Woman's World

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 90, 11 September 1914, Page 6

Woman's World

MAREIAG2 AND A SENSE OF HUM 32 IS IT A HELP OR AX OBSTACLE? A celebrated American authoress Eas been giving it as ber opinion tliat tile chief ingredient in a successful marriage is a sense of humor. "An apj)reciation of the funny side of things," she writes, "is indispensible to satisfactory married life, because much of this is either a joke or a tragedy." Now it so happens tbat one of my best friends, an elderly woman of tin world, is famous for her aphorisms about marriage. To her I submitted the American lady's axiom, and—over a cup of tea inquired what she thought of it THE IMAGINARY ILLNESS. '"A lulf-tnilli—and horribly misleading!" This was her prompt pronouncement. "A sense of humor is a gift of the gods to any wife. But to be married to a humorous husband is a fate from which I should pray that any 'laughter of mine should be preserved."

"But surely tiic fail' cf the non-hum-orous man who lias wedded a humorous woman is equally pitiable?" 1 queried. •'Think of that poor wretch, the hus■:and, who bun caught cold, and consequently—like all healthy males—imagines "himself to be in for a serious illness. Is it any lielp to him that she detects the funny aspect of his dol .fulness? I decline to believe it. Rle is a happy man. not if his wi/.- laughs at him, but if she takes hi-- jlieezes and bis cough a* seriously as Jo does hiraMllV , -My friend shook her head. "You will find that the truly humorous woman is o::e of those who sees such an episode, in its true perspective. She may perceive ber husband's exaggeration cf his ailment quite clearly; in her heart of jcarts she is tickled. But is any woman's sense of humor greater than her sense of pity? Tbat is the wonderful superiority in feminine humor—it is tender.

•<)n tlic oilier ham!," she went on, "nearly all masculine humor is based on eruelty. You know the curious Analysis is! Jlmiior which proves that all jokes are tracd to a love of the true!; all jukes, that is to say, but the ones about-high cheese; 'Well, that Analysis of Humor was made by a man, not by a woman: anil it is because feminine humor has no sucb basis that men have always accused women of being liunior-

TIIK FATAL GIFT. "To be ab'e to together at jokes is a pleasant enough ijuality in any ami wife. What is really perilous is the capacity in the husband fur thinking his wife comical when she is not intentionally so. This is the fatal talent which has embittered counties., marriages." "I still do not see why it should not be an equally fatal talent in a> wife," I protested. "Chiefly, perhaps, because the wife has the sens"—no it is not mere sense, it is sweetness—to keep her thoughts to herself." she responded. I, A nian must announce a joke as soon as he has thought of it. and this even though it hurls ill" hearers, A woman can savours a joke, yet keep it to herself."

it sounds to mo uncommonly us though you advocated the wife's laughing at her husband behind his hack," 1 ventured. "Vou would have her coddle his coM while grimiin™ at the fatuity of the f;i:— he is making alioiit it.'' She sighed. "Voti are a man. You will never understand. A woman can '<;rin ' as yon put it, and still lie overflowing with tin- truest sympathy. The husband's cold ii ludicrously unserious in one respect and <*"iminely serious in anothi r. It i.-. uot'iiug—ami it is everyI'lrhijz. The \ny fact, that she has her secret chuckle over the poor dear enables her all the better to cherish and comfort him. "lint thru- is always a tinge of the surer in a man's recognition of the "Totcnipic; and when he recognises it in his wife, he b apt to hurl her. AYIiKX TIIK III'MOWSTS MISS. "Tin' inaniau." of a humorless husband and a humorous wife i-, 1 am sure, mii'-li safer limn that of ;'. humorless wife and a humorous husband. 1 may as well add that in any ease [ totally disagree with your American anthoresses. I think the far the happiest marriages are tho.-e in which there is no humor whatever on _ i-i:!u-r side. "Ijivi- is nut an atom hmuorom, you know; and I am old-fas!ii..ned enoii>;li to he'ieve that tin and only secret of constant happiness in marriage is love. CaniM.lly. I mean real. lover,' l.n-e; the kind which is associated with billi.'iK and eooiu;,': the kind, in ,hurt. which humorist.-- make tun of. To cotintlo-s pair., all over the country, tkb is the love- which make, man-ia"e Mlicosm'ul. And it i- an ab-urd love as the humorM- flimv it. lint who cares a rap for ah-iirdity- or for the liniuor- !-•■<■•; 'i'.l'lii.e; and roeia"' b worih a million pike, at its own expense. Let in.- tell \ou tl'i"- lliimorou- people nibs a ei-i-at deal. Tlieii- humor .-huts them out from belie-; aVnr.t. A couple with an ultra-dcvi lope.l «i'iim' of humor can never 'bill and coo.' -They -an be albs thumb'-. Hut thoii-h ali'cction b am important ingredient in many marriaee-. 1 rate it lower than the sheer joyous idiocy which We call '•liilliii" and cooine.' There ar<- married couples to whom the whole of their life together is a courtship and honeymoon. Those art the bmnoioas coup]-- - and

