LXXXI.
Women who are Lucky.
I wonder if the wives and daughters who are
supported and well cared for by good husbands
and fathers ever fully appreciate their blessings.
I wonder if they ever realize how much they owe God
and their protectors.
The world is crowded with women to-day who are
struggling along with fate, striving to make an
honest living and a home for themselves.
It is peopled, too, with women who have wretched
homes and neglectful husbands. But it contains,
nevertheless, many women who have good husbands
and good fathers. It is to such of my sex I wish to
speak to-day.
I have given all sorts of advice to lonely, self-
supporting women; I have talked my pen-point off
to unhappy wives.
Now I want to tell the women who are well cared
for, whether in humble workmen's homes or in
elegant mansions, to be in their hearts constantly
thanking God for their good luck.
I want to urge such women to be worthy of their
blessings.
There are certain things which all good husbands
and fathers appreciate, no matter how their tastes
and dispositions may vary. Every man likes a well-
ordered home. He likes it to be clean and neat
without being stiff or formal; he likes freedom in
the use of his home; he wants to feel no part of it is
too good for him, and that he is of more account in
his house than "company."
He likes his meals on time and prepared to his
taste, and he does not want to be told how tired his
wife is from her care of the home or the servants.
He enjoys the knowledge that economy and good
sense are used in keeping up the establishment,
and that his income will cover his expenses.
He likes to be told he is a good husband and
father, and, however undemonstrative he may be,
he likes a little affection shown him quietly where
no one sees it.
He appreciates cheerfulness and good nature in
his home.
Of course, I am talking only of "good" husbands
and fathers. The women who possess them some-
times take them for granted, and do not make these
men the returns in small ways which they should do.
I am full of sympathy for my own sex, but some-
how I always feel sorrier when a good man is
neglected and unappreciated than when a good
woman shares the same fate. I don't know why;
perhaps it is because I think a good woman has
more resources than a good man, and one finds
them more frequently. If you have one of these
good fellows to care for you and protect you from
the hardships of the world, my dear lady, ask your-
self if your are doing all you can to make him glad
he is alive.
Every-day thoughts in prose and verse. by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Chicago: W. B. Conkey Company, 1901.
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