SERIOUS THOUGHTS.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 315, 16 July 1898, Page 6 (Supplement)

SERIOUS THOUGHTS.

"HUSBAND AND WIFE." All words have a meaning, or rather a meaning for their meaning, a reason why a certain word came to bo applied to a certain object, only, just like the coins in common circulation, from long use they get worn down so that you can no longer make out their original image and superscription. But those who can read early English books, or who know other languages which are related to our own, can easily find out what our common words arc derived fiora and what our ancestors had in their minds when they called such and such an object by such and such a name. The word (i husband" for instance, is made up of two words, which in the process of time have got run into oue, '• house-band" or, as we pronounce it short " husband." A husband ought to be the band of the house, that which binds the house together, and keeps everything in its proper place ; earns the mono}' which keeps the house, supports the wife and children with his strong arm, and binds the whole " with golden chaiusabout the feet of God " by family prayer. "Would to God so many of our working men were not house -breakers rather than husbands ! Now what is the meaning of the word " wife "? It comes from the word to weave and springs from the olden time, when all the linen was woven at home by the spinning wheel and the hand-loom. Wife, wives, weavers—you can still hear similarity in sound, though the words have got to be differently spelt. All the right relations of married life are contained in these two words. If the husband is the band which binds the house together from without, the wife sits within and weaves the web of the inner home-life. The husband it out at work most part of the day ; but the wife generally at home, is always at work with her influence for good or evil. A lovely rainbow-tinted web is that the same homelife may be ; with many a dark thread of trouble and trial, true, but shot with the golden threads of love and gentle ways, kind words and unselfish thoughts and catching a thousand lovely hues from, the light of heaven in the. weaver's heart. There is one thing tjiat all mothers arc certainly weaving—you arc weaving in a great measure the characters of your child-ren.-(F). IF 1 KNEW. If I knew the box where the smiles are kept, No matter how large the key Or strong the bolt, I would try so hart] 'Twould open, I know, for 'pie. Then, oyer the land and the «wi, broadcast, I'll spattc}' the smiles to play, That the children's faces might hold them fast For many and many a, day. If I knew a box that was large enough To hold all the frowns I meet, I would like to gather them every oue, From nursery, school, and street ; Then, folding and holding, I'd pack the.nl in, And turning the monster koy ; I'd hire a giant to drop the box To the depths of the deep, deep sen.