70 ADVICE TO WIVES. 



affections of the husband is immodest and obscene language and 

 nnlady-like deportment of the wife. Words and acts, which are 

 regarded as indelicate and unbecoming in the presence of others, 

 should be equally so in the presence of her husband alone. If there 

 is one individual before whom proper actions and pure and choice 

 language should be employed, that person should be the husband. 

 Ladies not infrequently make the remark that, before marriage, 

 their husbands were very zealous and attentive; but long since 

 this has changed. Yery true. And how unmindful of the fact 

 that, doubtless, their own demeanor has likewise changed; that 

 before marriage, perhaps, they were models of propriety and ele- 

 gance; but, having changed in these matters, a like change has 

 been wrought in the husband. No woman should be unmindful of 

 the fact that, in consequence of conventional rules and education, we 

 are led to look for and expect more of the chaste and refined senti- 

 ments in woman than in man ; therefore, that which is pardonable 

 in him in this respect is not in her. 



Inconstancy Yicious and lewd men have admitted that 

 their first inconstancy to their married vows arose from their dis- 

 gust at home ; and yet, perhaps, the same state of affairs existed 

 with those to whom they fled; but ignorance of this fact was bliss 

 to them. 



Unpleasant Home If the home of the husband is one 

 where he is accustomed to meet with reproaches and complaints, or 

 if it is one of sullenness and gloom, he is liable to avoid it as much as 

 possible and seek elsewhere tor solace and pleasure that are denied 

 him at his own house. If there be observed, at any time, a disposi- 

 tion on the part of the husband to pass his leisure nours away from 

 home, you may suspect that you have rendered your presence offen- 

 sive and undesirable, and your surroundings disagreeable. In order 

 to reverse this order of affairs, learn his tastes, study his former 

 habits, cultivate them and assimilate your own to them. The hus- 

 band is as the wife makes him. She holds the key to the problem 

 of his future and it is in her power to make him the perfect man 

 her lover eye's saw him before her marriage, if she only studies his 

 character and moulds him aright. Cultivate a more cheerful dispo- 

 sition ; adopt habits of neatness and order in your household affairs, 

 strict tidiness of person, and an inclination at all times to familiarize 

 yourself with those subjects in which your husband is most inter- 

 ested, in order to be entertaining and better company for him. 



Health in the Home Another matter of prime impor- 

 tance is health in the home. Healthy people are more attractive 

 than the sick or feeble, and a sick-room is not a pleasant resort 

 for husband or wife either. When sickness does unavoidably assail 

 you, delegate to your nurse special supervision of your person and 

 your room, and have all duties promptly and strictly attended to, 

 and admit your husband to your oed-side only at times when affairs 

 are properly arranged. Try' to be neat, tidy and presentable. 



