Semi=weekly graphic., 1899-03-29

some acauain tancesswhich I formed few years ago in a hotel outside of Boston was one man whose answer interested me very much when l asked him whyi he and his wife no longer lived together. Of course I expected be would say that she had been unfaithful to him in the mar riage relation. But no.sWhat then2 Too much dust pan and brush. "She was forever round with the dust pan and brush, said he. Of course there were other causes that led to tEe separation, but among the various disagreable things in his life with her which he recalled was this scene of discomfort that arose from her habit of excessive neat ness.
 His answer impressed me greatly and in this Sunday morning letter I want to say some things in behalf of those husbands who are the victims of wivesswho act as if they believed that their one all absorbing duty in the home is to keep it free from dust. We believe in marriage, and shall often dip our pen in defense of the best of married life. But we have seen some women pardon us whom we think would be better off in the ranks of spinstorhood than as wives in the home. For some things these women deserve praise, for they are economical, good cooks, pure as a sunbeam, but they are so very particular about having everything in the house in such apple pie order-such slaves to the broom-that they rob homes of the home-like atmosphere.
 NEAT BUT NOT TOO NEAT.
 Of course the average man wants wife who by nature is neat Walls festooned with eobwebs have no particular attraction for him. He likes to see his wife neatly dressed but for the fuss-and- feather type of woman-that destroyer of solid com fort in the home nest-well, to put it lightly, he has no use for her. You recognise the woman, do you not? Everything in the house must be placed just so, and it must stay as t is put, or woe be to the trans gressor.
 Coats and hats are left around at the peril of ones happiness. "John why don't you hang things away? And John, poor fellow, hears this SC often that he thinks of himself as a sort Eof executioner, looking for something to hang, and we fear that he feels at times as if he would like to hang his beloved nagger.
 No careless leaving of ones shoes around. Not a bit of it. They must be set away neatly. Toes pointing a5 right angles with the mop board. Don't leave things around" Familiar warning. How it haunts you. Until you come tc feel as if you might leave yourself around ln some unguarded nom snt. TIDES, LIKE CHINESE
 MUST GO
 There are the tldies, man speela abomination; with a sort of I've been placed-here appearance. things to be looked at but not to be han dled. One must not lay head a gainst them, for that would soi them or else get them out of place
 Comfort? Happiness of homei What are these things besides the importance of order? Even ths books on the table are piled with brick mason orderliness. lRThey have been piled this way for years, same books, same piles, and a photograph of the table as it looked last year would do for this year. If book is removed it is to be put back where it came from. ''Put tha book back where it came iron" is heard by the children as soon as the "Now I lay me' and the cry haunti them alI through childhood.