The Sunday Oregonian., November 06, 1921, Magazine Section, Page 5, Image 91

THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, NOVEMBER 6, 1921
A HOT EYE, TWO YEARS WEDDED, THEN DIVORCE
Will the American Prototypes of "Ku" and
"Agula" Ever Learn to Take the Barbaric
Antidote for Marital Infelicity? . It Works
in Africa, but Will It Be Efficacious in
Civilized Lands?
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Asul anil her brldrttnuida are ffettinK ready for Kb. The Central Africa Saulla trlbea are very careful about
proper marrlajce eastonia. The 70 unit man aerrea an appreaticeaalp of two ycara ao aaaty marriasea and hi
tier dlTorcea" here!
BT tTTHAI VIXCEN'T WILCOX
KITS "eye was hot" ha was
In love so he went to his
pal and "aid frankly enough.
"I want to ret married." And his
friend laughed a little and said:
"Why, who do you want to marry?"
K answered: "Oh, I don't know.
Letts take a walk and I will find
the grirL"
First Ku and his pal went down to
the river and took a bath, greased
their bodies heavily with oil and but
ter, put on their Ivory and elephant
hair and eiraff e-tail bracelets and
started out toward a certain village,
Ku adroitly guiding the stroll. Be
fore long they met Agnla, the spe
cial young lady friend of the marry
ing young man. v
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Oh. we are Just out for a little
troll." answered Ku.
"But where are you going?" Agula
persistently inquired.
Then Ku said very earnestly: "I
am looking for a girl to marry."
Of course she appeared very much
surprised. "Why, whom do you wish
to marry?" she asked, perhaps with
trepidation and palpitating heart, tor
Ku's hot eye was upon her.
"I wish to marry Aguhi,' he
answered with great frankness, but
with Inward fear and trembling.
It is all ao very sudden to Agula,
even If she does live over In central
Africa, for that Is where all this hap
pens. And this Is Just the way It
happens, according to those who have
made a study of the social customs
of the Shulla peoples.
But this Is not all. For two years
the young people must wait, even
though the young lady and her par
ents are willing. It becomes neces
sary for his eye to remain "hot" for
a long, long time.
In this particular Incident, Agula,
who is a fine, muscular girl. Just
about as strong as Ku, Is much
pleased. .But they do not embrace,
even though the warm eyes of her
lover can discern her acceptance. No.
she runs and tells her chum, who
lives next door, first Inviting the
young men to rest themselves on the
veranda.
Then they race oowa to the river,
bathe and grease their lithe young
bodies, put on all the finery that they
have or can borrow for the occasion,
and return to the porch to sit around
and talk for a while.
When the girl's father comes home
he must be asked, and If he gives his
consent It will cost Ku with his "hot
eye" at least ten cows, and many,
many presents to all his friends and
the girl's friends.
Ku. In central Africa, learns some
thing of the high cost of loving. Ten
cows Is the legal and maximum
charge that the father may make.
If he has a daughter that Is not so
attractive he may reduce the number
of cows.
There Is this difference, however,
between Shulla young folks and the
hot-eyed youth of Anglo-Saxon com
munities; no matter how much In
love they may be there are still two
years ahead of them. The custom
and the law are Inexorable. Perhaps
this accounts for the fact thak there
are few divorces there. Or does it?
Regular divorce laws exist. It la
generally a matter of taking back
a bad bargain. The man has the
right to divorce the woman, but she
does not have the right to leave him
except on reasons relating to finance.
The husband must be a capable young
fellow who looks after his cow-credit
and keeps the Installments paid up.
If he does not, and his wife decides
ahe wants to leave him and go back
(0-44 (9 get ft good meal or dodge
the bill collector, then her father
must return the ten cows and all the
presents.
Mayor William F. Broenlng of Bal
timore may not have studied Shulla
law. but he feels that- there is a
weakness right along this line In
our own social customs.
The mayor said this the other day:
"The annual crop of matrimonial
wrecks is increasing so rapidly that
something ought to be done. What
Is needed is to give the children
an opportunity to discuss and ana-
or a clerk or a school teacher or a
business woman All very well. When
she goes home with him he also ex
pects her to know how to sweep and
iron and dust and cook and take care
of the babies when they arrive. If
she doesn't know how to do these
things he believes that he has suffi
cient cause for divorce, and the
courts as a rule agree with him.
