The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-09-07
How Family Difficulties Come About.
The French proverb that to know a man

The French proverb that to know man
YOU must "learn to live with him" ap-
plies with full force to the members of
family. Husband and wife, and children
and parents, should, by the terms of their
condition, and the laws of all sound mo-
rality and manners, be content, if not hap
Ply, with each other. So to do, they must
each sacrifice something of their own
whims and preferences to the others. I'm
fortunately it rather happens that each is
inclined to demand and expect compli-
ance, rather than to concede and find
pleasure in giving way for the gratifica-
ton of the household. Family difficult
ties usually begin in the merest trifles;
and tempers are soured by continued prac-
Using of little disagreeables.
The husband is the traditional "tyrant'
in the house. Taking men as they run,
this character will fit no small number.
SO, at least, the women say. But it GER
tainly is in their power to disarm the mar
ried ogre, if they will set about it careful
ly. If he wants raspberries (when in
season. let him have them without sauce,
and if chickens, let him eat them-pro-
viding he provides the wherewith to pur-
chase them. Not only in matrimonial
disputes. but in all others, time is wasted
upon mere incidentals and collaterals, to
the sacrifice of matters of vital impor-
lance, and issues are made upon little
things which throw aside the great OBJ
jects Of existence-"li life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness
1t cannot be denied that the wife often
finds the husband "the plague of her life"
He will come in redolent with tobacco
which she hates-or, worse still, will flu
migate her upholstery. If he does not
bring on his breath the smell of the
"weepings of the golden grain,' the
smoke of tobacco may be condoned and
endured. Yet, let the men think little
Let them imagine their wives addicted to
co is to women. It is much to be feared
that the husbands would prove by no
means as tolerant as the wives of whom
they complain.
There is one terror of women which
cannot be laughed away or "pooh- poohed"
out of sight. 1t is when she sees the hab-
it of conviviality, or what is worse, of SOL
itary indulgence in drink growing upon
her husband. Women are quick to no.
tice; and since they are dependent on
their husbands, are naturally and proper
ly alive to fear. Their remonstrances may
seem over earnest, and their fears for the
future exaggerated. Yet in how many
cases does the terror of a mother for her
son, or wife for her husband, prove to
have fallen short of the apprehended
misfortune, rather than to have
overrated it. The misery which overtakes
a wife or mother when the husband or the
son makes shipwreck of himself and of
the household, when the family can no
longer look to him for aid, or treat him
with respect, is something awful. Is it
not sometimes the case that all the ILL
humor and Indifference of which hus-
bands complain is but the result of
woman's fear, which she dare not fully
confess? And may not the answering
GOODNESS or asperity of the husband be the
effect of his consciousness that he is in the
wrong? We have spoken of trifles as the
cause of family difficulties. But when
apparent trifles have their origin in SO
deep an evil as this, they can be consid.
cred trifles no longer. The man who
knows that his wife's short answers and
anxious face arise from her fears for him
should begin to fear for HIMSELF and by
prudent REIMBURSEMENT of what threatens
his happiness, bring back the sunshine tc
his household. philadelphia Ledger.