s
work may be?'

'Yes, a sympathetic woman can do a great deal; but it is very difficult
to quite determine what effect her help may have upon her husband's
work during the various critical periods of his career. There may have
been days when, without her encouragement, he would have lost faith in
himself, but such cases are rare. Then you speak of artists, of people
who live by praise, feed on it. I have known painters who looked for
and found such encouragement from their wives. On the other hand, I
have known others who sought solitude when at work, men who could not
have expressed their message unless alone with their art. I have known
authors who looked for inspiration from their wives, or thought they
did, and I have known others who could not do a stroke of work unless
they were absolutely left alone with their thoughts.'

'But if a wife makes a man happy, that alone surely helps him?'

'Of course it does; but the married man has far greater
responsibilities than the single one, and he may be obliged to produce
for the sake of filling many little hungry mouths. And another thing
you must remember that the single man can command the interest of a
great number of women who would not care to be interested in his wife,
and very few wives will realize that they may not be as interesting as
their husbands. This will cause trouble--unpleasantness, at least--and
stand in the way of a man's success.'

'Then,' said the lady, 'let us change the question. Does marriage
hamper a man?'

'Undoubtedly there are professions which seem to necessitate
bachelorhood, where marriage is not only no help, but a handicap. A
soldier, for instance, should not marry, for a married soldier, good
fighting-man though he may be, never can forget the wife, and perhaps
the little ones, at home.'

'I take it,' said my lady interlocutor, 'that you do not advocate
marriage for the rising poet, painter, dramatist, or novelist?'

'I do not advocate marriage for any man that is too susceptible or who
has the artistic temperament too strongly developed. The man who is
strong enough to achieve great things is strong enough to achieve them
alone--that is, unless he is fortunate enough to meet the exceptional
woman. Lord Byron said that nothing can inflict greater torture upon a
woman than the mere fact of loving a poet. This is not due to the
heartless or deliberate cruelty of the poet. He himself is to be pitied
for being a martyr, the slave of