unity of picking one another to pieces,
invariably stand shoulder to shoulder (as much as the shape of their
sleeves will allow them to do) when the question to decide is whether
it is a man or a woman who is in the wrong. The freemasonry between
women goes as far as that and no further.

The Queen of Roumania, well known to literary fame as Carmen Sylva,
declares that the reason for a wife's infidelity is to be laid at her
husband's door, and the assertion is laid down as a rule by the royal
authoress. In so saying, the Queen of Roumania makes herself the
mouthpiece of her sex; for most women, if not absolutely all, are of
her opinion, that the wickedness of man is responsible for all the
vices, faults, and even shortcomings of woman.

On the other hand, I have always heard men say that a man will stay at
home if his wife makes his house attractive and cheerful, and herself
pleasant in it.

It is the same story, the eternally same story.

The man stays at his club and returns home at one o'clock a.m. because
Madame is dull and sulky. The woman is dull and sulky because Monsieur
stays at his club and does not return home before one o'clock.

Now, which is right? or rather, which of the two began? A prejudiced
person of the male gender will say:

'It is the women's fault.'

A prejudiced person of the female persuasion will answer:

'No, the men's, of course.'

(Women in their arguments always add, 'Of course.')

A fair-minded person of either sex will probably say: 'Out of that
equal number of men and women, half the women are right, and half the
men are not wrong.'

All this leads us to a very serious question: Of man or woman, which is
the more responsible of the two for the continuance and eventually the
long duration of happiness in matrimony?

And as women are ever airing their grievances on the subject, let us
try to plead a little the cause of that poor, often too much abused
creature that Madame Sarah Grand delights in calling 'Mere Man,' and
let us do so in a friendly spirit, in an unconventional, intimate sort
of way.

If women have their grievances against Nature, men have theirs, too.
Nature has, indeed, treated men in a far less generous manner than the
other male members of the animal kingdom. The female bird, for
instance, is plain. She has no voice and no glorious feathers. All the
fascinating power of beautiful song, gorgeous plumage and graceful
demeanour was given to the male. It is he