Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-04-21
miscellaneous.
A Few Words to Husbands.

We have frequently read advice to
wives. very good advice too. and as il
costs nothing but little arrangement of
ideas often uppermost in the mind. we
would like to be allowed the privilege Of
saying a few words to husbands.
We know there are many husbands. no
BILE men. who faithfully perform their
part, who cherish their wives as them
selves, and whose lives are above re-
proach. And we know there are worth
less women living lives Of selfish ease.
recklessly spending what their husbands
earn by hard work and ctre-fraught days
and nights: but 1t is not Of these We speak.
but the far greater class of working
women who bear more than an equal pro-
portion Of LIES burdens.
We have read much on the subject Of
making home happy. and it is generally
considered to be something the RESPONSE
bilitv Of which rests wholly with the wife.
All, but we don't believe it. II takes
more than one to make home happy. al
though one can make it miserable. One
great cause Of unhappiness in the house.
hold seems to be that women do not smile
enough. What if there be nothing to
smile for? We have certainly seen some
overworked and unappreciated ones who,
to our thinking, had not much 10 smile for,
unless II was that the good God would pres
emily take them home to rest; who made
home always neat and tasteful. as far as
they had means tn do il whose meals were
well cooked (if that will preserve love,
and who were models OF economy: but it
was q thankless service. patiently rem
dered. And their husbands were not in
tentionally unkind, but minimizing. and
probably Indifferent. just such men as the
world is full Of--men who would very
quickly detect the first symptoms Of over
work in horse. but would suffer the
women they call their wives to toll on I'M
til malady. physical. mental and perhaps
moral is fastened upon them. that no earth
1y power can remove. We have often
wondered that husbands could not see and
value more The services OF q wife. into
every one Of which is woven so much OF
her life-strength and vitality. and why
they could not sometimes bear with a
hasty word uttered in WEAKNESS or weak
ness, for which they claim so much toler
alton ihemselves--why they cannot some |
times see what it is that takes the fire |
from the eye and the elasticity from the |
spirits; and, in short. why so many men |
must expect so much in the way of com
fort and encouragement and give as little |
as possible in return
Il is said that n man comes in at night,
tired from business cares and annOyances,
TO rest and, no matter how cross or abb
stracted he may be, his wife must be all
smiles and pleasantness. What right have
you. husbands. TO drag in your cares and |
place the burden upon her who. perhaps.
was up half the night with the teething
child while you slept. ard whose whole |
day has been one round of never-ending.
wearying work ? And. worse yet, what
moral right have YOU to bring home the
ill-temper others have caused. and vent it on
the woman you protested before God and
man to love better than all the world be-
sideP Why should you give her sharp
answers and hasly language that. if given
tn business acqutintances, would Justify |
them in putting you from their presence,
simply because she has no one whose
right il is TO protect her from You. and il
she complains. lament that her temper is
not as good rs it used to be when you
married herP
Surely II was not so with you in your
counting days! Were YOU not very
thoughtful of her then? Were you not |
interested if she had only headache P
and her head never ached then as it has
done since. or her heart either. for
that matter. Did YOU not remem-
Der the holidays and birthdays with |
some little token which, however
small was cherished for the g,ver's sake |
and If yon heard her express a wish for |
some pretty life. or n.w book. did YOU
not esteem il Il pleasure to get ii for her +?
Now she gets nothing without asking for
1t, and sometimes not then. Ii she is de- |
pressed. do you kindly enquire into the
cause. or does she bear all her burdens
alone, and yours alsop Ii she complains
Of physical weakness, do you see that she
has the rest and attention she needs, or do
you call II a woman's nervousness, and
forget it The moment you close the door
after you' In those days you used tn tell
her how dear to you she was. Perhaps il
Is years since YOU have told her anything
Of the kind. although there are many rea-
sons why she should be dearer now than
then.
If your wife is silent and undemonstra-
tive. it may be because she is too proud to
beg for what you do not voluntarily yield.
If she is changed from what she once was.
there Is some good reason for it; and il
would be well il every man knew that the
best part of woman's life dies out when
she discovers that marriage is the end in
stead Of the beginning of love.