LADLING OUT ADVICE.

Franklin Times, 3 January 1923, Page 8

LADLING OUT ADVICE.

THE WISE YOUNG MAN. SHOULD TAKE aDVICL. AH of us have heard, some time or other, the laments of unhappy benedicts regarding their existence in the domestic nest. Many of them might very easily have foreseen the kind of existence they were bound to lead if, before marriage, they had taken the trouble to. put bil'h:.:' and cooing aside for a moment to anaJyise the nature and disposition of the girl upon whom they had cast loving eyes. A girl may be, and almost invariably is, at her best in the courtship days, but the wise man is ae who refuses to pull the wool of sentiment over his eyes but, instead, essays to see what lies behind the (apparent) lovelight in the girl's eyes. If he knows he is marrying a shrew but loves her enough to take a matrimonial chance, then let him take without whining the gruel that is sure ito come his way aftej the trip to the altar. But if he is going to get out while “The getting’s good—ii she is ashrew —then he’s a foolish man if he does’nt try to find out. For he can find out.

A man wants to know if there is any way) in which he can tell, on the safe side of the altar, what s sort of a wife a girl will make. Certainly there is. There isn’t a girl in .the world who is clever enough to fool a man if he really desires to get her number. It is mefi who pull the wool' over their own eyes to see the truth about a girl. They deceive themselves. The average woman makes no effort to camouflage her character and disposition. She isn’t shrewd enough to do it, and to play a foreign part so naturally that it would deceive a was trying to find out everything about her temperament. For another thing, she doesn’t feel the necessity of assuming a role, because her vanity makes her |think she is just about right, anyway. There is not a woman who will admit she is selfish, high-tempered, shrewish, extravagant or bossy. The most she will concede is that she is of a sensitive, nervous temperament, with an artistic love of beauty, and that she cannot help realising she has unusual qualities, and never dreams of taking the trouble tq \conceal them from her fellow human creatures.

{Therefore, any man who wants to know what sort of a wife a girl will make has only to forget her peaches and cream complexion, how the hair curls oh the nape of her neck, the slimness of her ankles, and give her tfie cold and critical once over to be able; to make a shrewd guess as to the of his bargain. Let him'observe : Y

PJirst, whether a girl is frail and delicate, or ■ strong and* husky. Health is the basis of happiness in marriage, just as it is the basis, of every other good thing,; and ‘nothing will do more towards making matrimony a grand, sweet song than to get a wife who has got the stamina to stand the wear and tear of life. Of course, if . invalidism does fall upon a woman, it| is her husband’s duty to cherish and care for her with the utmost tenderness, but he is an idiot if he wishes the mirfortune of .an, sickly wife upon himself, and deliberately qualifies for a first aid to doctors, trained nurses and hospitals by picking out a delicate girl for a 'wife. Secondly, let him observe if a girl is nervous and irritable. Is she vexed at little things ? (Is she easily peeved ? Is she impatient •over every trifle ? These faults arq constitutional. She will never get over them, and she will make the kind of wife who is about as soothing to live with as a buzz saw “would be.

Thirdly, let him take note whether she is high tempered or not. If she is r a girl who flies intcb rages over everything that (displeases her, let him'beware. Tempers develop with age and use. The girl who does not restrain herself before marriage will practice no self-control after marriage, and her husband will either be in a perpetual fight with her, or else spending his li£e pussyfooting afound the subjects that might irritate her. / _ Fourthly, let him observe whether she insists on running the whole show, or whether she is willing to ioin in the chorus ,and do team work. If she be The sort of girl who gets mad, and goes home when she cant be boss, and if at home she rules the roost, with another and, father afraid of her, and little sister and brother fleeing at her approach, a man needs to be no prophet to foresee ne will be henpecked to death if lie marries her, and that she will tell him exactly where he gets on, and gets oft, as long as she lives. •Fifthly, let him observe her clothes. If she dresses beyond her means it is a sure tip that her husband will slave for dressmakers and milliners. If she has no mercy on her pool* old father’s pocket book, she will have none on that of the man she marries., But if she be untidy and slovenly-looking, it shows she has no sense of order and neatness. It is probable .then she will make one of the lazy, shiftless housekeepers, whose yneals are never on time, and whose beds are never swept under. . Sixthly, note well the spirit with which she meets the common vicissitudes of life. If she is given to tears, a whining and complaining, she w ili make the sort of a wife who will sit down and howl over her misfortune whenever anything goes wrong, and in this way take the last particle of courage out of her husband. But if she is brave and cheerful, and laughs at misadventures, and can always think of something else to do when one plan fails, she will make the wife who is a tower of strength to her husband, who will buck him up, and put fresh heart into him by her optimism. Finally, and this is the most important'of all, try 'to find out how many brains a girl has got. Quit telling her how much you love her and admire her, long enough to talk

to her about the subjects in which you are interested, and ascertain if she can keep you entertained. There is no earthly excuse for a man waiting until after he is married,to find out that the woman he is married to is a fool. It only shows that he is a bigger fool than she is, because there is no way possible in which a silly, ignorant person can conceal their silliness and ignorance. Oh, there is no trouble in finding out whether a woman is intelligent* and/ good natured, and reasonably and thrifty, and has the right sort of material in her for making a good •wife, v It can be done before marriage just as easily as after marriage, if a man will only, take the trouble to do it. t