OF
a kite by any means. Nor is he less
cultivated than his wife, though ne
reads less so-called serious fiction.
He simply prefers a different diet.
Probably the American husband
has less literary and artistic cult
walton than Europeans, but that
only is a way of saying that Amer
lea is the land Of mass education
and the average man, and that our
best-educated people are still less
numerous and less well-educated
than Europe's best. Anyhow. it's all
rot about the role of the sexes be-
ing reversed in America-and if the
American husband doesn't know
how to be a lover to his wife, how
did we ever come by that racial
vitality which impresses Europe 50
much?"