Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. October, 1878., page 219 by Various Authors
<< Return to Title Details & Download220
every man holds, at least theoretically, to the very highest ideal of a man's duties in the marriage relation, very few wives render their husbands' existences so altogether happy that these obligations become not only the habit but the joy of their lives.--Don't interrupt me, Jenny.--Not but what the lovely creatures are willing--nay, anxious--to do so, but just at the point of accomplishment their little failings of blindness and perversity come in. They are determined to retain their husbands' complete allegiance, but their devices and contrivances are mostly dull blunders. Considering what a frail tie, based on illusion, binds the sexes, my wonder as a bachelor is that men are, as a rule, as faithful to their wives as they seem to be.
Philip. We have been friends, Frank, for fifteen years, and I married your first cousin, but notwithstanding all that Jenny will insist now that I give up your acquaintance.
Mrs. M. No, Philip, I am not angry with Frank: I only feel sorry for him.
Miss A. So do I. Yet I am curious to know, Jenny, what he means by saying that wives' devices to keep their husbands' love are mostly dull blunders.
Beverly. I am waiting for a chance to develop my views. I know plenty of men who are absolutely loyal to their wives--faithful to the smallest obligation of married life--yet who regard their marriage as the great folly of their youth. Now, a woman's intuitions ought to be, it seems to me, so clear and unerring that she should never permit her face and voice to become unpleasant to her husband. And this effect generally comes from the absurdity of her attempts to hold him to her side: they have ended by repelling him. Now, if your sex would only remember that we are horribly fastidious, and that it is necessary to behave with good taste--
Mrs. M. Oh! oh! Monster!
Miss A. Barbarian!
Beverly. I will give you an instance. In our trip up and down the Saguenay last summer you both rem