The Washington herald., 1921-05-06

who is . goodnatured sioven. or one
who Is .s neat as the proverbial pin.
but who Is high tempered
Back good nature. son, to win
always in the long endurance run
Of matrimony. Better IT Is to dwell
In q pig sty. and eat out Of paper
bags and tin cans with . woman
who wears q smile that won't come
on. than It Is TO live In a house
that Is spick and span with . mat
before every door and tidy on ev-
who Is a good-natured sloven. or one
gruntled. and sour. and whose
tongue Is a perpetual-motion nag
gfng machine
No sensible man overlooks the ad-
cry chair, with q wife who Is dis
vantage Of getting for wife wom-
an who Is neat. and aidy. and thrifty
and q good manager, and q blue rib
bon cook The vision Of the orderly
home. Of the clean swept hearth.
and the dainty little dinner on ones
own mahogany. has 1ured more men
into matrimony than any other one
thing on earth. II Is the call of
domesticity that every man hears.
and to which most men succumb.
But man does not live by bread
alone. Cleanliness nay be next TO
god1tness. but sometimes 1t Is far
removed from happiness. A woman
may do her full duty as q house
keeper. and yet fail utterly as a
wife.
There are houses that are kept
SO clean that hey are bare of com
fort There are, homes 50 orderly
that a man dares not move q chair,
or rumple a sofa cushion, Or drop a
paper. or spill q bit OF cigarette
ashes
And there are women who work
themselves so nearly to death over
their housekeeping. that they are
always a bunch of tangled nerves.
Everything irritates them Every
thing calls for a burst Of temper. or
a shower of tears. and everybody
about them walks on eggs for fear
of doing or saying something that
will provoke a scene.
Such women are about as COM
Portable to live with as the fretfuI
porcupine. They are no companions
for their husbands, because nobody
can chum up with a bomb that is
liable to explode at any minute.
There can be no comradeship be-
tween them and their husbands, be-
49, NaE =
sonable view of anything, and they
make their homes a place of tor
ment- which their families escape
from whenever possible.
No matter what virtues and
charms such a woman may have.
they are more than offset by a dis
agreeable disposition. For 1t is not
beauty, nor intelligence. nor high
moral principles, nor domesticity,
that makes a happy home, and a
} contented husband. 1t Is the spirit
of the woman who is at the head of
the house 1t is her attitude to-
ward life.
This is what makes good nature
in a woman atone for a thousand
faults and shortcomings She may
have a hollow in her head where the
bump of orderliness should be.
Money may slip through her slack
fingers like water through a sieve.
She may be one of those who never
get ON familiar terms with the
clock. or do things on time All Is
forgiven her because she is a bit of
human sunshine.
When we go to her house she
draws US across the threshold with
30 warm a welcome we don't spy
under the bookcase to see whether
she swept under II or not AT dinner
the potatoes may be watery, the
meat overdone. and the bread un-
derdone, but the jolly talk and the
good stories that go around her ia
BILE turn Il into a banquet
Her children's clothes haven't got
as many frflls on them as some
other woman's, bot her boys and
girls hang on her neck. and think
there is no other human being equal
- their mother. Her husband may
wish she was a better manager, but
when he turns his face homeward
Of an evening. q deep and abiding
peace settles down upon him. for he
knows he Is going to a place Of
cheer and laughter, q place where
there will be no fretting, or whin-
ing. or complaining.
No man can overestimate the
value of an easy-going, good-na-
tured wffe-one who can grin at
nisfortune instead of having hys-
terics over II; one who can turn the
misadventures Of daily life into
comedy instead Of making tragedies
Of them; one who can MI q despair
ing man with her own optimism
until he has fresh hope infused
into his fainting soul; one who
doesn't make mountains out of the
molehills of her husbands weak
nesses. but can laugh at his little
stumbles and set him on his feet
again. and thereby bind him to her
with hooks Of steel. instead Of alien
ating him forever by suspicious and
reproaehesL
Truly. the Eood-natured and easy-
going wife n one whose price Il
above rubies. and even IL she is
sloppy, she II 10 be chosen In pref
erence to the prunes and prisms
maiden with an acid temper.
But why should my correspondent
choose either the one or the other
of these young women for q wife.
Why not pick out a wife who Is
both neat and good-natured7 There
are plenty Of such girls in every
community. One virtue does not
crowd out another, and there In NO
reason why the girl who knows
how to keep q house In apple pie
order shouldn't also know how to
keep her temper in order.
Perhaps II Is true that people who
and life amusing do not take II as
strenuously as those who make an
awful problem Of everything hut