Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-11-04
HUSBANDS, BE CHEERFUL AT
HOME.

I dare say shat your Bible may belong
to an expurgated edition, but the above
verse is in mine, though cannot, at
this moment, point to the exact chapter;
but that is neither here nor there.
In every "Guide for Wives" I find |
"Cheerfulness" the first article set down
in the creed with no margin left for
crying babies or sleepless nights, or in
competent servants, or any Of the small
miseries which men wave off with their
hands as mot worth minding my dear p
So when the time comes for Johns re-
turn from the shop or office, they begin
the cheerful ssdodge" just as they are
bid by the single men and women who
usually write these "Guides for Wives"
They hurry to wash the children's faces,
or to have them washed, and stagger
about, though they may not have had a
breath of fresh air for week, to make
things cheerful for John. Johns din
ner and dessert are all right He ex-
poets them and eats them. Then he
lies down on the sofa to digest them,
which he does silently-cow fashion.
The ch ildren, one by one are sent to bed.
Now, does it occur to John that he might
try his hand at little 'scheerfulness 2"
Not a bit. He asks his wife coolly if
there's anything in the evening paper.
She is so tired of the house and its cares,
which have cob webbed her all over till
she is half smothered soul and body,
that this question seems the cruelest one
that could be put in her nervous condi-
tion She ought to answer as he does,
when she asks him what is in the morn
ing paper. the while she is feeding Tom
my-his Tommy as well as bers-"Read
it, my dear; it is full of interest
Instead, she takes it, the evening pa
per, YEARLY; and though the tell-tale,
exhausted tones of her voice, as she
reads, are sufficiently suggestive of her
inability for reading aloud, yet he gra-
ciously listens, we'll pleased, and goes
to sleep just as she gets down to the ad-
vertisements, which is a good place.
Now, that woman ought just then to
4 quietly have put on her bonnet and
shawl and run into the house of one of
the neig ghbors and stay till she had got
little ''cheerfulness - but the "Guide
for Wives" insist that, instead, she must
sit down and look at her John, so that
no unlucky noise may disturb his slum-
bers and that's the way they make and
perpetuate these very Johns.
The way men nurse up their frail bod
les is curious to witness in contrast with
the little care they take of their wives.
Now, it never occurs to most wives that
being stirred" is an excuse for not do
ing anything, that, half dead, they are
drummed up to do and there's just
where | blame them. If they wait for
their Johns to see it, or to say it, they
may wait for the millennium. There
no need of fight about it either. He
wants to lie there and be read to. Well,
let him lie there but don't you read to
him or talk to him either, when you feel
tired. If he is so stupid or Indifferent
as not to see that you can't begin an
other days worry like that without a
reprieve of some kind, bid him pleas
ant good evening, and 60 to some pleas.
ant neighbor's as he would do, if he felt
like you, for the same reason-as he did
do the evening before, without consult.
ing your preference or tiredness.
Now, this may sound vixenish, but il
is simply justice and it is time womer
: learned that. as mothers of families, it i:
just as much their duty to consult theil
physical needs, as it is for the fathers
of families to consult theirs, and more
: too, since the nervous organization O
: women is more delicate, and the pretti
ness of their household cares more ex
haustive and wearing than mans cal
possibly be; and this | will insist on
in spite of every parson who ever said
' LET US have peace y Peace reverend
sir. We like it, too but too dear
price may be paid even for "peace." f"
Now, | know there are instances, fo
| have seen them, in which the husban,
is the only cheerful element in the hous
y when his step, his countenance, lik
= sunshine, irradiates and warns ever
nook and corner But all how rare
this | know, too, that cheerfulness
: greatly thing of temperament but
IS also know that it is just as much man
d duty to cultivate it by reading to hi
Is wife, and conversing with his wife, q
N it is hers to amuse and cheer him whe
IS the days cares are over. And in tn
es respect | must say that men, as gene
n. al thing, are disgustingly selfsh-ao
" sorbing, but never giving out, acceptin!
le but seldom returning. 1t is for wome
er to assert their right to fresh air, to r
r Taxation to relief from care, whenev,
C. the physical system breaks down, ju
Mt as men always do; for the Johns seldo
lie wake up to it till coffin is ordered
u and pocket -handkerchiefs are too late
20 90
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