THE LADIES’ WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2673, 1 December 1909, Page 3

THE LADIES’ WORLD.

THE BEST HUSBAND

The mean man never makes a good husband, we are told by a woman with .a wide knowledge of things'matrimonial. Of all creatures to live with, she says;, the mean man is likely to cause liis wife to rue the day she became his. It is not only stinginess in money mat. ters that is repulsive—though that is bad enough. The mean man stints in the house- w keeping, but is generally lavish enough about himself, it is the poor wife who has' to bear the jar and fret of all the housekeeping niggardliness. But meanness goes beyond- that. It stoops to actions that cover the wife’s cheek with blushes, and fill her heart with shame and anguish. No man who is mean can keep his wife’s love, unless he drags her down to Ins own level, and that' is the greatest harm he can do her.

The man who makes the best husband has a temper calculated to hear the wear and tear of everyday life. He does not fly into a passion at "a trifle, or vent his rage at things that nobody on earth can help. He may show his righteous wrath on occasion, and l let fly at persons or things that deserve it, but he does not talk afterwards, and make everybody about him miserable.

The man who makes a good husband is not lazy or idle. He does not prefer to sit with hands in his pockets, doing nothing when his family are in want of their daily bread. Idle habits are pretty certain to bring about harm. A good portion of men. who take todrink do it because they have nothing else to fill their time. When a man takes to doing nothing from choice, look out from that man. He is pretty sure to be getting into bad ways soon. The best husband is considerate; he. takes care of his wife. If men’-had any -idea. how. women -love- to be taken .care., or, and -looked.after, they would, perhaps, exercise, their own powers in that direction a little oftener. Women’s lives are, for the modt part, a good deal harder than men fancy. They are not nearly so strong physically, and yet they have to suffer, in the course of their lives, ten times more ppm and weariness than the average man has any idea of. They are sensitive, too, after a fashion that docs not appeal to a man. A smile can make them happ3% and a sharp word unutterably miserable. They long for protection and help, and the prop of a strong arm all along their daily path; and when it is refused them by the man from whom ■ they have a;right to-expect it, a pang,; •goes through' their very hearts.:.,that would startle and shame that man could he 011I3' know it. Consideration smooths a wife’s ways for her. When arhusband comes homo at night, and she meets him, tired and worn with the .burden and cares of the day, of which*lie knows nothing, a kind word will cheer and comfort her as nothing else will. She is better pleased to have him notice and praise her efforts to keep the house going well than if he brought her a present of a -new bonnet; and when lie tries to save her from a little worry, she feels a gratitude and a devotion to him. that are cheaply bought.-; - by ...the trouble he has taken. t The considerate husband strengthens with every act the bohdk'between liis wife and liimself, and he bridges over many and many a chasm that might otherwise have yawned between them as thp years go by. Hie' man .who makes the best hus.batid'is /unselfish'. After all. that co-. /vers 'all-*--tire”'rest,' Consideration,, generosity, good, temper.;-all are -summed up In. that, one heading; ’ for the unselfish.. mam possesses : them all. . , WOMEN WHO MARRY AT THiRTY,FI YE* /.... , A German professor, after a long life spent in observation, says the woman of thirty-five is the one most likely to find happiness in marriage. He says that when a woman waits to be thirty-, five for . marriage she is practically proof against such an anti-climax'as divorce. „, .... Probably the professor is right, still there are few women of the temper to make the experiment, says an American commentator. At thirty-five there is the chance that the woman will not find a-husband at all. Again, it is eaSv to comprehend why happiness awaits the woman who, after half her life has passed, enters wedlock. M ben the woman of thirty-five, goes to the altar it is without one of the illusions or youth. She has had time to see the reverse side of romance; 6he is filled with the belief that married life is one long, unbroken period of bliss. On the contrary, she knows that as soon as the honeymoon lias waned she will descend to the commonplace, bhe knows that married or single life m the main is made up of cold, harcl facts. She is ready for sacrifice, and she has lived long enough to understand the whims and oddities of man. Besides, in nine cases out of ten, the woman of thirty-five marries for companionship and a home, and is tally alive to the value of both. So after all, the German professor lias merely dwelt upon a truth which we all know.