And Mrs. Johnson, who has studied
the matter as superintendent of the
house of detention of Washington and
as manager for a number of years of
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Bat arive the young men a ehanee.
Theae lada have proved that they
know something about canning and
are fully as efficient aa their younn
lady friends or even their mothera.
Perhaps, along with Charles F.
Champlln of Evanston County, 111
they have negative qualification.
Theae boya are worklna In labora
tories of the California reach and
Kin" Growers association.
lyze their difficulties Intelligently.
And, according to his plans, the
best way to get at the whole matter
would be by "matrimonial classes' In
the public schools. "Matrimony is
about the only subject excluded from
the average academic education," he
dclared. "The first lesson to learn la
to keep out of extravagance and be
willing to fulfill the duties oTf mat
rimony on a 60-50 basis.
"Most young people who marry
have not the slightest conception of
their duties," continued the mayor.
Apparently most of them are worse
off in this respect than the young
men and women in the central
African Shulla tribe. For there it is
made a compulsory thing for the
parents, and particularly the father.
to train up his boy and girl to know
what Is expected of them after they
are married matrimonial classes at
home. They don't shift the thing
over on to the tribe. No, sir; it's the
parents' Job.
Mrs. Edna U Johnson, the well
known welfare worker, has made a
study of the complex forces in Amer
ican social life. She believes that we
will come nearer solving the prob
lem If we Insist that the man know
something of the duties of the wife,
and that he learn about the house
work by doing some of it; the same
as we expect the wife to know some
thing of business even In her regula
tion of the home.
And the reasoning sounds inter
esting: The American "Ku" marries
a girl who has been stenographer
3
Over la the Pennsylvania plant of the "Pressed Steel Car Department" these "heater girls are standing up
of the hardest kind of work. Are the modern arlrla crowdlna: the modern men in the world's workf
Miss Mayme Plxley Is a aterplejack
and likes it. too.
or housekeepers, some still think that
the divisions of labor should be sus
tained. "It Is medical opinion that If
women have pronounced positive
qualifications and men negative, it
not Infrequently happens that their
talents and qualifications are re
versed despite the traditional division
of work," points out this prominent
welfare worker and leader of wom
en's thought.
Tnere is a well-known writer (who
refuses to let his name be known In
this connection), who, when he was
young, was taught by both his father
and his mother to do all kinda of
housework, lie learned so easily and
quickly that his mother soon found
that his sweeping and cooking were
of better grade than that of his older
sister. When this man decided to
embrace matrimony he says that he
was very careful indeed In his selec
tion of a wife, because he wished
someone who knew how to make a
good home. And be was able to
Judge from a practical standpoint.
"I think the men should widen their
field of understanding, and since the
women have taken up man's work
they should, all the more, know the
woman's side of the bargain," said
this broad-minded, "modern"! man.
"And I think that such an under
standing would go a long way toward
solving the divorce problem," he fur
ther asserted.
And why shouldn't it? Mutual un
understanding is the first thing re
quired In a successful partnership or
lasting and helpful pact of any kind.
Let the man understand the wife's
work and the wife the man's work,
and a big step will have been taken.
Professor Thordike of Boston, ap
preciating the needs of a better un
derstanding of the matrimonial prob
lem, has approached it In still an
other angle. He has made a compari
son chart of men and women so that
they may know where they differ.
He feels that the matter stands some
thing like mis:
Emotion i
Temperance
Women. Men.
.... 80 30
the United States employment office
In New York, and from the political
angle aa chairman of the . congres
sional committee of the Equal Suf
frage association of New Hampshire,
avers that' before long the future
husband will be a seamstress and a
housekeeper. He will know how to
cook, wash and iron and do the fam
ily mending.
Not that he will do this every day,
but that he will know how, and that
he will understand the standards that
his wife ought to reach. Further
more, he will know how to do this in
addition to his regular Job.
He will learn the right sort of
home-making as a part l il3 educa
tion, the same as his wife has learned
the elements of business as a part of
her life.
And some of them are atepplng into
this "modern" way of looking and
doing things, evidently. Over In Chi
cago rently a man. Charles F. Champ
lln, went Into a bread-making contest
with 45 women at the Evanston
county fair and won first prize. And
the prize, by the way.was a work
apron with dainty blue ribbon drawn
work embroidery. It Is not known
exactly what Mr. Champlin has done
with the apron. Perhaps he wears It
In helping his wife dust, or she in
helping him o duat. U he excels ia
these various other household lines,
too.
