WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 100, 5 January 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.") t iJaL ijfii.. 1

A PERFECT WIFE

HUSBAND'S EULOGY. America has a perfect wife. She is Mrs. Alfred A. Wright, a Canadian by birth, whose husband is president of the J. A. Coates and Co. The couple live at Orange, New Jersey, and Mr. Wright has given his wife a public character for perfection, in answer to a remark mane by Judge Thomas, of Kansas City, while trying a case in his Court, that "there is no such thing as a perfect wife." Mr. Wright wrote the judge a letter contradicting him, and the judge gave* out the letter to the newspapers. Reporters thereupon besieged Mr. Wright 1 for details of his wife's perfections, and they received the following statement from him:— '•'l have had my wife for 36 years, and I wouldn't change her in the least, if I could. In all these years she has the ideal wife, and has always been the source of my inspiration and my comfort in times of trouble. I wouldn't take £2,000,000 for her, nor give 5d for another. "We were Canadians, and came here from Flesherton, Ontario, 33 years ago, •a poor man, his wife, and one child. I miirried her in Canada when she was fifteen and I was twenty-two. 1 worked hard and got on here. Eight children came, and, thank God! they're all alive now. She has been the same cheerful, kindly heart through all the years, in good fortune and in had. "I built a stone bou.se that cost me £12,000, and she kept four servants Afterwards, for a time, we had bad luck. and she did her own washing, with just as sweet a temper and as graciously as she had managed our fine house. "One of the reasons why our life has been happy is that Emma is a good cook and loves her home and her children. We never trouble each other with individual trouble unless one is sure the other can give help or advice. The man who carries his business troubles home to his | family whev the family cannot help him is a coward. "We have never feared to welcome each of the little ones that came to enlarge our family, and we knew always that there would be enough for one more. We couldn't look ahead in the years back and see how we were going to fit all these eight children for life, but we did it, and my wife sat up at nights working over their lessons with them, and I worked at business like a dog. "There's nothing a woman like my I wife wouldn't suffer for the sake of the family. Though I don't talk business at home, I know that she is heart and soul I bound up with my success, and we have worked shoulder to shoulder. •/'lf men and women worked that way fliore in the business of home-making, and home-keeping, there would not be so many divorces. When you are tired and 'grouchy,' then is the time for you to we lovely in your home—not that I always succeed. If you do, you will ■ find" your wife helping" you, and the ■cnildren will join in, and the first thing you know, home will be a little paradise, and it won't seem half as hard to bear business troubles. My wife always has a kindly word, a smile, and some lfttle thing to cheer me." Mrs. Wright had this to say about her husband's certificate of character:— "Who wouldn't be perfect with such a husband as Alfred? He has always seen me through colored glasses. It is he who is perfect—the perfect husbandI simply reflect, that is all. Why, that nan has worked for twenty years with o'dy two weeks' holiday—and through gr.od times and bad he has always been tlit! same even-tempered, thoughtful, kindly husband and father. "I never heard him speak a cross word, I never saw him angry. lam not perfect by any means, but any woman in the world could be at her best with such a man. He is a great joker, and I suspect all this is just one of his little jokes."

j"THE AT HOME DAY

The pleasant courtesies of social life are sometimes in danger of being forgotten in the storm and stress of the pre-»ent-day existence. There are many little points which are only learnt by experience, but which are important to us all if we wish to show that we desire to retain the friendship of those we love and honor. Little entertainments, within reach of mos£ people, are of great importance sometimes in bringing about that extremely happy state of things known as doing a good turn. The "at home" day is a form of entertainment which is useful in small households—in fact, it is invaluable if a circle of friends is to be kept up, and there is a general servant only to do all the work. The mistress of a house is the person (no matter in what class of life she may be) who should see to all the little refinements of the home. To her should fall the duty of seeing the flowers are arranged with the artistic touch which a true lovers of flowers alone can give, that, moreover, they are not put into the water with leaves left on the stalks in the water, thereby creating, almost at once, an unpleasant odor of decaying vegetation. Then arrange the room, whether large or small, so that, if a number of people call at the same time, the space at your disposal is not tilled up with little tables or stands of plants, but plenty of seais, so arranged as to make conversation between two people possible, but not placed round the room, as if there was someone expected shortly to address the meeting. On the ''at home" day, in small households, it is well, if possible, to have no cooking for the early dinner, as this leaves the maid free to make dainty little dishes of rock cakes, scones and homemade cake. The hostess, having seen that her drawing-room is looking its very best, her silver rubbed up to perfection point, her flowers disposed about the apartments to the greatest advantage, can then feel she is giving of her best, and can await the arrival of her guests with equanimity. I may now, perhaps, without wandering too far from my original subject, allude to what is perhaps the most difficult point in the "at home" day —that is. the question of introductions. "Introductions," it has been wisely said, "are a great power in social life; they are the basis upon wh.cli all acquaintances are founded." Now we all have probably come across certain difficulties on this point. A person may cniiif to yniir house whom you may like and esleeni personally, but you know that another friend, who may happen to call at the Mime time, particularly wishes not to be introduced to her or him. Per-, sonally. ] think that is one of the drawbacks to an "At Home" day, as you naturally do not wish either to be rude to friend No. 1 or to force an acquaintance which is not desired by friend Xo. •>. I think, in a case like this (and I have known some extremely awkward cases of the kind). 1 should advise what ma* be termed "a policy of masterly inactivity," or, in plain English, do nothing. Entertain both as courteously as you can, but do not make the introduction. On *at home" days there is almost a

necessity to make introductions in the case of new arrivals, and if it is a small } "at home" day (not a large "at home," j where it is not customary to make introductions), the hostess introduces her guests either directly or indirectly, as they otherwise would have a very dull time of it.

TURKISH WIVES

In her interesting book, "Behind Turkish Lattices," Hester D. Jenkins writes about Turkish wives:—"The Koranic law allows every man to have four wives if he desires, but on the condition that he treat the four in exaqtry the same fashion, giving to each as much as he does to any one of the others. This used to be an easy condition in the days when a woman lived the simple life, and had no possessions but silk and jewels. If, then, one wife had a beautiful turquoise ring, it was easy to give turquoise rings to the other wives; if a chelebi (master of the house) purchased a rich Brusa silk for one, he could afford to purchase handsome silks for all. But conditions have changed; women have higher standards of living, and it costs much more to keep a wife in Constantinople than formerly; moreover, a husband is legally bound to support a wife according to her station. If, nowadays, a man has four wives with European tastes he must be very rich to gratify them. He may be able to buy one grand piano, but hardly four; he may engage an expensive governess I for one wife, but cannot support several I governesses. So there are economic rea- | sons why a Turkish gentleman should take to himself fewor wives than in the | past. Another reason for the decrease in the number of wives, in the coast cities at least, is the gradual turning of public I sentiment away from polygamy. The I Turks have seen how the Europeans regard plural marriages, and they begin to be ashamed of them." Wed, she has J her rights; she need not wait on her husband—no lady in the capital does that — but neither will he wait on her, unless he is very exceptional. She has legal control of her property. The children belong to their mother, and after her death, to her nearest female relative. Her one recourse in case of severe oppression is divorce; that is, legally, very easy, but unless a father or another husband is j waiting to take her, she cannot divorce her husband, for a young Turkish woman ! | is not fitted by her training, nor permit- j I ted by public sentiment, to live alone." , ===== |