Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1885-04-11
"Judicious and "Pruning'' Wives.

'JuO1ClOuS ana "HrU01nR' WIVES
Boston Globe
"a judicious wife," says Ruskin, ais
always nipping off from her husband
moral nature little twigs that are
growing in wrong directions. She keeps
him in shape by continual pruning"
If this is true, there are few points
of minor morals, that is manners, on
which I wish some of my married
friends would give their husbands q
course of instruction. And first of these
is something which they were supposed
to have learned in dancing schools or in
the nursery at home-that is, how to
make bow to lady," They acquit
themselves pretty creditably on state
occasions, during introduction ceremon-
les, and so forth, but the average man is
lamentably careless in the matter Of
street salutations, and not one in a
hundred but what would get q new idea
or two on the subject if you read him
the follwing paragraph from The Mentor.
In public the bow is the proper mode
of salutation' and according to circum-
stances, it should be familiar, cordial
respectful or formal. An inclination of
the head or a gesture with the hand or
cane suffices between men, except when
one would be specially deterrent as to
age or position; but in salutiug lady
the hat should be removed. A very
common mode of doing this at present,
particularly by the younger men, is to
jerk the hat off and sling it on
as hastily as possible. As
hast is incompatible with grace, and as
there is an old pantomimic law that
"every picture must be held" for
longer or shorter time, the jerk-and-sling
manner of removing the hat in salutation
is not to be commended. The empress
ment man puts into his salutation is
graduated by circumstances, the most
diferential manner being to carry the
hat down the full length of the arm,
keeping it there until the person saluted
has passed. fla man stops to speak to
lady in the street he should remain
uncovered. unless the conversation
should be protracted, which it is sure
not to be if either of the party knows
and cares to observe the prophecies. A
well-bred man, meeting a lady in a
public place, though she is a near
relative mother or sister-and
though he may have parted from her
but half an hour before, will salute her
as diferentially as he would salute a
near acquaintance. The passers-by are
ignorant of the relationship, and to them
bis diferential manner says: "She is q
lady," =
Then there's the matter of tobacco.
OF course you and every other
woman agree with Mrs. Frances
Harper when she said, at the women's
congress not long since, that she thought
it the proper thing for man to keep
his mouth nice enough to be kissed.
But if your husband will smoke, do use
your influence to have him do it like q
gentleman, if possible. That is let him
put but as much of his cigar in his
mouth as is necessary, and never fail
to remove it when be talks or passes any
one towards whom he would be respect
convince him if you can that our best
an hour when it is much frequented, nor |
likely to be offensive to others. /
And this suggests another thing; do
excuse me for speaking of anything so
but won't you please ask
him not to use all creation for cuspi-
dore? Just remind him that women
have to use the public sidewalkes, and
staircases and cars, and that nothing can
prevent dress skirts from brushing stairs
Dr. resting on car floors, no matter how
vile said stairs and floors may be. If
every wife would, to quote Ruskinis
igure again, "prune" her husbands evil
in this direction, we might
nave an abatement of what is now an
Noticeable nuisance.
Still another point on the whole,
You are talking to an average man
md wish to keep him good tempered,
,erhaps 'twould be better to change the
ubject now and have the rest for some
'ther day.
Bureau Of Animal Industry.