The record-union., 1893-10-10
HEARFLESS HUSBANDS.
BeseIena Prods Them With Very
Sharp Stick.
Mans Inhumanity to Woman. After
Having Promised to Love, Honor
and Protect Her.


Everyone, women especially, is inter
ested in weddings. Just what the par
ticular attraction is, it is hard 10 say, but
for ali that the attraction is there think
it is in the fact that it brings to the mind
of a woman who is happily married her
own wedding day, and to the unmarried
maiden there rises visions of time
when she too, will stand before the altar,
her hand in that of her true knight
when she, too, will promise to love.
honor and obey until death them do part.
That is the secret of the attraction, or
fascination, or what you may call 1t, do
you not think so, my friend? l know
the ladies will agree with me, and as for
the gentlemen, we'll, they will agree, too.
But they won't admit it, oh, dear, no
That would be lowering themselves too
far from the pedestal of lofty and sub
lime indifference upon which the average
man elevates himself after ne is married.
There are some men who ain to be
sentimental and glory in it, too. They
are not ashamed to let the world see that
they are still in love with their wives,
and the world sees and approves. There
are a few who laugh and scott, but in
their heart Of hearts they approve, and
the women whose husbands never cease
being lovers make the happiest women,
the best wives and the most loving and
thoughtful mothers.
man who is afraid of what the world
will say, and consequently treats his wife
with Indifference, is not deserving of that
greatest Of all blessings good Wife.
But, as ill-luck or an adverse fate will
have it, it usually happens that woman
with a loving disposition is linked for
life with man her opposite in every
particular. Her heart is starving for
some little word-some trifling act which
will prove that she is not forgotten, and
that the love which was once kindled has
not entirely died out-but she waits in
vain. If she is weak woman she seeks
elsewhere for the love she does not re-
ceiVe at home. And when it is too late
the injured husband wonders what caused
the domestic unhappiness; but he never
thinks of looking to himself.
"Oh, yes" he will say, if you ask him
if he doesn't love his wife? OF course, he
loved her, but he was a man who never
showed his feelings. That is a poor ex-
cuse, my friends, for many heartache is
borne silently and uncomplainingly by
many woman.
These thoughts were suggested to me
by wedding which [ attended not very
long ago. The bride was a pretty, affec-
tionate little creature, and the groom
loved her, after his fashion, but his
fashion was not to show his true feeling.
My heart ached for that little girl as /
thought of what her lot would be in the
future, bound for life to a cold, Indifferent
man, whose one aim was business, whose
one god was money. He married be-
cause he wanted a brilliant, accomplished
woman to bear his name, entertain his
guests, and sit at the head of his table.
She would be well supplied with money,
she would be mistress of fine house,
and would have servants to wait upon
her.
saBut is that everything that life holds?
Is there not something in every woman's
nature that Graves for something more,
something higher, brighter and above all
sordid earthly possessions? All, yes, my
friend. there is: and that something is
love. a simple little word, indeed, but
oh, how much it means! What great
possibilities it contains! A mans happi-
ness and woman's happiness are bound
UP in it. II a woman thinks she is not
beloved by her husband, because he has
ceased paying her those little attentions
so dear to every truly feminine heart,
and which he used TO perform before
marriage, the woman is very apt to feel
injured; her most sacred feelings have re-
ceived wound from which it is not easy
to recover, and in nine cases out of ten
she will make the home life unhappy. She
compares her lot with that of her neigh
boris, and her heart swells with indigna-
ton when she sees her neighbours hus-
band greet his wife atfectionately.
A man need not be ostentatious before
others in his affection; if he is, then one
is very liable to doubt its genuineness.
There is happy modicum, which lew
men possess, but which it would be wise
if all would try and cultivate. 1t is not a
manner which proclaims in stentorian
tones: ''Look at mel | want the whole
world to see that l love my wife!" These
over-demonstrative men are the very fell
lows who beat and otherwise abuse their
wives in private. Neither is it a cold and
calm indifference, which says, with a
shrug: Il love my wife in my own
fashion, but my fashion is not the kind
that shows Itself. She ought to know l
love her, and if she doesn't l can't help
it."
One OF these women is afraid of her
husband; the other is having her heart
starved and withered. She is seeking
about for someone or something upon
which to bestow her woman's love. The
husband doesn't want it, SO she turns for
comfort sometimes to her children, and if
she hasn't any she lavishes ituDou pug
dog or cat. or, worse still, some man
becomes facinated with her and she gives
him her heart, because the man who is
not her husbandshows her that he loves
her. 1t is wrong-all wrong-and every
one condemns her very properly, but the
provocation was great. She was only
poor. weak, erring woman, starving for
husbands love, which she did not re-
ceive.
Let the men of to-day take my little
lecture to heart; let them enter upon
measure of reformation from this time
forward toward their wives, and see if
they are not happier themselves, their
wives more loving and their homes
pleasant places of refuge after the days
work is done. This is the advice of
BEsELENA.
Seattle, Wash, Oct. 3, 1893.