Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-05-15
ABOUT HUSBANDS.
Circle of Matrons Air Their Views Un
on the Subject.

on the SUBJECT.
There is but one thing that a young
woman who has but recently gone and
gotten herself married should be adj
vised against; that is, any sentimental
etfusiveness upon conjugal happiness
in the presence of women who have
been wed some time, says Maude An
drews in the Atlanta Constitution. No
matter how happily mated these danes
may be, they feel in duty bound to
snub any expression of faith and con-
tentment on the part of the bride of a
few weeks. They like to tell pleasant
little stories concerning the fidelity
of implicitly trusted husbands; their
fondness for night keys, club suppers,
cards; their peculiar exactions, eccen-
tricities, etc.
CHANGED the other day to drop in
upon a circle of those matrons when a
two weeks bride called. The subject
of marriage was brought up and the
bride ventured to assert that it was not
always failure.
Then there was an expressive shrug
and a cynical smile from her listeners,
one of whom said:
"Oh. but you've only been married
a short while. It's all very pretty now
if it would only last"
Well" hopefully, sit has lasted
with my mother and father some twen-
ty-odd years"
'Its an Inheritance, then Why, l
wish I'd inherited popularity of that
kind from my parents
II think American women are more
to be envied than any wives on earth"
said another. II had a friend who
said she never knew what happiness
was until she married an American.
Her first husband was Spaniard, who
loved her madly, and her life was in
danger from his jealousy. The second
was an Englishman, so cold and selfish
that she'd rather have had him kill her
than live with him. The third was an
American, neither warm nor cold, and
he gave her as much money as she
wanted and let her do as she pleased"
Now, that's my idea of happinessm
said a pretty young matron. What
more then a plenty of liberty and
plenty of money" What is the jealous
love of Spaniard beside shekels and
freedompn
81 don't believe in jealous husbands"
said woman whose husband might
have been so with some cause. Very
jealous men are apt TO be selfish. They
value you not for what you are, but for
what you are estimated to be by 9TH
ers. Such men need constant stimu-
liant to their affections.
What sort of husbands do you all
believe in?" exclaimed the newly made
matron, desperately.
"For my part" replied careful
matron with several daughters to mar
ry, II should prefer a widower, well
off, and with no children, of course
He should be about 40 yeers old, and
must have been a devoted husband to
his first wife. Such man has lived
over the vagaries of youth. He has
sowed wild oats and anchored stead
lastly his ship of love until it was
blown away by the wind of eternity.
He has known life's greatest joys and
deepest SORROWS. He knows how to
appreciate profoundly the love of
woman, and having learned many les
sons in human nature he will neither
be too exacting nor uncomprehending
I'd rather have the first love of a man,
even if it were exacting, and even if
we didn't always understand each 9TH
er. | should want to feel that | had
been the first to share his heart and
life.''
Il believe widower of 40 is prefer
able to a bachelor of the same age"
said one who had reason to know.
People talk of its being better to be
an old mans darling than young
mans slave, but | believe that the wo-
men who marry old bachelors are the
worst slaves on earth. Then there are
other objections besides unreasoning
selishness to unmarried men from 40
on. Such individuals seldom strike a
happy mean. They are either prudes
or roues If the former. they are fixed
in their prim, old-maidish habits; if
the latter, they have past that will
not bear investigation.
People are always talking of the
horror of marrying old maids and
can't see why there isn't more said con-
corning the horror of marrying old
bachelors men whose sentiments have
generally soured, whose tastes and
habits have settled into selfish narrow
lives. who have lived so long without
the companionship of women that they
can't understand or enjoy their natures
when they get married. O.d-bachelor
husbands are crusty, suspicious every
thing that should cause the women who
have wed them to be pitied."
Here the party was interrupted by
the entrance of the hostess husband,
and the just-married young woman
went to her home, doubtless with a
perturbed spirit. She has a lifetime
to moralize upon matrimony, and per-
haps she can solve the riddle at the
end.