Weekly graphic., 1884-01-18
SunshiniRg Husbands.

We men who often think our wives
to blame for domestic clouds, should
read and ponder the following remarks
by Mrs. Margaret f. Sangstei, in The
Congregationalist;
We read so much about the obliga-
ton laid upon the wife to be perpet-
ual sunbeam in the house that word
to husbands on the same topic may
not be amiss.
A cheerful atmosphere is important
to happy home life. 1t is very hard
tor children to be good, when they are
exposed to an incessant hailstorm of
fault finding from their parents. 1t is
very difficult for a wife to maintain a
calm and charmingly sweet demeanor
when her husband is critical, cynical
or sullen, and takes all her tender ef-
forts with indifferent appreciation.
know full well the air of polite
amazement, or amiable lncrelulty
with which men receive the statement
of woman's opinion that, in the home
partnership, wife and not husband
pulls the laboling oar. Still it is true
that let mans business be ever so
engrossing, ever so wearlsome, ever
SC laborious, the mere fact that he goes
to il in the morning and returns from
| it at night, sets him above his wife in
ease and comfort. For him, the slave
ry of routine, has its intervals and its
breaks. He gets breath of the world
outside; he has change Of scene daily;
he sees people and hears them talk
and his home is distinctly his refuge
and shelter.
Let a wife and mother love her
home and her children with the most
absolute, unanswering devotion, ano
serve them with the most unselfish fidel-
ity, there are, nevertheless, times when
she is very weary. She knows better
than any one else, the steps and the
stitches, the same thing done over and
over, and the pettiness of the trials
that come to nursery and kitchen.
They are so Insignificant that she is
ashamed to talk about them, and |
fear she sometimes forgets to tell her
Savior how hard they press her, and
so, bearing her cross all alone its
weight becomes crushing.
A sunshiny husband makes
a merry, beautiful home, worth
having, worth working in and for If
the man is breezy, CHEEKY, considerate,
and sympathetic, his wife sings in her
heart over her puddings and her mend
ing basket, counts the hours until he
returns at night, andrenews her youth
in the security she feels of his appro-
baton and admiration.
You may think i: weak and childish
if you please, but it Is the admired
wife who hears words Of praise and re-
ceives smiles Of commentator, who Is
capable, discreet, and executive. l
have seen timid, meek, self distrust-
ing l;ttle body, fairly bloom into strong.
self-reliant womanhood. under the
tonic and cordial companionship with
husband who really went out Of his
way to find occasions for showing her
how fully he trusted her judgement,
and how tenderly he deferred to her
opinion.
In home life there should be no jai, &,
no striving for place no insisting on
prerogatives, or division of interests.
The husband and the wife are each
the complement of the other. And it
is Just as much his duty to be cheerful,
as it is hers to be patient; his right to
bring Joy into the door, as 1t is hers to
sweep and garnish the pleasant inter-
ior. A family where the daily walks
of the father makes life festival, is
filed with something like heavenly
: benediction.