STIMULATING WIVES

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 42, 13 November 1926, Page 18

STIMULATING WIVES

“A strange choice”—that was the family verdict on Henry’s wife. She was slim, smart, gay, laughing, fond of pretty clothes and life not at all inclined to take the successful and important Henry too seriously. Henry, thought the family, ought to have married a more serious young woman, someone who would appreciate him more, adorn the dignity of his position better.

The honeymoon was five years ago. And to date Henry, somewhat to his family’s astonishment, still remains married, and, more amazing still, happy. Certain changes -are apparent in him, however. . He has grown younger, lighter, brisker, more alert, more varied. He often laughs. He is very keen on dancing. He has eliminated a marked middle-aged spread.” He used to rise at eight, eat a solid breakfast, and motor to the station. He now rises at seven, has a set or two of lawn tennis with his wife on a new court which obliterates the rose-beds which used to be his joy, and he walks to the station. Finally, lie has ceased to be Henry. He is now Harry. . . . Marriages of this type are one of the happiest signs of the growing intelligence of mankind. In the past it was customary to take it for granted that the man of serious affairs was best off with a serious wife.

But to-day any number of successful men, in their late thirties .and early forties, are marrying girls who refuse to be much impressed by the material success and position 'of their husbands. These young women insist on a full life. They decline to settle down on marriage to drift into an upholstered middle-age. They don’t give up lawn tennis and golf, riding and swimming, walking and dancing, and fencing even when' they are mothers of one, two, or three healthy youngsters. These wives definitely keep their men young and alive. They are stimulating to come home to. They make their men forget their offices, their business cares; and, what is more, they challenge them with their own youthfulness and energy to keep, lithe and in condition. Love—which owes much to the capacity for comradeship—lives in these happy households to the very limit of the mortal span.—C.' Patrick Thompson, in the “Daily Mail.”

After cleaning any kind of jewellery it is a good plan to lay it in the sun for a while. For this reason, and because damp weather makes all gems appear at their worst, a dry, sunny day should be chosen for treating them. The best way of toning up pearls is to clean them in methylated spirit, afterwards gently polishing with the chamois. Alternatively, whitening may be used, applied gently with the little brush. Or this stone can be drycleaned by being laid in powdered magnesia. ' Leave for a few hours, then shake off the powder and polish the trinkets.