LONELY WIVES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3388, 17 January 1920, Page 3

LONELY WIVES.

win’ .l-"iC'l‘l()N lb I=ol>L‘:l.Ali.Most. married wcnncn have plenty 01” men friends~—-butween the covers of library novels. The vnovcl is “the xvzly Umw for thousands of women who long to 9”. large their circle. of acquziiiit-um:es. but who are prevented fl'onl doing so by tho han,die.ap of‘ sex. This is why the fi('.tion markc-t is supported main. ly by \\'omeu_—and niarried at that. In the pages of novels and in" the serial story women inoet -£1 host of L"il£ll‘aCtCl's (and particularly male chmactors) whorn they iievc-1' would meet in real life. »‘~‘»oin9 of tlicse (.'.ilEil':l('t’m"_q they would not. wish to meet in real life, others their husbands would ob. jcct to; but through the modium. Of’ the novel an ‘introduction can with pl'opl'ioty be ('!ifL‘(’:iCd. _ Mm-nlists who are by way of lamenting the vogue of novel—i-ending among home-staying \\'0lll(,‘ll do not. understand how ezigferly Such women, if intelligent, long to extend their knowledge of the world, and "ow <lif’tic.nlt it is For them to do so. For the real i{ll(l\\'i-Odgfl of the world comes chiefly through Contact with people. And it is astonishing how few people the quiet woman has :1 fair clmnce of encountei'ing. Her husband, if he goes into the city/, meets cores of people daily—people. that is with whom he exchanges :1. sentence, perhaps even knows rather intima.t-sly. The wit'e. rwtuyiiig «behind in her suburb, chats with :1 tradesnizin 01' two, :1 caller or two—and that is all.

Hn‘w many t'l'imlcl.< liar: she got‘? Ex11'a0rdina1'ily few, as a rule; and m:_u' iriage has perhaps nul'l'owod instead of widened h-:‘-1' 1'an;:o, ina.~'.mu(-,11 as zlt’tm' in:.lrl'iag;u she cannot go about as t.'rcol__v as she did when a young girl. At. :1 suburban house the other night the colivorstltion lapsed into llloquoS~ tion of how many fl'iellcls the av<=rag:‘ man usually collectorl compared witth the .aycl'agc woman. And» we started counting up our t'l'ien<ls and nl‘zlking' lists on paper. In ouch case illg lists of the men present were‘ roughly ton times as long as the lists of the m:u"riod women present, and from six to seven times as long as that of the unm:n'l'iod “bachelor girl.” ' “How many friends do you meet, to speak to, in an ordinary day of‘ your lit‘o‘?” vslcccl my hostess. I I'Ollg‘lll_V I'.’3Vl(‘\\'o(l the previous day, and t‘-ound that I had met and spoken to in the city, at my lunch place, at dinner, and at. my club, :2‘ total of forty-ei<:llt friends.

“Do you nealiso that, :Issumin_<_>; a. ’ru'olvo-hours day, you meet. and con~ verso with an a{lm'ag'<3 of f'oul'fri(-nds per hour?” said my hostess. “And do you realise ‘hat I often xnoet. for W(‘(‘k3 on and. fewer than .f'ourfrimlds }lm' dily? Yof mm} complain rhaf women are not ‘\v.e]l-in’r'ol'nl»(‘d’ .-Ant"! are ignorant of the world.’ (‘an you wmldor? And can you wonder that we try to make up for our loneliness. and feed our hunger for fl'iell,rlShipsv (and flm.sl'inm'nls to the flow of idoars which f‘l‘iCl]l:l>‘«’hips mean). by re:l:lills_r novels‘! Our lives n-3 C-d pcopling. and the 011])’, way to people them is through the sf.udy of modem fi(:t’ion.” ——“Da.ily, mm.”