St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1905-10-21
BY MARGARET =. sANGsTE,

ldm1ly.s4 ouL SIG Is SAlIGmely MlStdhcA
IL she sets ironclad rules for herself
and is immured in her home II she
does this she is like the man with one
talent in the Gospels, who wrapped In
napkin the gold that had been given
him with which to trade and went
away and hid it in the earth. Home
is not a cemetery for burying talents
and accomplishments. It is garden
where seeds should be planted and
where flowers Of beauty and goodness
should grow. A woman is better
mother and a better comrado to her
husband il she has outside interests
than il she simply spends ner whole
time in sewing, cooking, housekeep-
ing and sweeping.
For the ordinary woman, woman's
club or a woman's missionary society.
or an associated charity of some sort
which brings her into an organization
where she works with others, is q
great boon.
One often sees married pairs where
wife is fond of society, of going
about, meeting and receiving her
friends, and a husband frowns on it all
and opposes q good natured but apa-
thetic inertia to her wishes. John has
the excuse that he is away from home
all day, that business has consumed
his energies and that when he gets
home at night he would rather enjoy
q pipe and a book by the hearth in
the ease of his slippers than go any
where to meet people, talk, dine, and
In other ways spend the evening hour
to which he looks forward with eager
eyes through the day. Only very
selfish wife drags her husband out
every evening in the week, but there
are wives by hundreds and thousands
whose single chance for change and
recreation comes after supper when
the children are in bed. They some
times need society. They cannot go
out alone. They do not choose to be
escorted by another married couple, a
superfluous third, their own husbands
remaining at home. Naturally they
decline to be escorted about by a
bachelor friend OF relative. If John is
resolutely set against mingling in So
cial functions, Jane as rule is COM
PEELED to give up her preference and
60 to bed at ten o'clock.
s Married happiness is built on perfect
confidence, true comradeship, and real
altruism. Mutual concession is essen
tia1 to its highest development II
either party ignore habitually the
rights of the other there is sure to be
q breakdown in the end.
A home should never stand quito by
itself, nor should a family exist only
for its own members. Each home be-
longs to all homes. Every family has
its lines of Communication that should
touch other families. In neighbor-
hood it is a good plan for youns mar
tied people to have neighborhood
cociables in which they gather at
stated intervals. There may or may
not be something to do that they all
enjoy. Music IS vital bond with
many. Something to eat, a chatting
dish supper or simple refreshments,
cement such gatherings as nothing
more ETHEREAL can. Good fellowship is
emphasized when we break bread to-
gether.
am often asked by anxious inquir-
ers what is the prospect of domestic
happiness II two people whose ages
are very dissimilar shall marry.
For instance, Mary who is 10 tells
me that she Is coufted by David, who
il IS. Now 43 is by no means old. A
man at 43 Is merely stepping over the
border Of middle-age. He has not
gone beyond It's outer edge. He is still
4 Young man and In counting girl OF
Il he has no reason to fear being dis
placed by youth Of % or q. And yet
10 is the rosebud season OF sweetest
youth, and q girl at that age has not
8 much as tasted the brim Of the cup
of social pleasure which Is familiar to
her maturer sutton. He may well have
grown tired OF It. He may easily be
blase. His ideal Of married joy will
of necessity be somewhat different
from hers. He wants to settle down.
she has hardly tried her wings. In 10
Of is years, while she is still young, he
viii inperceptibly have drifted into
the ranks Of the veterans Il the dis
parity Is on the other side, and q youth
DC ii Or ~ marries IN agreeable and
Charming woman Of 40 It is almost a
foregone conclusion that they will
sooner Or later ind themselves IN di-
No man likes to 80 about
with q wife who may be mistaken for
his mother. Beyond the superficial dit
ferences, there may come other and
more vital occasions for the little rift
thst Ii to be dreaded.
Such couples will either abandon %
ciety Of seek It In Independence. Pos
sibly there may strike them thar fatal
blight when home II weariness, ennui
drops ike cloud over everything and
~ hardly seenns . = worth nvtas.