The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1891-05-01
a MODEL HUSBAND.
Letters this Interesting Question by
Ladies Competing for the $40 in Gold Prize Offered
by The Columbia Herald.

One essayist on the Model H. said
that "a woman in a mans house is
his slave, but in his heart his queen
1 differ with her there, greatly. Nc
model husband will allow his wife to
be his slave in any sense. She should
be his equal and have her slaves as
well as he. She should be Queen OF
his house and the idol of his heart,
No difference how pOetical or ro-
mantle you may think it is to let
your lover know that you would be
his slave forever because you love
him, don't you let him know it, for
you will soon realize the bitterness of
your thralldom. Love is a sweet
ruler and knows no tyranny, but it
takes model husband to know what
love is and how to rule by it. Often
the knowing and seeing that his wife
goes on wings of love to do his bid
ding, fills his selfish nature to such
an extent, that it turns to command
instead of loving request and then
her love for him is SO great that she
cannct quickly discern the difference
until it is too late; his egOtism has
reached its zenith; he boasts of her
fear of him and she, after years OF
penal servitude, with her quick wO-
man s instinct, finds that her love
had been lost on the "desert air"
Was he model? Before his real
traits were discovered you would
have pronounced him such. 1t takes
years to become fit man ready to
make a model husband. Remember
that Rome was not built in day"
Yes, it takes lifetime tOsbecome fit
for the throne of q Model Husband,
and then often is the case, they go
out of existence an "Old Bachelor"
in spite of all the feminine smiles,
bewitching glances, flowers, ETC., that
are showered upon them.
You can judge most generally Of a
model man by a model boy. Men are
treacherous animals; I'd as soon trust
as slick an object as banana peel to
lodge upon telegraph wire when
thrown from a third story window,
as to trust a wayward boy or a fop-
pish lover to make q steady and
model husband for some rosebud
beauty. When you see a discour-
teOus brother, an unapprecfative son,
mark it down, he will prove to- be a
careless lover, GLOSSY" husband, q
"don't care manager" and finally die
uncared for, unhOnored, unwept, and
unsung, and deserve for his epitaph /:
"Poorly lived and poorly died,
Poorly buried and none cried,"
except his widow, who, through
courtesy kept her faded handkerchief
"a souvenir of their hOneymoon) up
10 her eyes. But this is not telling
you what L consider a Model Hus-
band.
Do you think I would call him a
second Hannibal? No, for though
he possessed many fine traits OF char
acter, he was too full of revenge to be
a man, much less a Model Man.
Would l want him to be a veritable
Caesar? No, for Caesar was piece Of
personified selfishnt So. Would
lacy him like Alexander, ambi-
tious, w0rld-renOwned? No, no, not
that. Would 1 wish him a Napo-
leon? No, for as the world trembled
at the strength of his sword, so might
quake at the sound of his ice
Give me Punishment, but not a Ma
pOleOn. But dear ones of the weaker
sex, you who have fallen into the
sanre set for unwary feet, do not seek
revenge by' applying to a divorce
Court and the like, for like XerXes,
you would only lash the waves for de-
stroying your hopes and pleasures, to
hear them mOckingly deride you as
they lash themselves upon the rock
bound coast. You would only 'es-
cape Charybadis to be lost in Scylla. "
TO the single ones, | would say that
you may have your hero pictured with
laughing eyes of heavens own blue,
hair that rolls back from his high and
fair brow like waves of golden light
or he may have eyes as dark and
twInkling as a wild gaZelle, with tan
ned complexion and manly form, but
let him be deficient in his deport-
ment to his sister, mother or wife, he is
no part OF that being God created and
called Man. | care not whether he
is as dark as Othello, the Moor, or az
fair as the loving BassaniO, so his
morals are of the purest type and his
love for his wife answering. He
must have the gentle love Of Ba5sa-
nio for his PortIa, the true love and
appreciation OF Romeo for his Juliet,
10 such an K ent that he would die
for her.
1 detest a man when he sees a
painted, haggard, pinched face of an
old maid, to sarcastically remark that
she reminded him forcibly of her
when in her youthful days, or If he
sees beautiful and elegantly dress
ed woman to say that she was pretty
but not near so beautiful as his wife,
when she knew that he only wished
her at home that he might smile,
fl and perhaps walk square or Two
beside her angelic form.
Iadore man who thinks his wife
the contest" woman in the world
(even if she has a wart on her nose)
and when visitors are in the parlor,
help her entertain them in royal
style, il it be only singing a lul-
Iaby to baby in the farthest corner OF
the nursery while she sings "Home
sweet home, there is no place like
home", to some Operatlc air in the
drawing room.
In the days of Scipio, you have
heard, the royal families had rings or
seals bestoW ed upon the male pOr-
tiOn of the family and when a son
lacked any good characteristic OF that
family, he was bereft of that royal
seal. So in these days God has be-
slowed upon every man q seal. 1t
shines in his eyes, upon his brow, and
is planted deeply in his heart. 1t is the
seal of a Model Husband. A model
husband delights to make the seal
that God has given him lustrous and
illustriOus in the eyes of his wife first
and then the world will not be- long
in finding it ont, for she was meant to
he the one to tell it.
One great pearl in that seal is love.
Love makes the whole domain of
home a Paradise, whereas the lack OF
it, Gahenna. How many poor souls
are bereft of that one great pleasure,
home. No man is a model who con-
templates matrimony without first
contemplating that most essential
part OF married life, which makes it
joy of untold bliss aud harmony for
. er, bright and happy home.
When once domiciled in that little
world of her own, home, she can
make il an Eden for him she loves by
the de-t work of her dainty VIII t.
hands. If he fails to cooperate with
her in this!W Ork, that ~, tail to provide
her with the neCessaries TO make home
bright and felicitous, he may expect
should be metei out his full share of
and unhappiness,
y hich naturally result from the un-'
ion of two who are neither models,
now nor were they before. If they
had been, happiness would have
reigned supreme in that home. No
model man will think of such thing
as marrying before he looks after the
WelfaIe of the one who shares it with
him. He plans for the future enjoy
ment of both by investing time, tai
MT and energies in that one great
spot, the acme of eontentmeDt and
Joy, Home. Lets draw two pictures
Fancy home, a wife, a husband.
Tis near dusk, she is all expectancy.
the snrly husband comes blu ldering
a Il