It Is not at all unusual to find fire
men who are accomplished knitters,
or American boys who have returned
from the recent unpleasantness
across the ocean as cooks and needle
workers. And on the other hand we
find women lawyers, women poli
ticians, women bankers, barbers,
artists, sculptors, designers, and even
women stevedores.
So that the matter of division of
labor is more or less a matter of tra
dition and not of ability. And, Mrs.
Johnson says, "because men have al
ways been engineers or electricians,
and women mothera oj itenogripaeri
Impulsiveness ..
Religiousness ..
Patience
Van.ty
Shyness
Temper
Salf-consciousnesi
Humor
Independence ..
CO
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ftO
60
60
(0
SO
50
60
Occasionally some of the young
people discover their own mind be
tween the time of obtaining the re
quired license and the ceremony, but
many of them have to find It out
afterward, and so avail themselves
of the divorce coupon that satirists
such as H. L. Mencken say should be
a part of each license.
Some such arrangement here might
be required as a sort of probation
nerlod or novitiate, when Hie Xoung in, cocgiess.
This woman la euttins; a large chnnk
of fused silica. There aeema to ha
no end of woman's penetration of
mena work. Perhspa the next few
years will see changes on the other
side of the social question. Wl
already have famous men cooks and
dressmakers. Mhy not so me makers
and nurses as wellf
American "Ku" studies up on house
hold ethics and goes to school at
tending matrimonial classes, and
loarns how his wife should keep the
aastle that he Is going to provide.
Will any young man arise to remark
that he wouldn't have the time to
learn these "simple" things while he
is qualifying for a Junior partnership
In a law firm or doing engineering,
or rushing around as a budding
physician? Just consider what a big
benefit such knowledge would be?
And the bewitching, daintily at
tired, well-tailored young American
"Agula" may well brush up on her
knowledge of domestic science, for if
she understands that he "Ku" knows
all the fine points of the game, aha
will not be apt to shirk, nor will she
care to know less.
After making certain along thla
line and being able to pass an exami
nation that her modern father can
give her from his practical experience,
then she may go to her mother and
in the remaining portion of the two
years "cram" a bit on the fine points
of "Ku's" specialty. She may be able
to detect consistency In his excuses
fpr spending the evening out becausa
of "a big deal" or an "important board
merstlng."
Do you see the possibilities?
But to return to Central Africa and
the marriage ceremony at the end f
two years:
On the exact day, the anniversary
of the engagement. Agula. with a
number of her girl friends, carries
several baskets of tempting food over
to Ku's village. On the way they
pretend, according to custom, that
they are lost, and wander about until
someone "discovers" them and leads)
them to Ku's house.
Arriving there, they refuse to b,
Invited In until thy are given a hoe.
Then they refuse to place their bas
kets of food on the ground until they
have been given another hoe. Then
they decline to carry the food into
the house until a fish spear has been
given to them.
These implements, be It remarked,
are the insignia of man's work. Per
haps they have been studying about
his Job and so signify.
The next morning they gather wood
and prepare the food. The old men
of the village assemble and inspect
the food. (Ku's "hot eye" is not to
make him careless of the culinary
fineries). If the old men with tbelr
dyspeptic stomachs pass it, then the
village divides into three groups of
old men, young men and women, and
eat the repast. Toward evening,
after the village had partaken suf
ficiently. Ku and Agula are placed to
gether in the middle of the company
and the neighbors all dance around
them, ainging their praises. (They
ought to, after such a meal.)
The latter part of the ceremony
may be a little blase, but they do It,
nevertheless. A sheep Is killed. Its
ears cut off, beads sewed on them,
and one ear tied to Agula'a ankle and
the other to Ku's ankle, and all of
the gueats take water In the palm of
their hands and sprinkle the young
folks. Then Agula anoint Ku with
oil and they eat another feast, and
after receiving presents from taslr
various friends and giving a few of
their own, the ceremony la complete,
providing Ku has completed his pay
ment of the ten cowa.
Is there anything In Shulla social
customs for the modern young man
and woman? Evidently some of our
reformers, radicals and race-cutturists
are working along theee lines. Per
hays they may run over there to learn
the faxt for themselves. Then we
may expect to have a bill Introduoe