CHOOSING A WIFE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 148, 13 June 1908, Page 3

CHOOSING A WIFE

Docs a man devote sullicicnt thought Id tlif choosing of a wife, admittedly tin' most serious undertaking i» his lift'.' Tin.' question was debated—in the intervals of routine business—liy the ladies attending the conference upon infantile .mortality at tin; Caxton Hall, Ivonilon.' .Mrs. Carl .Meyer had, tlic previous day, remarked that many a man exercises mori' care upon engaging a cliatiHVur or a groom than he docs upon the selection of a 'wife. Hut uiiolUi'ial debates widened the problem to this: "should a man rely upon tin; impulses of his heart when marrving, or be governed more liv intrllee't and logic!" Mrs. Meyer amplified her views in an interview, tier ]>oints were: Men adopt far too haphazard a method in choosing a partner. They would not dare to exercise so little discrimination in a , business transaction. To ensure the lasting happiness of a modern marriage, the man and woman must weigh carefully two vital questions: "Ate we suited to each other, menially as well as physically'!" "Will our temperaments permit us to row together amicably through occasionally stormy waters of evcry-day life'!" Two ladies at the conference, although desiring to conceal their identity, willingly gave their views. The lirst, a school-teacher, observed that ''if a man falls in love with a girl it is absurd for him to reason why he does so. A man must make up his mind to contract either a love match or what I may call a marriage of reason." The second lady, an intellectual, keen-witted worker in the conference, remarked: "It is essential that a mini's wife should be his comrade, with an encouraging knowledge of his striiL'ulcs and worries. A hasty, ill-considered marriage is a far more serious thing t.o-dny than it was when the anxieties of life