MARRIED MANNERS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 315, 30 September 1908, Page 3

MARRIED MANNERS.

Among tire things over'which, according to.modern ideas, a great improvement has come of late' years, no one has yet' included married manners, says _ a writer in an English magazine l . But thiS .is not altogether a' singular fact when we attempt to. &acd any change whatever ill the-superficial mutual attitude of the married:' The average English •hushaiid is still thoroughly ashamed of being caught in the act of extending the common courtesies of daily liffe to his wife; and tlio English wife has not yet begun to. expect that she should be treated as her husband would treat a strange woman who inquired of. him .the -route to the nearest post office.' As 600n as possible-?-scf'-'thd jlfocess goes —after marriage most couples settlo down, to a lazy disregard for. the ordinary little civilities which mean something moro_ than "throw me the'bread," and "where is the beastly thing?" .In their own words,- they begin to: understand one another. ' lii other'' words; the husband frankly shows -that'hisunmarried manners were merely a concession to rules of the game of courtship. Sometimes he makes a. feeble pretence of keeping up the farce. Tho reason may be a latent suggestion .of chivalry, or a certain reluctance to yield up tho last of those won-" derful resolutions which are unfailingly entered upoii by bridas. and bridegrooms who are going to.'be "different" from..•otlior married people. Maiiy women, no doubt, in the foolishness of their fondness, think that there is - something beautiful in suchcompanionship and mutual understanding as render the'most unleavened boorishness a substitute for What is due to their'sex. .To be the only .'Woman to whom her husband does not raiso his hat; the ono member of her sex to, wliom he would not yield the easiest chair,'"or make an apology if ho rippc'J the hem of her . skirt—these are among the things that love will distort from their real significance. , It is true that there are women'capable of extorting manners from their husbands with, the same unflagging, determination ■ they might display in teaching a very unwilling dog to beg. But the performing husband can novor bo a real source of satisfaction to his trainer. Chivalry which is cold, mechanical, and-roused at the point of tho tongue is, as every woman acknowledges in her heart; not worth accepting. Better than this even .the downright, thoughtless rudeness,' the unrecognised selfishness, the', overriding masculine egoism of . the typical English,; mannerless husband.