The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1906-04-20
BY MARGARET e. sANGsrER,

rather to the man. In most cases 1u-
dicious handling proves much more
efficient with both boys and men than
vehement urging, d~isagreeable COM
plant and strenuous opposition.
1t Is part Of the nature of husbands
to present both sides of any question
submitted to them for settlement, and
as a rule they present first the side
that is contrary to the wishes of their
wives. They do not mean in the end
to deny reasonable requests, but they
must have their little argument. Just
after New Year a skit appeared in a
newspaper illustrative of this almost
universal masculine tendency:
Bills to the right of him,
Bills to the left Of him,
Bills in the front Of him,
Dad deeply wondered;
Frtghtful the charge they made,
Senseless the price you paid.
Then or the table laid
Check for six hundred"
OF course he did. That Is the sort
of thing the American husband is by
way VI ooAh5 % iOhS 90 hC las a uDl-
lar in his pocketbook or an account to
his credit in the bank. He gets the
heaviest end of life in hard work,
year in and year out, with few holt
days, big anxieties and short summer
vacations. His wife has all he can
give her, and ne grudges her no surf
ace, yet he must have his bit Of fault
finding and his occasional fuss and
fret because he is human and because
he is a man AMI because, being a man,
he likes to say no originally and to be
coaxed into saying yes, by the people
he loves.
1t goes without saying that the sort
of management that suits n man
does not suit another. If ever you
lived in the Bluegrass country and
had to do with horses, you know that
riding or driving horses are not to be
treated as if they were machines.
They must be approached with some
Difference to temperament, to heredity
and to the rules of the road.
Precisely the same rules apply to the
nice and skilIfui management of hus-
bands. A tired and hungry man is
not the man to whom one should
bring an unpalatable subject. If you
want to plead for the boy who is
going wrong, who is as much his faith
er's as his mothers son, wait for a fit
ting moment. Ii you are assured that
there should be a change for the bet
ter in household economy, do not Sc
lect a time when the market is in a
panic, or the merchant depressed over
uncertainties, to force the thing on his
notice. Married people should remem-
Der that in double harness a team
needs to be perfectly matched.
There is a novel by Anthony Hope
in which there are more misfit couples
than one often sees grouped togethe.
One and all they misunderstood each
other and pull the wrong way, with
the result of continual friction, suspi-
cion and Jealousy. A book recently
published gives a picture of a domes-
tic tyrant who could have been man
aged only by the primitive method of
brandishing q club. This method is
~fnexpedient and not to be thought of,
but the few men who by nature and
practice trample rough-shod over their
wives and children, who forget the
first principles of the code that OBJ
tains among gentlemen. are not fit for
matrimony. Fortunately for the hui
mar race such despots are seldom
seen. in civilization.
..- q '""N
A wife who has become mistress of
the gentle art of good management
never brusequsiy contradicts her hus-
band. She MAJ be quite aware that
he is in the wrong, but she waits UNI
til the right opportunity comes before
setting him right. She does not make
fun of him In the presence Of mis-
friends, nor point a Jest at his expense.
She understands that difference is in
itself an adornment and that she may
maintain her ground as carefully and
successfully without discourtesy as by
vehemence and clamor. A little WIFE
ly tact, the expression of genuine at
lection and the layishing of small at
tentions go a long way in keeping a
home peaceful and happy. and m
making the man at the head OF 1t
pleased with himself.
1t is a rare art. that of living COM
fortably with others. In order to at
tain it. pains must be taken and self
must sometimes be denied.
There are tribes In which most men
are rather helpless. They are not
adopts with the needle. and the few
stitches by way OF repair that their
w%ardrobes need should never he per-
mtttsa 70 tntrude upon their notics.