UNATTRACTIVE HOMES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 29, 4 February 1899, Page 3 (Supplement)

UNATTRACTIVE HOMES.

What makes a Imsband neglect his home? Perhaps an uncomfortable home is one of the chief causes. When everything is' at sixes and sevens when it ought to be neat and in order, when the dinner is a failure and the household disorganised, when the children are ill-cared for and always crying and miserable—a man is very apt, indeed, to try and escape from such a wretched scene.

One often sees a man coming home tired and depressed from his day's Avork, hoping to find a little comfort and cheering at home, to make up for all that has gone Avrong during the day. When he is greeted instead with a dirty house and a cold hearth, or when a sr^lden fit of tidiness has prompted his wife to begin to scrub out rooms late in the afternoon, it is not to be wondered at if he puts on his hat again and takes the shortest cut to the public-house. Just so in another walk of life. A man comes home from business, where he has had Avorries and frets all day. His wife meets him in an untidy morning dress, her hair tumbled, her face forbidding, and a querulous word on her lips. The children are screaming, the lights are not lit, there is only cold mutton for dinner, and the potatoes are singed. W That wonder if he goes out as soon as he can conveniently make an 'excuse to do so, and stays out as long as he possibly can?

Do girls fall in love" more readily than a man? Usually, no. A girl makes friends more readily than a man, but of the two the latter feels the pangs of love the earliest. The man often declares his love before the girl has begun to realise any affection for him, though after love is once established she may be as ardent as he. - Men admire the girl who is her mother's right hand in household matters, and who is not above taking an interest in the most trivial things in connection with house duties. They admire the girl who is a bright, entertaining companion, and who has ever a kind word and pleasant smile for those around. They admire the girl who is always neatly gowned, no matter if in inexpensive materials, and who never dresses loudly or in questionable taste. They admire the girl who can adapt herself to any society, who never puts on affected airs, and who would scorn to do an action of which all the world might not know. They admire the girl who, in an emergency, can ,turn her hand to anything, from cooking the family dinner to trimming an old hat. They admire the girl who is unselfish enough to give up some pleasure of her own to benefit another, and does not consider herself aggrieved at having to do so. They admire the girl who can talk of more important things than dress or the last new opera, and Who can listen intelligently when deeper subjects are introduced.