Evening star., 1942-08-25
Women Declare
That Silence Is
Not Golden
Protest Husbands
Refusal to Talk
At End Of Day
By Dorothy Dir

is quite q chore for me. When l am
with people other than home folks
I suppose I do work ut 1t little
harder and try to find things to say
when there isn't anything to talk
about. But this is because the So
cial order demands 1t, while ut home
am just my natural self.
This il the sore spot Of An other
wise satisfactory marriage. Ny wife
says I do not want to talk to her.
She says I have nothing to say to
her when We are alone, that never
tell her the news or anything that
happens In my business, and she
takes this rs an ofYense. Whatever
family misunderstanding we have,
we always get back to this one
thing. My lack Of conversation.
I've tried by the hour to explain
to her that I mean no disparage-
ment to her in not talking; that it's
just my nature. I can't help 1t. But
1t does not appease her. And mat
ters are growing worse. She is get
ting more definitely Of the opinion
that I am not companionable to her
because I will not talk. I'm afraid
our marriage is going on the rocks
Just over this one thing. What do
you suggest?
WORRIED HUSBAND.
Answer don't know. The rift
OF CAB Is q birthday present that
ones fairy godmother either does
or does not drop in ones cradle.
And there We are-with wagging
tongues or else we are tongue tied,
and there's nothing much we can do
| about it.
The trouble with the takers
Is that they never can think Of any
thing to say. It seems foolish to
them to remark that it's a pleasant
day when all can see for themselves
that the sun is shining and that the
temperature Is about right. Nor
do they think 1t worthwhile to re-
port that they met Mrs. Smith
on the street. when neither one Of
them cares rap whether they
never see Mrs. 8. again. Or why
relate that the 7:45 train was late
five minutes? OF that they had
corned beef hash for lunch? or re-
peat what everybody has already
read IN the papers? Why work
oneself to death to jabber when one
can pass into the silence and be
peaceful and contented?
Yet the one thing that women
seem to insist on in marriage more
than anything else is conversation,
and the pet grievance Of millions
OF wives Is that their husbands won't
talk at home. They say that they
didn't marry to spend their eve
nings sitting up with a stuffed shirt
that Is as tnarticulate as q store
dummy and that could be swapped
Tor . clam without their ever md
ing out the difference.
It's easy to get the women's point
Of view. They really do marry for
companionship, and you can't be
very companionable with . man
who merely grunts when you speak
to him, and it's bound to make any
wife feel that shes fallen pretty nat
herself as an entertainer If all the
response she gets to a, thrilling piece
Of gossip she's been dying all day
to tell him Is, "Uh- -huh." Also,
women like to talk. But converse
ton is . give-and- take game that
you can't play alone. You have
to have partner that will toss
the ball back to you.
Also, wives like to feel that their
husbands share their thoughts with
them and that they have . part
In their plans and ambitions, and
that their husbands consider them
sufnciently intelligent to be con-
suited about their business problems.
So it's blow to q wife's vanity when
a husband never talks anything
over with her and she knows no
more Of what he thinks and Is doing
than q stranger.
So 1t must be admitted that the
great silent man, although . pic
turesque figure in novels and the
movies, is considerable Of . bore
as q husband, for not many women
can get Z thrill from gazing across
q dinner table. day after day, at .
craven image that never opens Its
mouth except to put food In It, or
spending their evenings with hus-
band who does not even toss them
kind word now and then, as you'd
throw . bone to hungry dog.
The mems side Of the question is
that all day long they've had to
argue and persuade, try to sell
people things they didn't want, at
tempt to make themselves interest,"
ing and agreeable, and that they
are fed up to their teeth on talk
and want nothing 80 much as to
give their vocal cords a rest. That
Is why, when they come home at
night they retire behind their news
papers and their wives can't get
a syllable out Of them with cork
screw.
Some men claim that the reason
they do not talk at home is because
they cannot say anything without
starting something. Others insist
that they are silent because they've
never = chance to get 4 word In
edgewise since their wedding day,
while still others contend that the
least said the soonest mended. that
wives never forget and that II .
husband Is foolish enough to tell
his wife of any mistake he has
made he never hears the last Of 1t.
Be these things As they may.
there Is q dearth Of gay and agree
able conversation In the home and
the only solution Of the problem
is for the man who doesn't like to
talk to pick out = monologuist for
a wife.
Mustard m Meats