ALWAYS KIND

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3989, 24 August 1929, Page 1

ALWAYS KIND

THE IDEAL HUSBAND,

“Somebody once said that ‘a woman should thank God on her knees, fasting, for a good man’s ,love!’ I am not sure that we are particularly anxious for a good man’s love; it sounds distinctly de- ! pressing and uninspiring, but I am sure of one thing, and that is that we all want a kind husband. No one hut a wife realises how much that word ‘kind’ can mean and how ! its absence can embitter a home 1 and turn a really decent well-mean-I ing .man into the semblance of an • employer instead of a lover,” wriI, tes Lady Kitty Vincent in the | London “Daily Telegraph.” “If I were writing an epitaph for the grave of the perfect husband I should engrave upon the stone: ‘Here lies a ;man who was always kind.’ Kindness is so soothing, and it begets love more surely than any number of the austerer virtues. It is tiie little !kind word spoken in season that oils the wheels of life and makes the everyday tasks seem worth while.

“Perhaps nobody hut a wife understands the glow of pleasure that radiates one’s whole being when a husband, says: ‘By jove, that dress does suit you. I’m glad you got yourself a new one. Look here, I like it so much that I’m going to give it to you as a present.’ The cynical may argue that an extravagant wife will always be buying herself new dresses at this rate, but they are wrong. The very fact of the man’s kindness will make her .so grateful that she will economise far more than she would have if he had been critical and inclined to sneer at her extravagance. “\V!hen a crisis comes in married life (and, alas! they do come at one moment or another to most couples), it is the mcmop-y of a man’s little kindnesses that weighs the balance in the wife’s heart. We are ,a long time dead, and it is worth anything to be married to a man who, while we are with him, sweetens life with the fragrant incense .of kindness.

“I could manage quite easily without a ‘good’ husband if I could have one who would see and appreciate the fun there is in life. I would rather be married to a man who will go with me to some cheap little restaurant twice a week, where we can enjoy ourselves in a homely way, than to one who must wait till we have enough saved to drive ,in state to the Savoy or the Carlton and order an expensive dinner. “If my husband does not want to play then it is his duty to allow me to have my fun where 1 can find it. I would rather have him as a companion, but if he prefers to amuse himself in other ways then let him do so, and I will still look upon him as an ideal husband. He must realise that I am a separate individuality, and that up to a point I must develop along my owu lines.

“So when we meet after amusing ourselves in our various fashions 1 will listen with real interest when he tells how ‘he sliced his drive at the sixth hole,’ and if he will be as excited as 1 am over the fact that a new blue rose has just been produced, I shall have nothing to complain of. “But —do you think that my ideal husband exists?”