I ones. It is the ••iiuple who are, as we ironically put it, •gifted' with a sense of humor—it is these couples whose honeymoons ends most swiftly. TWO MARRIAGES. "I attended two weddings last week. The first was that of a brilliantly witty pair. The second was that of a pair who haven't a glimmering of real wit or humor between them. The first was a wedding full of originality and of gaiety, and of unconventionalism. The. second was a bore; the most painfully proper and conventional ceremony you .ould imagine. "Which is the start of an absolutely successful marriage? The conventional, humorous one, of course! That serious, formally smiling puir were wrapped up !n each other. They will be wrapped up in each other forty years hence; lie will never have caught the remotest ,'limpse of her duliiess, nor she of hi;

''Hut, tiie other pair already see each other's faults, are already in the habit of firing oil' at each other that fusUlade of mocking chaff which sounds so glorious, but which, some day, may wound. They may make a success of marriage. I hope they.will. But they will be safe not when they have further cultivated Lhc comic, but when at last they have together recognised the serious. . . . Laughter is all very well in its way. but in marriage there is a better thing than the sharing of laughter. It is the sharing of love. And that comes, not through mutual jo'kes, but through mu tual griefs." WHY WE SHOULD EAT MORE FAT. Xext to sunlight and fresh air, there is nothing so necessary for the upbuilding of the body tissues as the use of fats in the diet. Creams, butter, oils, greases, \olks of tggs, meat and vegetable acids and the like all aid in keeping the tissues from breaking down or in restoring them to-health. Tin tuhw-eulo.-is {sanatorium which feeds its inmates upon lian sparse foods is jeopardising the only chance left to gain lost vigor, for what they need is fat. For thu.se reasons any' new method by which oils and greases can be made dainty and appetising will be alike welcome to the home, the hospital, or the hotel. It should be easy to induce any housewife to get "'the habit" of utilising fats which now go to waste, for there is no better way of reducing expenses in kitchen and dining-room.

First of all there should be individual, separate, and particular receptacles for each kind of grease—poultry, fa'.s, vegetable, pork', egg, milk and wool fats, and so on. All delicacy of tuste will he absent if the kitchen oils, fats and greases are thrown into one mass. For the wan and emaciated person, even though she be free of tuberculosis—for any thin woman who wishes to become stou! —the fatty or yolk part 'of the egg scrambled or fried in pork [o,- bacon fat will do much. This savory morning dish is often marred because of the slovenly home-habit of putting all fats and greases in one utensil. Stimulating fat flavors come only from isolation. Each kiii'J of grease has a fragrance all its own, and should therefere be kept separate. Have you ever noticed how enticing sweet potatoes are when served with Maryland pork and beans? Sweet potatoes take on a new allurement when fried or- served with pork oils. Somehow the pork greases make them seem more like a dessert than a plain vegetable.

Neither cream, lard, butter, nor beef can take the p'aec of pork fat for sweet potatoes. Pork fat gives a tang to beets, pamnips. and carrots which cannot he duplicated in any other way. The waste fat from beef makes a bitter cake, or letter pie-crust, and better candies than the highest priced butter. Cookies, puddings, and cukes have a savouriness so enticing when made of bief drippings that not even the most delinquent appetite can say Ihcni nay. The fats, oils, and gr< ases from lamb ■or veal all lend themselves to the economical housewife as a great improvement over eoslly butters and cheap.lards foi frying, broiling, and preparing food iu all sorts of other ways. One part of these fats will give a happier flavor to lish, beans, carrots, and peas than ten times ih much butter. Indeed, a spoonful of it will do the work of a whole pound of butter. Then there are I lie "grube." so-called by th» Jewish eooio who remove the fat and gn a>e from geese and fry it with the gooM' Hob into cri>p. britt'o flat cakes. The grease from geese and other fowl is widely used in Jewish homes. Some students think its u>e has much to do with the relative absence of wasting distempers among the people of Wis ancient nation.