THE IDEAL HUSBAND.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144197, 13 September 1913, Page 4

THE IDEAL HUSBAND.

In which profession is the ideal husband most likely to bo found ? The AVbman at Homo debates this question very seriously. Ono authority has declared it-To bo a matter ol geography rather than profession. “My dear, you won’t find tho ideal lover in England. Ho only exists in America.” If professions have to bo considered, a girl is warned to beware of authors. “I feel terribly jealous of my husband’s heroines,” said the wife of a well-known novelist, “I am sure ho is as fond of them as ho is of me.” There is also tho disadvantage that, a writer having to make all he can of life, she may find the tendorest speeches and emotions being used again for “copy.” Painters are subject to moods, and have a tendency towards domestic criticism. “Boforo he kisses mo,” sighed 'an artist’s bride, “Fred looks to see if my draperies hang in classic folds.” To bo a picture in his eyes, this oppressed young woman, had to abjure fashion, and feel an object in the drawing-room. Musicians and actors are best adored at a distance, “because the art which is all and all to them destroys their humanity; yet tho clergyman is also to be adored at a distance because he is too human, and a nearer relationship furnishes too close a view of his purely human failings. ” Besides, ho is “a stay-at-home husband,” says the commentator, who has evidently known no- 1 exacting colonial parish, and the man who is always in the way of domestic affairs loses tho respect even of tho housemaid! As for doctors, they think they know so much about women that they generalise, and so make marital mistakes, while law docs not appeal to the feminine imagination, though “delightful men who are in it may be loved in spite of it.” Politics and diplomacy are things that “women in their hearts detest." The charm of the business man is that he is rich, hut then tho ideal lover is not to win through wealth, and did not a Chicago altruist insist lately on a divorce, to free her from tho elaborate gowns and jewels by which her husband wished her to advertise his success? “The man of action engaged in adventurous enterprise,” is finally judged tho woman’s hero.. He has the groat merit of not being much at homo. Both sides preserve apart their high ideals, and most romantic love. But fortlinately most girls are content to resign the hero quest. AVives learn to contemplate with equanimity the vicar, the barrister, or even tho most eloquent politician, and say. like Punch’s sceneshifter when the villain stood with clenched fist upon tho stage, “You could hardly believe it, but he is quite a polite husband at home in private!”