FRENCH WIVES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 49, 27 February 1926, Page 21

FRENCH WIVES.

When a French girl gets married she sets out upon wedded life with one very firm determination: to keep her husband. A Frenchman is not an Englishman. This may appear self-evident. But when it comes to managing a husband, it makes all the difference. At least, so says the French wife. First, she wiy. keep his house as spick and span as an ideal home. Secondly, she will be wonderfully economical and save money despite him. And, thirdly, she is jealous. The French wife lias reduced jealousy to a fine art. It is not the sort which undermines the home; it is the kind which builds impregnable battlements around it. She is jealous of her husband's men friends. They must not tempt him out without her, and for that reason 99 per cent of French wives abhor golf and ban the game from their husbands' list of sports. Monsieur may go to the races—with Madame, of course—but he must not leave her at home with the baby while he plays golf with a friend. She distrusts all women. "No women friend for mc," I was once told by a pretty French wife. "Men are frail, and—l know my own sex." And that, too, is the real reason why the Parisienne is so coquettish —sometimes daringly so —in her dress and appearance. She knows that the woman who might tempt her husband must be smart and gay and that it is not a dowdy and slovenly wife who will keep him at home. Madame sets out to be the temptress herself; the best way to keep her Ulysses from the sirens is not merely to tie him to the mast, but also to be herself the most alluring siren. Within the battlements, so to speak, Madame is most adorably feminine. She insists on constant attentions and petting. She refuses to be placed like a book on a shelf and forgotten. Monsieur must know her little weaknesses and humour them. He must not forget little presents on special occasions. He must admire her in her new hat or coa.t, and, while showing the noblest chivalry in the world, he must still be the lord and master—for the French wife loves to idolise a man. When things are so, monsieur can count on Madame's constant love and devotion; when they are not the brave smile with which Madame greets you most likely masks a broken heart.