Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-03-07
Dorothy Dix Says
Men Resent Marriage Because
They Fear Loss of Freedom.

w YHAT do most men resent
M about matrimony? Well,
W there are plenty Of places
where the domestic yoke
gals man and gives him q pain in
the neck, but I think the thing he
dislikes most about marriage is the
sense it gives him OF being bound.
Somehow the knowledge that he Is
no longer free to roam Awakens the
wanderlust in the bosom of the most
plodding. unadventurous, sit-by-the-
fire man. 1t is the call of the wild
that is all the more alluring because
he knows that he has locked himself
up in his doghouse, tight and fast,
and cannot break out and run with
the pack again.
No matter how happy a marriage
is, it is still bondage. No matter how
beautiful home is, it Is still cage.
No matter how good a wife is, or how
much her husband loves her, she Is
still his keeper. The married man
has forfeited his personal liberty. He
can no longer come and go as he
pleases. He cannot choose his friends.
He cannot dress as he pleases. He
cannot even eat what he likes.
He has to punch the home time
clock on the dot or else the little wom-
an wants to know what about 1t. And
If he stays downtown to play poker
with the boys, or takes an old girl
friend out to lunch he has to perjure
his soul inventing q lie that will get
by with his wife. It isn't that the
average man wants to do anything
wild and outbreaking. 1t is just the
feeling that he is bound hand and foot
and can't do as he likes that gets upon
his nerves.
THE next thing that men resent
about matrimony is having to
support their families instead of
spending their money upon them
selves and their own pleasures. OF
course, men will rise and with one voice
deny this, but it is true, nevertheless,
as is amply proved by the fact that
the great majority Of husbands row
over the household bills and make
the first Of the month an ordeal al
most as much to be dreaded as the
judgment day Of their wives.
This is but nature, for few Of US
are 80 altruistic that we really enjoy
sacrificing ourselves for others, and
80 1t is no wonder that it inks q man
to have to buy his wife q new evening
dress when he needs an overcoat, or
that he turns sour when he has to
give up q fishing trip to have little
Johnny's adenoids out. II only wives
and children could grow feathers and
live on air there wouldn't be so many
grumpy married men making WISE
cracks about marriage.
1t may be said that whether men
are married or single they spend most
Of the money they make on women
anyway, so what difference does it
make to them whether they spend it
on paying for certified milk for the
baby or opening champagne for q
chorus girl? But it does make 4 Diff
ference. Lots Of it. Because in one
case . man feels that he Is getting 4
run for his money, and In the other
case 1t just goes for = plain duty, and
there Il no kick in that. That is why
many . man who was q generous lover
makes . tightwad husband.
4 + X 4
THE next thing that men resent In
marriage Is the nagging Of their
wives. A grown-up man who has sum-
ctent intelligence to make q living
and win respectable place in the
world simply loathes having his wife
treat him Is If he were an imbecile
child who had not sense enough to
know how to cross = street without
being told to watch out for the auto
mobiles or Judgment enough to be able
to pick out his own food. Also It
makes every man fighting mad to have
his wife harp forever on the same old
theme and never to b able to say .
thing once and let It rest at that.
~ q 49, AaAA A~~sV< A. AAsnn,