LOVE RULES THE COURT, THE CAMP, THE WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8100, 27 August 1904, Page 3

LOVE RULES THE COURT, THE CAMP, THE WORLD.

(By the REV E. J. HARDY.) Author "of "How to be Happy Though Married.". To have loved a good woman is to ha^e received a liberal education, and it would seem that this means of culture is enjoyed by that mauy-sid.d roan, the present Emperor of Germany. The domestic virtue of his wife help him to be the ruler ho is. It was at Prink.nau, then the palace of the Grand Duke Frederick, tbat Prince William saw his future bride. He had arrived as a guest at the Castle sooner -bathe, was expected, and while strolling in the park came upon a eummsrhouse, into which he penetrated. There he saw a fair-haired girl asleep in a hammock, and thought it only right to withdraw. Afterwards, when he met her inside the Castle, he recogn : eed the sleeper in the Princees Augusta Victoria, and was so impressed with hor naturalness and charm that bo engaged himself to her in marriage. The Emperor frequently speaks of the Empress as a "pearl of great price," and has used, on a public occasion, these words : " I could wish no better for the men of my nation than that the. girls of Germany should follow the example ' of tbeir Empress, and devote their lives, as she does her life, to the cultivation of the three great X's, 'Kirche, Kinder, Kuche '— Church , Children, Cookery." But, though the Empress is one of those women who rule by obeying, she always knows how to insist uponber own way when she thinks that the best way in reference to her children. Speaking of her husband, she once said sweetly, "He is Emperor of Germany, but I am Empress of the nursery." It has been said that "the first condition of human goodness is something to love." "I have lived— l have laboured— I have loved. I have lived in them I loved, laboured for them I loved, loved them for whom I laboured." Well n%bt Sir Thomas More, who used these words, add : "My labour hath not been in vain " ; for, to say nothing of its effect upon others, how it must have disciplined his own character! "Family life," says Saints Beuve, " may be full of thorns and cares ; but they are fruitful ; all others ara dry thorns." And again: "If a man's home at a certain period of life does not contain children, it will probably be found filled with follies or vices." In a speech upon women's rights, a lady orator exclaimed, "It is well known that Solomon owed his wisdom to the number of his wives!" This is too much; but it is an undoubted fact that the success or failure of most men depends to a very large extent upon the kind of woman they marry. And this we think is especially true in reference to men of genius. An intellectual life, however successful, requires the softening influence of a happy marriage, to prevent its becoming sour and cynical. Tom Moore **poke for a large, number of men of genius when he said that, having experienced the emptiness of applause and popularity, he found ih 'his honse something better than tho woild could give or take away. It is often the case when you see a great man, like a ship, sailing proudly along the current of renown, that there is a little tug, his wife, whom you cannot see, but who is directing his -movements, and supplying the motive power. This truth is well illustrated by an anecdote told of Lord Eldon. When he had received the great seal from the 'hand of the King, and was about to retire, he wai? addressed by his Majesty with the words; "Give my remembrance to Lady Eldon." The Chancellor,, in acknowledging the condescension, intimated his ignorance of .Lady Eldon's claim to such notice. "Yes, yes," the King answered; "I know how much I owe to Lady Eldon. I know that you would have made yourself a country curate, and that she has made you my Lord Chancellor." The mother of the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire thus wrote to David Garrick: "• It will to-morrow be ene-and-twenty years since Lord Spencer married me, and I verily believe that we have neither of us repented of our lot from that time to this." Here was a ense of love, not only overcoming the temptations of Court, but enabling a man to acquit himself well in a life that requires so much prudence and tact. We know how the great love she bad for her husband was one element of tbe pure and elevating influence which Queen Victoria exercised, not only upon the life of her own Court, bnt upon that of all the Courts of Europe. Prince Bismarck used to say of his wife : "She it is who has made me what I am." She showed her love to him in many practical ways, not the least of which was in defending him from bores. An ambassador of one of the great Powers called on Bismarck, a»d, in the course of a rather long conversation, asked the Prince Show he managed to get rid of troublesome visitors. "Oh, tlat is very simple," replied the Chancellor. "When my wife thinks that any one is staying too long, she merely sends for me, and thus the interview ends" At that moment a servant entered, and," bowing low, begged his master to favour the Princess with his presence for ai few minutes. The ambassador blushed, as much as any diplomatist can blush, and at once withdrew, as gracefully as pwable a the trying circumstances. When the famous John Bright married, his bride said to him: "John, attend to thy business and thy public affairs, and I will provide for the house, and relieve thee from -all. cares at home." This is the sort of wife that enables a man to work and. rule in Court, in camp, and in tbe world generally. « Lord John Lawrence, of Indian fame, was sitting in his drawing-room at Southgate, wibh his sister and others of the family; all were engaged- m **<"»£• Looking up from his book, in which he had been engrossed, he discovered, that his wife had left the room Where s mother!" said he to one of the daughters. "She's upstairs," replied the girl. He returned to his book, and, looking np again, a few minutes later, put the same questioa to his daughter, and reoeived -the same answer. Once warn* lie returned to his book, and looking up again, a few minutes later, put the' same question n to his daughter, . and* received the came answer. Once more he turned to his reading ; once more he looked up, with the same question on his lips. His sister broke in: "Why, really, Jobn t it would eeem as if

you could not get on five minutes without your wife." "That's why I married her," _io replied. ____»■_«_.