The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-01

evening paper he would rush down and
get one and listen to my last requests
afterwards. The next time 1 pick a
husband it will be one who can't read"
well, my husband reads, too,''
mourned the 7. NJ. so 1 haven't any
He goes out to play cards three nights
a week, and plays solitaire or reads
whenever he's at home"
Whats the objection?'' inquired the
Bachelor, who is just trembling on the
verge of matrimony. why shouldn't
they read? What do you want them to
do? Sit and gaze into your eyes every
minute and tell you how much they love
you?"
yes. that's what they want" the
husband answered for them. Harry
if l got a dollar every time my wife
asks me if 1 love her I'd have John D.
Rockefeller looking like pauper by
comparison"
That's not what we want at ALL
snapped the Wise One. Women only
want them to pay little attention to
US, not act as if they didn't know we
were alive What would you think of
a man who didn't say half a dozen
words to his wife in two days, especially
if he hadn't been t home for three
weeks? Is that your idea of the be-
haviour of a loving husband?'
why 'not?" replied the Bachelor. Its
no evidence that a man doesn't love his
wife because he isn't perfectly attentive
to her every minute. or because he likes
a book or a newspaper. He likes to
have her with him; is glad t..
know she's there even if he doesn't look
up from every page to tell her so. His
wife knows it; she doesn't have to be
told That's the reason he married her.
Her presence is the greatest comfort to
him. He wouldn't enjoy his reading
half so much if she weren't in the same
ROOM"
..Fol-de-rol!" retorted the Wise One.
He doesn't even know that she's there.
A man has no more heart than. She
paused at loss for an adequate COM
parison but her expression spoke vol
umes.
"A young woman of my acuuaint-
ance," was the Bachelors next rather
irrelevant remark. told me the other
day that she'd planned only one room
in our house and that is my den: and
she added that she never expected to
enter it without an invitation"
Shed better make the most of the in
vitations she gets during the honey
moon, then. advised the Y NJ, be
cause if you ever take the trouble to in
vite her after you've been married six
months you'll be different from any OF
the husbands of my experience"
"She will always be welcome" return
ed the Bachelor with dignity. Il will
! have an invitation engraved and hung
upon the door reading Mr.. Harry will
any time.
''Ah!" exclaimed the Oracle, whose al
most unbrolken silence up to this point
might well have been considered omi-
nous. don't you see that that is Just
what the Y. NJ. and the Wise One and
every other married woman objects to;
That is the very thing that every hus-
1 band does, fguratiVely speaking: hangs
an invitation on the door the day he is
/ married and feeling that he has done
his whole dnfU never Owes If another
! thought. For a while that invitation
answers all purposes. 1t is fresh and
new and the words stand out clearly sc
that the wife and all the rest of the
world can see and she is satisfied. But
/ afterwards it becomes dusty and fly
specked and faded and begins to cur
up at the corners and its original effect
| of compliment and courtesy and hoSpi-
| tality is gone but the husband never
thinks of renewing it. 1t is as depreSS
ing as the Christmas greens which you
find in room which has been shut VI
4 after holiday entertaining and not op
ened until the next summer. How is tbs
wife to know that he still means 1t? Car
you marvel she suspects that he has
changed his mind, especially when hil
! other actions frequently indicate that h,
isn't so deliriously joyous at the though
of seeing her at any time as he wa:
when the invitation was first issued? L
it surprising that she wonders, some
times whether he has forgotten al
about the invitation and SUSPECTS hin
of wishing to withdraw or qualify it
Let me tell you, Mr.. Hal, if you want tt
make hit with that young woman wht
is planning your den after she is in
position to accept an invitation to ente
it, make that invitation a daily witt
morning and evening editions and al
I ccasional extra"
There was no use trying to stop, tn,
Oracle after she had this much of
start so the others listened patientl,
and said nothing.
THE Wise One denies that a wifi
wants her husband to be constant.
telling her that he loves her, but MI
Tom is nearly right. Something a goot
deal like that is what a woman want
and it's funny but they seem to car
more for those loving avowals from
husband than from a lover although
lover is whole lote better pre-
pared for them than a husband. A low
er is always uncertain, coy and hard t
please, so far as his assurance of hi
sweethearts affection is concerned. Yo
may remember, Mr.. Tommy, that
your financial condition would be vastl
improved if there was a dollar in
every time Mrs. Tommy forgets wheth