Newspaper Page Text
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CONFESSIONS OF A WIFE
JIM EDIE iS VERY SERIOUS
(Copyright, 1915, by the Newspaper Enterprise Association.)
"You see, Margie," said Jim, who
seemed to be in -a very communica
tive mood, "ideals and reality in
friendship among men are quite dif
ferent as ideals and reality in every
other known realm that the mind can
know and the heart enter."
"Goodness, Jim, are you almost
poetical?" I exclaimed, rather flip
pantly, for some way, little book, this
serious Jim was almost a stranger to
me and I did not care to get into a
serious discussion with him or any
one else just then.
"Didn't know I could be anything
else ihan commonplace, did you,
Margie?", asked Jim, with a look
which almost seemed one of pity for
himself.
"In wonder if it ever occurred to
one of you women that after all a
man is a kind of a lonely creature.
"Few men have the power to ex
press themselves as have women and
consequently lack that safety valve
which gives woman a chance to get
it out of her system and begin anew
every little while. We men are shy
and while we are not always saying,
as you are, 'You don't understand
me,' yet we seldom show you our
real selves for fear of being misunder
stood. "Margie, I have seen husbands and
wives exchange looks of love, hatred,
toleration, contempt, pity every
thing but understanding. And I have
felt much sorrier for the man in the
case, for there is something within
which forever keeps him from being
a 'cry baby.' One of the irrevocable
creeds which a boy learns early is 'I
believe in myself as the stronger sex
and as such I must take my medicine
without making a fuss about it."
"But, Margie, a man is just as
much that 'human being' you femin
ists are all talking so much about
lately as is a woman. His soul, as
well as his body, needs food; yes,
however rough or tough he is, he
sometimes is starving for under
standing. The part of him that will
shed tears at a play or hiss the vil
lain and show the stoical demeanor
of a red Indian when his wife cries
over a fancied wrong makes him
more or less alone all his life.
"Margie, women weep and break
their hearts because no man is able
to live up to their ideals of him, and
men curse and grow cynical and cold
because no woman will try as hard to
understand them as she does to make
them over to her impossible standard.
"The whole thing, Margie, is lack
of understanding the lack of inclin
ation for understanding. Instead of
the compromise platform each one is
trying to place the other on 'his or her
platform built after his or her pet
theories.
"Neither one seems to reailze that
perhaps he or she is only hanging on
to that platform by the skin of his
own or her own teeth."
"Jim, I am beginning to think you
would make a model husband."
"No, I wouldn't, Margie, for I could
not say to my wife what I have said
to you. When I say it to you it is
impersonal; if I said it to my wife it
would be one of those way down deep
in the heart things that no man can
say to anyone about himself.
"Sometimes, Margie, you see peo
ple who have been married years and
you instinctively know they have
found the best in life
"Their placid faces show a calm
content, but if you look closely you
will find on both faces the scars of
misunderstanding, of hurts and other
emotional disturbances. Like that
beautiful actress who has been mar-
ried so many times that she has
found out nothing is worth a tear
who acknowledges that she has shed
gallons of them before she has found
it out, they have come to the realiza-
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