The Helena independent., 1893-12-03
roo STRICTLY DOMESTIC.
Wives Who Arc Overmuch ABSORBED
III Ia the iffAirs Of Their
Household.
Husbands Sometimes Driven to
Sock Relief at Their
Social Cluba
Discouraged BY Tiresomc Small Talk and
Through Failure 70 Enlarge
Fields Of Thought

The union of many couples would ar.
pcar TO lie rather disunion, SO rarely are
they seen together so little have they to
show in common. Such of their neigh
bors md acquaintances as take it on them.
selves to criticise their relation are apt to
blame the husband for neglecting his wife,
fsr seeking recreations and pleasures in
which she cannot share. While the blame
may in such cases be generally deserved,
Il is not always. There are women, and
not few, no absorbed in their own
homes, in their children and all household
details, as to leave small space for any
large consideration OF their husbands.
They nrc the women known as entirely,
strictly domestic. No man, however cx-
acting matrimonially, could ask for more
physical comfort, for ampler supervision
Of his material concerns. than they pro-
vide.
p The husband and father Is inscparable
from the home, is part Of the household
and Is included therefore in their idea rs
well rs their ideal Of domesticity. But
their idea does not embrace his intellectual
needs his wholesome appetite for variety,
his reminiscent love of his early married
days. In regard to their ideal, though
they may talk Of it, they really have none.
Their minds are surcharged with n solemn
sense Of duty, and duty lies, as they think,
In Il narrow round Of practicalities They
are supreme housewives and most devoted
mothers. They look after everything them
selves 80 far as possible, leaving the drudg-
cry to servants, but ncting MS constant SUI
peryisors. Having no executive power,
Z they are without faith in subordinates,
and as u result they are overwhelmed
with tasks that they might better have
delegated to others. They are acquainted
with the exact condition of the lnrder and
their song and daughters wardrobes, and
they plume themselves immensely on such
knowledge. It belongs to their domes-
ticity, about which they are easily fiatter.
Cd, and Of which they are ever prating.
The virtue Of domesticity indeed, as they
practice it, acquires strong seasoning OF
vice--at least in the eyes Of their husbands,
who can seldom draw them away from its
contemplation. However domestic hus-
band may be, he can hardly be SO severe
", so superlatively, domestic as wife will
become after following and stimulating
her bent for years. He usually wants
some distraction, soma hint OF novelty,
some Whit OF the outer world. He cannot
1
epic of uxorial cares and trials. The re-
cital Of discorGs in the kitchen, Of trades
mems exofbitant bills, OF the children's
ailments, have their limit of fascination.
If he is not impelled in self defense to seek
the sofa and brief oblivion, which is
negative solace, he goes to a neighbor's,
to an adjacent hotel where his professional
or business associates resort, or to the club,
for company or entertainment. But he
docs not generally adopt such remedies for
relief-men who marry inteligently are
not easily weary Of their hoInes---until he
has tried to beguile his wife out of her set
tied moods and occupations.
Day after day, week after week, month
after month, he has probably labored to
give new direction to her thoughts, q
fresh purpose to her life. Believing that
there 10 m outdoor world not less than TN
indoor world, that domestEity in con-
tracted sense does not embrace the uni
verse, he is pretty likely to attempt to
wean her from its engrossmeut by various
devices. He may have offered to read her
new volume Of poems or essays, the last
clever novel Or record of travel in strange
lands. He may have urged her to read to
him some OF the delightful things they
pored over, head to heart, in their wooing
time or their honeymoon. lie may have
invited her to short evening strolls they |
were once so fond of, to hear music, to see
plays, to take journeys endeared by asso-
ciatiOn. She has not, by any means, in
variabIy declined. In truth, she has often |
accepted with warmth, but her warmth
lesscned as she fulfilled her acceptances
When read to, she grew drowsy. When |
she read herself, she was soon tired. After
nYta f,ryx, f,rll Id 1tAf hat fS1, h.1
neglected some household duty. Music ,
made her nervous. The theater wearicd !
her. Journeys ntcrfered with the mater
nal plans she had formed. "After ALL"
she sighed, there's no place like home;'
and her husband, fully realizing the liter
al truth of her citation, and seeing that he
only bores her by his laudable efforts 30
enlarge her sphere, relinquishes his object
with sorrow and modification.
"Why strive for the impossiblet" he
mentally asks.
There are aggrayations OF domcsticity
that refuse to be cured And to prevent
himself from involution in them he feels
that he musG pursue his own course. He
hesitates; he delays for awhile. Being
wholly loyal and conscientious, pursuit Of
his own course seems at first like partial
dcsertion. lie renews his overturcs to al
leyiate the sameness Of his wife's exis-
tencc but they are politely, perhaps tell
derly declined; yet still declined. He
quickly and clearly perceiyes that she is
raore contented in her self imposed bond
age than in the comparative freedom he
has vainly sought to press upon her. |
1t may be true that man can never Sc
care liberty enough, and that woman may
readily have too much for her own COM
fort.
The mass Of husbands, it may be con-
ceded, are not ailictiyely domestic, but
many, reasonably, healthfully domestic
Mt the outset, have certainly been healed
by the excessive domcsticity of their wives.
And they haze appeared crratic, iucon-
stant, unmarital, from that cause. They
have been harshly judged, too, and will
continue to he.
1t Is Il thousand pities that man really
inclined to domesticity should ever be
made IL whit less domestic by Il constrain-
cd Interpretation of the constituency, on
the part of his wife, of its many and di-
versifed beauties. --Junius Henri Browne
In Harper's Bazaar.
Hood'a Earsapsrilia cures catsrrh ty purifying
the blood and building up the system. lake it
nov.
Drunkenness In England.
The number Of arrests for drunkenness
last year were in London. to every | IL per-