SMALL SERVICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17294, 18 October 1919, Page 4 (Supplement)

SMALL SERVICES.

Some men take their wives' affection for granted; thep do not trouble their heads about it, relying on the large fund of dormant affection which exists between all married people. Such men may be happy if they have chosen wives with sufficient funds of devotion to meet all drafts made on them. But I have usually noticed that the brightness of the happiest household is kept alive by what I call " the little attentions." These little attentions are, perhaps, of no serious import, but they act as a continual stimulus to maintain a flow of that current of mutual good feeling which generates warmth in the home like an electric radiator. The man who expects these little attentions without any return on his part is a fool. His wife may pretend not to care, but she does, and he is gambling on what is by no means a certainty. And what are the little attentions? They are innumerable, and the acceptability of particular ones varies with individuals. An attention universally welcome to women is a husband's continuance of the same gallant politeness as he showed before marriage. He gets up to open the door when his wife leaves the room, takes off his hat when he casually meets her in the street, and insists on carrying her coat for her or any little parcel when they are out together. If his wife is a light sleeper the husband who comes to bed noiselessly without a great flashing 01 lights, even at some inconvenience to himself, will certainly earn gratitude. Then a husband earns it by taking an interruption gracefully and courteously, by listening sympathetically to household details, by offering now and then to do a commission a little, out of his way, by criticising, if need be, kindly and not gruffly. Another attention which, it is not too much to say, is every husband's dirty, is that of appreciation. " After all, he is the one, presumably, whose appreciation matters most, and it is disappointing, therefore, if he fails to notice a new hat or a new dress or a tasteful decoration. One ot the happiest men I know is a master of the arte of little attentions. Nothing escapes his eyes, so that now his wife dresses for him and for nobody else, being perfectly sure that what pleases his taste will satisfy her vanity, and when very occasionally their tastes differ—though he is as nice as possible about, it — is genuinely distressed, and not really comforted even by the support of her dearest female friend. The great advantage of the little attentions is that they are current coin which can pass every "day. and not like fivepound notes, only to be pulled out on rare occasions. I like to visit households where the mental cash register on both Bides has a large turnover of these little transactions —they run so smoothly.