Evening journal., 1900-02-17
Question of Words and Acts Of
Affection Between Husband
and Wife in Public.
WARD RIEs' SENTIMENTS
WHY SHOULD a MAN PRETEND
IN THE PRESENCE OF OTHERS
THAT HIS WIFE Is NOT MORE IN
HIS AFFECTION THAN THEY?
tFor the Evening Journal by Ward
RESI-

Ries.l
Every once In a while | see IL stated
in some newspaper. magazine essay or
iackadalsical sort Of book that it Is bad
form. bad taste. impolite, undigniaed
and evidence Of Ignorance for a man TO
exhibit affection for his wife In COM
pany; or for wife: in the presence OF
others, to manifest her love for her
husband
And 1t always makes me mad that
assertion
The love that is in our hearts is the
only thing in us that is divine. Sure
ly love will cover a multitude OF sins
when we come to be judged In the final
balancing Of our accounts-which at
best must be bad.
Every exhibition Of love Is inevitably
a purifying influence in the world; for
love sOftens ana warns and eeNalcs
and purifies all that II touches Like
the air and the sunshine a is the great
disinfectant
l never read treatise or book on
etiquette or department or good man
ners in my life
No doubt all who associate with me
know that fact quite as well as ! know
it. Necessarily my department must
be eloquent with that information, al
Though / seek to be at all times, in all
places, under all conditions. a gentle
man In demeanor.
You see, am without the advan-
tages Of early conditions that polish
one for association in society. I was
born on a prairie. was reared I'm the
woods and had my only training in
youth in the ranks of a fighting regi-
lment.
Neither upon the frontier prairie, in
1.-THE mountain forest nor as a soldier at
tne front does one acquire society poi
lish. These severally impart quallfica-
luons that equip for solid good work:
but they do not refine the hand to such
lextent that Il would paralyza and
wither II 1t was employed to lift the
knife 10 the mouth at lunch. Now. I
never at any period OF my life. ate
with my knife; yet l was 40 years old
before ] knew that 10 Is bad form TO do
so. Those who did so were always Of
lfonsivc TO me in thrt act: but I did not
susyect them Of bad form. ] was 80
years old before ] leamed-by an edi-
ltorial Of the late brilliant o. II. Roth
aker-that the only proper way to eat
soup is to sweep the spoon across the
dish from you and TO sip 10 from the
side OF the spoon, never tipping the
dish.
am appalled, when ! consider how
many other little things OF this sort |
may be ignorant OF. and by which /
may be daily proclaiming my prairie
nativity, mountain rearing and cam
paign training.
The particular item that awakes my
wrath just now Is a newspaper article
In which the oracle forbids words anu
acts Of marked affection" for husband
and wife, except in sacred privacy.
The article asserts that when, IN COM
pany Of others. the husband and wife
address each other as dear they gen.
orally create the Impression that they
> are very soft" Il quotes from Julia
Ward Howe an account OF a dinner
that she and her husband took in COM
pany with Charles Dickens and others
. thus
After dinner while We were taking
coffee in the sitting roo,, ] had occa-
sicn to speak to my husband, and ad-
dressed him as darling. Thereupon
! Dickens slid down to the floor, and
lying on his back, held up one OF his
r small feet, quivering with pretended
emotion. Did she call him darling &?
I he cried"
What a savage one must be- to be in.
Z dignant at the dead Yet / am shocked
at the i'll manners OF Charles Dickens
c on that occasion!
notwithstanding from III,
tenor of the article-Mr Dickens re-
y garded Mrs. Howe az contemptlbly sof
I and ludicrously unpublished in manners
S AS for myself, ! would regard a mar
g uncouth and wholly devoid OF goo,
: manners ii | saw him. in a company o.
a ladies and gentlemen, slide from hi
chair to the floor, stick his legs int,
the air and wallow upon the rugs an,
lroar about the admission OF a wife tina
Il she held her husband dearl
4 To my unrefined intellect Il Is pre-
8 lposterous to require us to suppress tb
II affection that bubbles in our hearts TO
e our wives, our husbands our children
u land our cndeared kindred.
Why, pray, should / conduct mysel
in the presence of others as Though
loved my wife no more than I low
z those others? I may admire them yer,
z much indeed, but ] love her. To m
o she is dearer than them all II tn
& lchoice lay between shielding her iron
N pain and them from death. she woul
Is be spared the pain. Then why shoul
pretend-hy avoiding tender acts an
words-in their presence that she /
not more in my affection than an
le lother?
n I'll see 'em hanged drst
is loved her before / knew them. Cod.
lr how she absorbed my soul and rule
r my life in our young uaysl There !
no delight awaiting the eternally bles
in the vicinity of the Throne that ca
so enthrall and consume the sense c
,y being as that enrapturlne captivity {
:. the heart the love Of tbs youthfu
for his youthful wife
Z How round and rosy and soft an
lriuur ana fair hr~ farr +larrf IL.