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Show H UL Ir LOW andMARgED LIFEl K j iwj, the noted author S M j Idah MS CHone Gibson g IH ALICE 'AND KATITERINE JDIS- CUSS MEN. Thinking of Ruth, I wondered If I would be perfectly willing to give up mM John to Elizabeth Morcland when my child came. L wondered If I would be courasrcou3 enough to take my child, half across the world to the man who Hj seemed to adore mo if 1 came to the Hl conclusion that I loved him. I won- Hj dered if. after all, I would not be hap- pier if I would put both men out of j my life and atay in this little old quiet H town and live only in the budding life of my baby, M Alice was still talking of Ruth and mi H . Bobby and Helen. It was a strange II mW kind of triangle, and it seemed to in- Hb- terc3t her greatly. I knew she would I. not bo comfortable until she had ' aolved tho riddle of whether the threo would not havo been happier if Ruth had not given up Rob. and Helen would have been happier in the endj If she had been left to live her life' alone. Alice talked so much about' divorce and tho cause of divorce that1 1 almost wondered if the subject had a personal interest for her. "'You know, Katherlnc," she said, "that Bobby was always good to Ruth. However much ho wanted to do something some-thing else ho alwavs resnccted her D wishes. She was his wife and her de- m sires came even beforo his incllna- 2 lions." ; "But don't you know, Alice," I said 3 expostulatlngly, "that there are many 8g things which are not catalogued as' K causes for divorce that muko a wom-j an moro unhappy that some of the ijfi sins that are punished by separation? M Personally, I believe I would ( rather P John would be untrue to mo than id have him ignore my thoughts, tastes jjgj and desires except when they happen, jpg to coincide with his." Pj Same Old Promise. j 3 "It always comes from the came kSL.J ol( promise, Katharine," said Alice , fbj sC "the double standard. Did you fad', iij in the paper the other day where Lady' Astor, the first woman elected to the m British parliament, made a speech on StS divorce. She said we women wouldn't ft. ever be happy until the double stand-, IjT ard of morality was changed. She ja made the same point that you have fist just made, that there were many iSJ things that made a woman moro un-( isl happy than unfaithfulness. And yet, h my dear, no woman when she is young iH , can make herself believe this." ( "What we want is not only a slnglo standard of morals, but a singlo standard, of mental respect and a single sin-gle standard of rights. AYo talk about marriage being a case of fifty-fifty, but we seldom got IL I think, Alice, I I would be perfectly satisfied witn I sixty-forty or perhaps seventy-thirty, I but ninety-ten is what most of us receive. re-ceive. . I ''In any other partnership tho mora-I mora-I bcrs can get along on comparatively ' easy terms even if they have not much real affection for each other, but you know, my dear, no firm can be staple unless there is a mutual respect for the other's ability to work toward putting put-ting the business on a successful basis. "As marriage is now looked upon in this country women are only asked j to love? "Do you love him, my child?" asks1 the father of his daughter when shej informs him that she would liko to marry his broker or hjs chauffeur as tho enne may be. Ho does not aak her if she would be ablo to manage the large house with many servants or tliei broker or bring herself to do the menial labor o? cooking tho meals and keeping clean the three-room flat of tho chaffeur." 1 Doesn't Look to Future. I "A man asks for love when he is In love, forgetting that when he loses that thrilling emotion the' devotion' of his wife is likely to bore him to death," "That's true," I said, "many a wom-j wom-j an hns loved her husband devotedly, and then bored him every moment of the day she was with him." "I sometimes wonder," said Alice, suddenly, "if men realize that women are thinking and discussing this mo-, mo-, mcntous Question." "No," I answerod, "they do not real-I real-I izo, neither do they discuss it to any great extent. "We women, to them, . are still either servants or playthings , and objects of their desire. 1 honestly honest-ly believe tho great unrest we find now in married life, tho groat unhap-pincss unhap-pincss which brings ono dlvcrco to every eight marriages is not a" ques-, ques-, tion of moro love; it Isn't a quoation of the heart at all, it 13 a question of brain of more mental respect. Women Wom-en have got to show that they have a ! brain, and men acknowledge that as a fact, before they either can bo happy hap-py though, marrlod." Tomorrow Two Letters. |