The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-10-28
THE MODERN HUSBAND.
4 Charitable View for DisSatis-
fled Wives,

fled Wives,
IFEaa the Golden Ase.l
He Is not unsympatheic and hard.
His business tends to make him somewhat
harsh and rough. Contact with the world
rub. the poetic bloom from his mind, and
dries his septiments, and units his tongue
for the utterance OF the sweet and dainty
nothings which occupy SO large place
in the vocabulary Of wOnan's e1pecta-
tons. He Is decidedly ma,ter-ot.tact.
He takes a great deal Tor granted, and
wants his vile 10 assume something, and
not look for vain repetitiOns when words
are worth 50 much. The wear and tear
OF life tell on his nerves and sensibIlEies,
and take the sentiment, the poetry, the
gallantry, out Of him, insensIbly but ell
fectually, and be appears indlheIent
without knowing it. He is absorbed in
his business plans and ambitions, and
cannot pretend 10 the least enthusiasm in
his yiie's ruifles and laCes and lawns,
and his enjoyment Of her new set
OF levels i materially sbaIed by
the prospective raid upon his bank
account. In modern life the dit
organizations are vastly greater than in
the old days, when husband and vile
worked together behind the counter and
on the farm, each understanding the labor
OF the other, and joining As a true yoke
fellow in drawing the mutual load. The
Modern Husband earns for his vile TO
spend: and he earns in methods and I'M
der conditions she does not understand, 50
tina. her advice il worthless, and even
her sympathy eXhales oitentimes without
his notice. The new conditions under
which We live and labor effect domestic
habits and insensibly react on disposition
and character. Once husband and wife
spent most OF their time together; now
they spend most OF it apart, and cannot
follow each other through the transac.
tions OF the day even in Imagination; they
are less mutually dependent than when
each was all the world to the other, and
their lives were one.
The Modern Husband is not so lovable
nor attractive in some respects az he might
be, and as his wife would like TO have
him. He has not kept hist first estate. lie
is harder, drier, more worldly creature
than she took him to be. He thinks
more Of soup than Of sentiment, and d.
gesiion occupies larger place than mu.
sic Or society in the economy OF his life,
But in spite OF attachments, he is essential.
Iy true and preyailingly kind. lie thinks
more than he says, and feels deeply often
times when he says nothing, He puts his
love into labor, and expresses his conf
ience and tenderness in wise provisions
and unsentimental bank notes. lie prays
les than his grandfather, but he pays bet.
ter and Is less OF tyrant. The word
"Obey' has DROPPED out OF his spoken dia'
lect. II he gives less attention, he exacts
less service in return. The wife in the
old days had hard lot. She was the 81.
lent member Of the matrimonial firm.
Most Of her nature was suppressed. She
was under bonds. Her lord commanded,
and she Obeyed in fear and trembling Of.
tcnlimes. In most cases she wrought
more like slave than wife, and ~ no
slave would. In q cemetery not thou.
sand miles from here stand six black
stones in a row, marking the graves Of
husband and his five wives. Eyes"
said our guide, deacon Smith had five
wives, $50 acres, Is children, the fore.
handedest man in town, and had a famous
funeral An intelligent Coroncr's jury
might discover visible connection be.
tween the aches Of the women and the
acres Of the farm, and attribute their NOR.
tally to something other than the mystic.
rious dispensation Of Providence. The
Modern Husband does not wear his wife
out in butter.making or child.bearing.
She neither weaves nor spins, and the
tailor makes his coat il he does not sew
on his shirt buttons. lie treats his wife
more az companion than drudge. lie
takes pride in her wit, enjoys her singing,
admircs her taste, and il pleased with the
society she draws around their iireside.
The old ardOr ia not utterly gone, though
It no longer flashes into EXPLANATIONS Of
endearment; and ii only needs the breath
Of real occasion to blow what seemed
the dead embers Of affection into bril-.
liant flame. Scarcely day passes that
We do not hear OF some beautiful instance
Of devotion and self.sacrihce on the part
Of those whom il is too much the fashion
to ridicule for selGshness and accuse Of
lnfdclity. The steady toll and devotion
Of lifetime are a thousand times more
precious than gallant protestationS, and
the husbands who stood with folded arms
on the deck Of the sinking steamship,
choosing to go down in death with their
wives rather than escape and leave them
to their fate, illustrate in n picturesque
and thrilling way what thousands Of
modern husbands are doing every day.