Show I I THE FEMININE I II I VIEWPOINT I Copyright 1923 New York Evening World Press Publishing Co Sy By MARGUERITE MOOERS WOOERS MAR MAR- Lovers are like hairpins They are always falling failing out But a girl seems to have an ann ana she ahe can do almost anything she I pleases with one The trouble with some somo of our most moot persistent and consistent sinners la is lathat lathat that they are equipped with New England England En En- gland land consciences u tiu-u generation which Insist on their doing doln wrong as asa asa a II matter matter- of ot p principle If It It as rumor runs girls who bob I their hair are not being hired why shouldn't men who become bald be Beginning with the boss I Half Halt a a. couture is surely better than none I When a a. woman tells teUs a tL nan Mian that she I has haa done everything in the tha world for tor him she usually means that ehe she has kept his nose to the grindstone stone scared rr Ct most or of his men mends and three times a a. a clay aay ay demonstrated her abilIty ability abil abil- ity fly as a rate cook That a a. hen reveals the existence of ot other her egg gg through pride Is one ono of the beneficent provisions of ot nature Another Another An An- other Is that tho same earne motive makes make a husband reveal hs all but accomplished d deceit elt If It each of ot them would I cut out the cackle cackle l 1 It is the woman of ot it to be glad that a a. woman Margaret Wilson wrote the tha Harper prize novel which won against a n. field of SO competitors com corn men as well aa as women But reading reading- ana ann recommending Un i heartily The Able its it's Miss Wilsons Wilson's ui-at ui book by the way is no DO mere matter of ot sex loyalty on I the part of ot the editor of ot this column We Ve should consider the story Just Justas as cane eano and sincere and strong If It it had been written ny oy man roan Vedo We Ve Wedo Wedo do not however know of ot any American American Ameri Amen can man who could nave have written wi-itten it The heroines of ot most of ot our men novelists come eo so joung oung it seems to tous tous tous us a proof either that the tile writers nave not grown up 01 perish or-perish perish the thought thought- that they have entered their second childhood Arnold Bennett can write an un Old Wives ves' Ives Tale t St. St t. t Jonn lIvine lir- lir vine can make the real heroine of his Mixed Marriage the worn and wise I mother of ot grown sons ions But Hut the he heroines heroines he- he of ot Sinclair Lewis are not merely young joung they are Main Maln Main street expiated all alt its sins when Carol Kennicott went to live on it l lod Veil Dell Scott Fitzgerald l Lee Wilson Dodd even Booth how how much loving loving- care and interest have they ever even devoted devote to tho the portrayal of ot any feminine cre creature ture past the chicken stage of development Yet it is O ONLY LY when a woman wom n hits Ms begun un to grow not necessarily OLD but UP that sile greatly Interests the Intelligent and observant members of her sex Most young girls are in Fannie Hurst's apt phrase pink en envelopes en- en and and most of ot the envelopes are empty until life lite and the years nave ve filled them I. I The Able scores with us and we believe it will score scora with other women because It contains I two loving yet shrewd lull full length portraits of ot middle aged wives Not little Christie but Iso Isobel bel McLoughlin Scotch-American Scotch mother of 01 ten and her neighbor nels Barbara McNaIr the grand wee captain who drills Into submissiveness the stingiest husband In pioneer Iowa without even raisIng raising rais rats ing her soft voice or her small hana hand these two are the heroines of ot Margaret Margaret Margaret Mar Mar- garet Wilsons Wilson's book They are the sort of ot women w wall we all have hae had In our own families I famIlies if if we are lucky which lucky which Is to say If It we have parent aunts or at least couSins cousins cousins cou cou- sins in a a. rural community somewhere somewhere somewhere some some- where in the northern half halt of ot these United States Capable women they are are before everything everythIng- else else but also mistresses of ot all the trades that kept the old fashioned a American home functioning One of ot our rr ost anxiously discussed modern problems la is whether the woman of today can be a wife and mother and hold down any other job at the same time The woman of ot yesterday was a wife and mother and held neld down about a dozen other Jobs at the same time She was gardener chicken fancier dressmaker tailor milliner cook nurse laundress knitter knit knit- ter tel and goodness knows else eise And she didn't even TALK about it She didn't l know now she had or was a problem We are so eo tired of ot reading about these erotic neurotic modern heroines heroine who are all raw rasped nerve ends It is a a. relief to find rind between the pages of or a a. novel Isobel McLoughlin this great cordial brimming woman who seemed so capable of ot anything that might ever eer be required of her One could not Imagine her hesitating complaining broken of spirit Ana Barbara the Mc the quiet humorous tenacity of ot her Barbara is the In Inventor Inventor Inventor In- In of or passive resistance in the home When her churlish stingy mare mal bring in the wood cod the fire tire goes out and the dinner Is uncooked uncooked uncooked un un- un- un cooked until he does bring it When hen he leaves his muddy on the hearth for his wife to clean there the they stay stiff and dirty till he cleans clean iii them himself When hen he refuses ru- ru to build a decent house she remarks placidly I L 1 canna cairns live In Ina ina a a. sty She Keeps remarking it The new house Is built Oh Barbaras Barbara's methods of or husband taming are themselves themselves themselves them them- selves worth the price of The Able to any wife Its It's a romance with a garrison finIsh fin fin- ish Ish- Ish a. a romance which makes pinchbeck pinchbeck pinch pinch- beck of ot the ordinary cloak and sword thing Its It's a piece of ot America Its It's above all a needed reminder like Duse that most moat of life nad most ot of I character for women as well as men develop after alter 20 10 And if iI you are doin doing doing do do- in ing your our Christmas shopping early It is the very thing for tor the able I and beloved country aunt who helped to bring you up It will go to ours lover over In New England |