The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-13
VIRTUES OF WIDOWS

"A little widow is a dangerous thing" said somebody wittily. That is why so many men regarded as armor-plated, case-hardened bachelors who have es- capped the maneuvers of whole armies of inexperienced maidens, fall final victims to the wiles of widow. What is the secret of their proverbial attraction, and do widows make the best wives?
 As a general rule, the "best wife" Is not the woman a man loves most, or who loves him most, but the woman who man. ages him best and keeps him in a per petual atmosphere of being pleased with himself.
 The inexperienced girl goes in for tho rhapsodies of romance. She expects S hshband to be sort of sentimental Lo- hengrin, forever riding on a swan. And 1t is a great shock to her to discover that man is a comfort loving creature, to whom the flavor of his soup, the right temperature of shaving water. and the psychological pepperiness of his favorite savory are matters of extreme impor- tance
 The widow does not have to learn these elementary facts. She knows them all. And she realizes how needful it is to temper ones love for man with tact and discretion
 The inexperienced girl-wife is apt to worship a man in the q will have no other god but you" spirit. And this sort of sweetness is somewhat cloying to practical, business-like masculinity As husband once put 1t to me. Dolly thinks chap likes to be fed with sugar all day like a canary
 A widow knows that man often needs his wife to be in a fireside comradeship
 sort of mood, and the sensible head of the house." without expecting flatteries When hubby comes homo of an evening rather tired and a bit irritable from the accumulated worries of the day, he does
 not, as a rule, want to find sentiment sitting, as it were, on his doormat A warm, wifely welcome, and a cozy, home-like fireside are attractive; but no husband can respond to gushing and TO- mantle sentiments until he has had his dinnerI And he doesn't want a whole string of questions as to what he has | been doing. the people he has seen, or to give an account of where he has been, etc. A widow understands all those things She has passed through the mat | rimonial mill, and Is an adept in the use- full art of managing man with tact and wisdom.
 Some youthful wives surround a man with a sort of loving persecution which | gets on his nerves. They want him to
  most standardization their point of view, though perhaps not from his. They
 like to keep his things in order. tidy his desk. adorn and trim up'' his den with | so many feminine fal-lals that he abso- l lutely blushes when the men friends of his bachelor days come to smoke a pipe l with him.
 ] The kind of a room a man likes is, as
 a rule, hopelessly stiff and uncomfort- | able from woman's point of view, but | it isn't any use forcing antimacassars, embroidered mantel-boards. down cush- l ions and fancy mats on a husband who wants a solid chair or two, a roIltop desk, and some book shelves. l The most popular charm of widows and one which brings them proposals above the heads of young and pretty girls iz l their talent for letting a man alone' | Husbands hate to be told to put away l their stupid papers at breakfast and after dinner, and entertain their wives, in- stead of smoking and amusing them- l selves.
 widow understands home comforts and doesn't indulge in those affectionate l little tyrannies with which so many young wives start married life | The practical woman of the world ways l of a widow are attractive to a man. He knows she hasn't put him on a pedestal and won't expect impossible heroics from
 him.
 1 Being "sensible woman," understand 1 ing mems ways and little weaknesses, q
 widow certainly smooths the matrimonial path.