Evening star., 1943-10-05
Wife of Future
By Dorothy Dir

What about the marriage Of the
future? Is the modern girl going
to make a better wife than her
grandma did? A man whose own
marriage has not been happy thinks
that she will. He thinks that she
will be more interesting, more toll
Grant, broader minded, and do more
to keep her husband interested than
the women of the past did, and that
she will not consider that wife's
whole duty consists in being chaste
and a good housekeeper.
Well, of course, that remains to
be seen. Maybe the after the-war
wife, who has been a boss riveter
or ferried fighting fortresses across
the ocean, will make more desira-
BILE wife than the old-fashioned girl
who sat at home and sewed up a
seam. Certainly she will be diff
ferent, but whether men will prefer
the new variety to the old is open
to doubt. Myself, think they will
be like caviar and olives, culti-
waited taste. And most men like the
kind of cup cake to which they are
accustomed.
To begin with, she will be hard
boiled, and men have always pre-
ferred women who were so soft they
were not even set. There is no silly
tenderness. no fatuous romance
about the modern young woman, no
pitying tears. She isn't going to
weep over a weakened husband.
She will baWl him out. She is a ma
terialist and if her husband makes
good with her he will have TO bring
home the bacon.
She will never see him through d
romantic haze as a godling. In
stead she will have his number to
the last figure. Her vocabulary will
not consist of yes-yeses, 1t will be.
oh yeah? And somehow up till
now men have never seemed to care
very much for wives who sat in
judgment on them and who had a
closeup of all their faults and weak
nesses.
They wanted wives who were COM
forters and who would bind up their
bruised vanity with the salve of
their f1attery And they preferred
wives before whom they could pose
as oracles and who would quote what
John said as the final authority on
any subject, not wives who sized
them up and didn't find much in
them to cheer about. And somehow l
can't see husband feeling that he
has his hearts desire in a wife who
is better businessman or mechanic
/ than he is and who draws down a
bigger pay envelope.
One of the chief complaints that
men bring against their wives is
that they don't understand them.
Well, the neW-fangled wife is going
TO understand her husband aplenty
but I wonder If that is going to
make for peace and happiness In
the home? Friend husband isn't
going to be able to put over any,
thing on the little woman who has
worked shoulder to shoulder with
men and is wise to all of their little
tricks and manners. She has ac-
qulred a large and complete dia-
gram OF all of mems shortcomings
She knows all the old alibis about
going into conferences and out-of-
town customers and taking stock.
etc, etc. 1t will be folly for the
man to tell his wife, who has been
a private secreatry and done a lot
OF telephoning for her boss. that the
reason he didn't get home until 3
am. was because he was detained
on important business.
But will this make things pleas
anter for the wives and easier for
the men? Will it eliminate curtain
lectures? l trow not. 1t will only
furnish friend wife with facts on
which to base few remarks. in