The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1905-07-21
THE POOR HUSBAND j \ |! !.
=
AMERICAN MAN TOTES THAT
y THE WIFE MAY PLAY.
Instances Of Husbands Devoted to
!. Invalid Wives-Most Loving Hus-
bands Not Those Who Talk Most
{. About e-Uncomplaining Hus-
= bands Endure Lonely Summer
Weeks, While Families Have an
+ Outing,
BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER

| 4. BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
! Copyright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
AS everybody knows, great deal of
space is devoted in literature and in
the daily press, to celebrating the vir-
tues of wives. The wife is the good
| angel of her home and her tenderness,
tact and self-denial can never be over
praised. But far too little is said in
| commentator of the continual self
sacrifice and unobtrusiye goodness of
| bands in America. Here, if anywhere,
| is the married woman's paradise. She
| has more leisure, more freedom to 20
and come, and in many ways has more
luxury in life than her husband dreams
! of having. American husbands toll
steadily in the market place and make
| light of their labor, if only they can
crafty the tastes and ambitions of
their wives and build for their chill
dren homes better than they them
selves had in their childhood
The husband of an invalid wife is
often eminent for patience and kind
ness, his strong, brave cheerfulness
tiding her over periods of distress, and
his ceaseless vigilance for her comfort
never failing. We have had in this
country the example of rare heroism
and unstinted devotion shown by the
martyred President Mckinley. to his
delicate and suffering wife. That as
siduous care never varied. The utmost
pressure Of state affairs did not inter-
fere with it, and in the last hour of
mortal pain, his final thought was for
her.
In city, not far from New York. a
woman has been a prisoner upon her
couch of pain for many weary years.
She has been unable to turn herself
in bed, or to use her poor, twisted
hands in holding so much as the light
est book. Never once has the patience
Of her husband failed nor his indomi-
table courage, which has matched her
fortitude, once lowered it's crest She
has been surrounded by the most deli
cate attentions, musicians have been
brought to her home, concerts have
| been planned there. flowers have
doomed for her, and all that wealth
and love can do have been lavished to
make her invalid condition endurable
| In the same city. in a very humble
home, cobbler has stitched at his
bench year by year. nending shoes and
earning bread for himself and his wife,
who has lain most of the time help
less cripple in little room just over
his shop. The CHEEKY German is man
of few words. but he has had the in
vincible patience of love just as Nc
Kinley had, and as his richer neighbor
has.
Robert Louis Stevenson gives an in
stance of devotion on the part of hus-
band which should put the man o:
whom it is told, high in the roll of
saints. A young wife was taken sud-
denly and alarmingly i'll, on chilly
September night. Her husband ran
two miles to bring the doctor, and
drenched with sweat, returned with
him at once in an open gig. On their
arrival at the house the wife half un-
consciously took and kept hold of her
husbands hand. BY the doctors Or
ders windows and doors were set open
to create a thorough draught, and the
patient was on no account to be dis
turbed. Thus, then, did the husband
pass the whole of that night crouch
ing on the floor in the draught and not
daring to move lest he should wake the
sleeper. He had never been very
strong, energy had stood him instead
of vigor, and the result of that nights
exposure was flying rheumatism, va
ried by settled sciatica
The wisdom of thus inviting disease
may be doubted, but the self -forgetful-
ness that prompted it, was never out
done by the most unselfish woman and
wife in the world.
The most loving husbands are not
those who talk most about love. A
mans reticence often leads him to
keep his affection very much in the
background. Nevertheless it is there
know devoted pair, who have al
most reached the hour of their golden
Wcuu1uS. 4NO UcluS, uGlLucr Lu0
most intimate friend, nor the dearest
of their children has ever heard the
husband address his wife except in
terms of formal courtesy. She observes
an equal ceremony in talking to him
before others. No one has ever seen
anything like sentiment expressed by
either. Yet no one suspects or could
suspect, that there is between them
anything save the most undying at
tachment, The wife's slightest wish
is always gratified. The husband lives
and has always lived for her alone. her
happiness the essential theme of his
thought, Needless to say, this couple
did not learn their reticence under our
sparkling skies. They were brought
up in the hill country of Scotland, and
the silence of the moors early stole
into their souls.
Before many weeks shall have passed
thousands of American husbands will
be facing solitary weeks. They are
fast chained to business and aro for