WIVES WHO CHEAT THEIR HUSBANDS

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 81, 14 March 1931, Page 3

WIVES WHO CHEAT THEIR HUSBANDS

"WHAT IS YOURS IS MINE, AND WHAT IS MINE IS MY OWN" . . .

Ethel.. Mannin, Brilliant English qjj Married Lile TO W f article is going to. wake me w'lldjty unpopular with a lot of people':," The Uuth always does. But it does seem to'me high time it was written iti these days' when the grievances ©I women, past and.present, in zaMFi«ge aud to industry, are so much ventilated,. -1 am SO tired of hearing women' complain "that they ire not "paid" for being-wives. And if I were a .man I should be more than thfed of \t ■ < I have, the. complaint made by alls types and classes of women. Their argument is f tbat a general servant or- a housekeeper is paid,, a,-.wage, as well as given hoard and lodge, and 4ey '; reason, from,, that that men, ought tp nay the)r. wiyes wages just as tjhey would a servant. ~ And,, even;as. I this,' I'hear an invisible legion o£ crying out: "And why not?" GETTING JAM IT The answer- to that is a counterretort :.t'!'Why should, they2" . The wse who is not a wage-earner ij3 dependent on.her .husband for more than t^e-,"hoard and lodge!' a servant W9u\d get; she 13, denendept on hi»m for evep s,crap, of .clot,hiiig she wears, exer,y amusement. ..holiday, all the luxuries that mfake life, pleasant. If she wantsj.,the. wage status °t a tufctaiA, then-'she should he. prepared tp'fcecsp. hcersdlf An clothes, amusements," luxuries, as. a .servant does. AM i?y' luxuries I mean the little thinks wfiieh aren't strictly necessities, but which mqst of us fake for granted—the odd bunch of flowers, the odd quarter'of sweets or chocolates, •an evening at the pictures, eau-de-Cologne when one has a headadhe and some bulbslor the garden. What a wifeidoeain a house she does for herself as much as for her husband and children. I have heard wives grumble, *AU this bed-makvng and cooking and dish-washing." But it's h>r own he'd, ier own meals, her own;dishes'the housewife has to wash. Whereat the servant is making other pebple'S beds, cooking other, people's meaK? Washing other people's wishes. ~ -,. IDLE WIVES

When sfee,'ttijrns ou,t" a room and makes it look nice it is not she who i»" going to enjoy its brightness, and cleanness .and .pleasantness antL comfort; when a honaewifa does it s,he at least is allowed to enjoy the results oi her labours. „,-•;

\ fflfafa wife. iWM .begrudges the Effort shV4s.Lrequired to make in the j home is cheating. Jler, attitude is g|.ossly unfair. If wives wan,t, wages,, very. wellV let them have their fifteen shiVings or a pound a week like a servant,' but' let them keep them' skives; let them make an honest busi-, ile^aproposition, or it if they can't makf, a labour of love of it. **'¥here' fs another kind: of wife who cheats, too—the woman whose social st|tu& allows; her husband to be in ft/position to pay ; for someone to, take over ilii housework. The suburbs -ars iu|lol idle wives of this kind; the dkached and semi-detached villas ffi SlbWbia areiullof them. NQTH'NG PARASITES 3sbV'do men, fdlerate ttyeni? For the part tftey a family to*. justify their existence. Usual|y, there is only pne child; or tvo 'M -most; very often a cheap car takes the place of a child. isa child, the general servant" takes it out in the afternoon, or there, is a little—usually underpaid and-,overworked—nutseraaid. jrhese wcanenhave no professions, they dqn;t run tb&r 'WP hQ.nA es > don't-look .a,f|er ; .;ilkeir; ovfu children.; they #se "than parasites.. ' WbM it as "a man's .duty" tP "ke'eC" uis.v/ife; but why'should any mau'kW an i,dle wprann, wlip gives him nothing save perhaps' a little ],Uke-warm affection and oompauionA ;. " ' There is;altogether too much ot the attitude of wanting '" something for nothing on the part of altogether too many wives. And women cheat men in oth.ei'--than' these purely material waysji they cheat them out of their di-eamfe'aiid :fheiir ideal of home.life. • man has married for a childreii.' Tired of living in'"digs,"'tired of wasting his money on taking young to dances and the pictures, and getting no more than kisses or,a Ifttle frivolous out. pf if, lie marries with "a" dream "of getting something better out'of life, something real and permanent and worth-while. "Otitic .lUt^whVt'happens? His wife calls him "d.V.11." a&d "sjjuffy," and old-fash-ioned he has married to secure, these things. • Slie is aIV for scraping and saving to, buy, -a,,little car like the Smiths hexi, s6or—children ,are .and, a/, "tie." And if anyone told her that she. was

cheating her .husband she would ■ be highly indignant. She would protest that she loved him, n& that they got on splendidly together. , , • AH the same, she is cheating him pJE the best in home-life and treading on his dreams. And sooner or later the man realises how he has been cheated. , \ ■.» . ■ ■ ,■•. Then he eifher withdraws into himself and becomes bitter or morose, or wearily resigned, according to his temperament. Or he seeks elsewhere in life—at his club, in a friendship with another woman, in work, or in some hobby or . interest .which does not touch upon Ms the warmth and fullness of living which his home and marriage—through his wife—deny him. Many a wife, whose husband has finally left her, or ceased to love her, has tearfully protested: "But I've always been a good wife to him!" By which she means that she has darned his socks and aired his shirts and never fallen, in-love with anyone else. But it isn't good enough—as the wives who are honest and don't cheat, know. And as all men know, whether they are cheated or not. I I'm not, saying there aren't husbands, who don't cheat, too. But women, I think, are the worst offenders,' because, you see, for hundreds Of years men have .. been spoiling women and .allowing themselves to.be cheated. For generaUpns the feminine, attitude has been, not ''what is mine is yours and Wjba.t, is yours is mine," "but "what is yours is mine; and what is mine is my own!"