Throwback Thursday: When an advice columnist's readers strike back
Editor's note: In Ione Quinby Griggs' half-century as an advice columnist in The Milwaukee Journal's Green Sheet, readers sometimes rebelled, as in this column, published April 5, 1940, in which a letter-writer was so angry about Griggs' advice that she called out her on it.
I am publishing a letter signed "Once a Poker Widow." Some time ago, she wrote me, complaining of her husband. I realized she must take the initiative if her home was to be saved, because her husband, finding home dull, spent most of his time with his "poker pals."
I advised her to look back over her own life to see what had happened. My answer made her so angry she issued an ultimatum to her husband, but in doing so she showed him how much more his home meant to him than poker. …
Mrs. Griggs: Some years ago, my husband, who was about the finest person, met some men who thought they were smart about their own wives. They were card crazy, and soon, my husband developed the craze. I thought it nice for him to have his fun, but it got so it wasn't funny to me when he stayed out all night, too tired to go to work. I wrote you, and what an answer you gave me! The Journal should have fired you for wasting paper on such a silly answer.
However, you made me so mad I made my own decision that night. It was to get my husband to choose between me and those card sharks! For once in his life, he knew I wasn't fooling. He doesn't see those smart fellows anymore.
You advised me that, somewhere along life's path, I had failed. Believe you me, I've never failed anyone, and right now, I'm not even failing to write what I think. Fifty-seven women were at the last meeting of our club. They agreed: That Mrs. Griggs sure loves the men. That no women ever get credit from her. That the man, in her estimation, is always right. That men can do anything and she'll pat them on the back. That she is a scream. That The Journal should fire her. Someone asked: "Did anyone ever see her?" Our secretary said: "Yes, she's a dizzy dame! How she gets by is beyond me!"
— Once a Poker Widow
Once a Poker Widow: I am glad you are no longer a poker widow and that my letter gave you the impetus to do something about it. I can only try to get people to use psychology, by acting different than they have in the past, not because they were unconsciously wrong, perhaps, but because some part of their lives have been too negative or not constructive enough, and because of the basic rule of "cause and effect in behavior."
Your club secretary's assertion that she had seen me reminds me of a conversation between two women who sat beside me in the lounge of the Hiawatha a few weeks ago. One was reading the Green Sheet. She said to the other woman, "I wonder what Mrs. Griggs is like?" The other woman said: "Oh, she's a woman nearly 60. I know her well! She has gray hair and wears glasses all the time!"
This amused me, for I am not even near 60 (editor's note: Griggs was 48 at the time). I have brown hair, not gray. I do not wear glasses all the time. And I never saw that woman before in my life.
I.Q.G.
About this feature
Each Thursday, the Green Sheet brings back some of the stories and features that gave the old Green Sheet its distinct identity, including Ione Quinby Griggs' long-running advice column. Look for them in print and online at jsonline.com/green-sheet.