Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 178, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1913 — CHINESE HUSBANDS [ARTICLE]

CHINESE HUSBANDS

American Wife of Celestial Finds Him Ideal. George Gould's Slster-in-Lsw Praises Spouse Who Cost Her Family and Friends—Says Men of Her ’ s Own Race Are Bores. San Francisco, Cal.—“ The world may give the laurel to the American husband, but I am glad I married a Chinaman. Of course, I can only speak for myself and though I would never, taker the responsibility of advising anyone to marry as I did, yet 1 have certainly found that the Chinese make ideal husbands. "In missionary experience I found that there happiness is the rule, not the exception. Divorce or separation are very rare. My home life fs at least the equal of any American homo I have ever know.” Mrs. Wong Sue You Clemens is a cultured, well-educated white woman, the sister of Mrs. Howard Gould, who six years ago became the wife of a Chinese merchant Her home today is a little shop in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown. “1 find the American men great bores. They have no conversational resources outside of their Individual interests. Their women are kept at their wits' end amusing and entertaining them. "But the Chinese are very versatile and the most striking people in the world. To them everything has a meaning. For instance, This is a real brotherhood table.’ There are no edges to friendship, so the Chinese never eat at square tables. It seems a small thing, but there is a certain fineness and sentiment among the better class of Chinese which character- r izes everything they do. Indeed, I have only one regret, that I did not have the courage to take this step in my early youth.” Mrs. Wong has adopted the Chinese dress, which she likes as she likes everything Chinese. “To me there is nothing unusual in what I did," she continued. “The Chinese are the kindest people in the world and their regard for women is midst reverent. Their ideal never permits a man to disrespect a woman who respects herself. I think this is more than we can say of our countrymen. “The Chinese woman is the mistress of her home and she is as much a coquette, as much a side-stepper of whatever does not suit her, as her American sisters. What is even more, the husband can not endure to see her do physical labor.” .Mr. Wong is a suave, good-humor-ed, easy-mannered oriental. “I have not seen my mother for six years. My family bitterly opposed my marriage and 1 learn of them only through others. I did not try to keep any of my friends. 1 knew 1 was ostracized when I married my husband. But I do not think my loss is to be compared with my gain. This little store, hung with the treasures we dug from the ruins, bounds my world. But it is, very rich, for It contains a friend. When busband and wife are perfect comrades they do not need others. Only the unhappy are dissatisfied; we are supremely happy.