romp now and then with the little ones; while the effort needful to interest them by telling or reading them a story, will of necessity be useful in filling the mind with valuable lessons on many subjects. Your sympathy will also be sure to be called upon, and it is to be hoped that, when needed, you will be ready to cheerfully do what you can. Remember, among other things, your wife is liable to heavier calls upon her health than you are, all of which should arouse your anxiety and deepen your love and attention. Many of her special ailments are among the expected consequences of becoming your wife. The event which may, or has given you the joy of being called a father, will in her case be a source of great danger and trial. By the love you profess to bear, be ready to watch by her couch, talk to her kindly and considerately, act prudently, never allow anything to interfere with your devotion to her in such times, and never let cold neglect wound her heart, or break her spirit while you have it in your power to do anything to show that in all her afflictions you are afflicted. Give her at all times, and under all circumstances, the warmest sympathy you possibly can in any trial you may have to pass through. Your strong arm will be a great support to her when thus overtaken. Space will not permit any further illustrations of what constitutes a Model Husband; but enough has been said, we trust, to show that if (1) You do all you can to deserve a good wife, (2) Cultivate a disposition to be pleased, (3) Be ready and willing to make large allowances, (4) Seek to renew your love day by day, (5) Confide in your wife, (6) Be considerate of her wishes and tastes, and (7) Seek and find your greatest joy at home-do these, and you will realise what a blessed thing it is to be a husband, a happy thing to have a home, and a joyous thing to have a loving wife. True these may be considered little things in themselves, but life is made up of little things which, if attended to in the proper manner and at the proper time, bring about right results. Let it be your study, therefore, to try what you can do to fulfil your promise made when you took to yourself a wife, and then a bright face, and a pair of bright eyes with a loving kiss, will amply repay you for your efforts. If, in addition to these things, you should have a number of little ones to call you father, you will be able to enter into the spirit of the following words : : "Three little forms, in the twilight grey, "May, with her placid and thoughtful brow, "Nelly, with ringlets of sunny hue, "Now there are shouts from the window-seat- Gaily they rush through the lighted hall- Welcoming Pa! Welcoming Pa! Standing on the door-step, welcoming Pa!" OU will, no doubt, very vividly remember what a rounded by your friends on the morning of the day when, with a faltering and trembling yet cheerful voice, you said, "I TAKE THEE TO BE MY LAWFUL WEDDED HUSBAND, to love and to cherish until death you do part." You will therefore readily perceive that you have entered into a solemn and serious contract-for better or for worse, it is true-yet it is a contract, nevertheless, binding upon you as long as you may live together as man and wife. Such being the case, you will be able to see that, if you are to reap a rich harvest of home joys, you must be careful to SOW THE RIGHT SEED, in the right way, and at the right time; and as a good start is of great importance, we wish to impress upon you the vital necessity of resolving to do all you can, at all times and under all circumstances I.-To deserve the name of the best of Wives. There are three kinds of so-called wives:-1, Good; 2, Indifferent; 3, Bad. Now let us try to help you to realise the matter more vividly by asking two questions: 1. Who should not be a wife? 2. Who should be a wife? Now it is no secret that there are scores of young women who wish to be married, but of whom it may very safely be said that it will be a blessing if such a desire may never be realised. For instance, has that woman a right to be called a wife who thinks more of her dress and her bonnets than she does of her children?-who visits the milliner and dressmaker's shop oftener than she visits her children in the nursery? Has that woman a right to be called a wife who sits hour after hour reading a novel, shedding tears over an imaginary evil, while her husband in vain tries to eat his badly-cooked dinner or put on his buttonless shirt? Has that woman a right to be called a wife who will leave home for a journey of pleasure, while her husband toils in the shop and the children are left to the care of servants? Has that woman a right to be called a wife who sulks and pouts because she cannot have another new bonnet or dress, when her husband tells her that he really cannot afford it? Has that woman a right to be called a wife who comes down late in the morning, with her hair in dirty curl-papers and her dress in disorder, to meet her husband at the breakfasttable? Has that woman a right to be called a wife if she does not prefer her husband's company and the prattle of her own children, to the "good society" and fashionable parties which take her away from home? If we have to give an answer to such questions we shall be obliged to say, "No! certainly not. Such a creature can never be a helpmeet; she will always prove to be a hinderer of home joys." Seek, then, to cultivate a constant love of your home; for it is here that woman's proper sphere of action lies, and every good wife should make it her study to render it a little Garden of Eden, in which may be found all kinds of precious things. As one well says:-" Home should be the most precious spot on earth. All that is entrancing in music and poetry should be found there. All that is holy and soul-saving should cluster round the fireside of every home. If we can only make our homes what they should be, they will be no places for the entrance of any unholy desires, or the outburst of any wicked passions. Into such a spot vice will not be allowed to intrude, nor the destroyer enter; but at all times it will be the brightest spot on earth, and reflect its radiance outward over the pathway of man wherever he may have to trend his way." For a man cannot possess anything that is better than a good wife, nor anything worse than a bad one; and on this will depend whether he is WELL-MARRIED OF ILL-MARRIED. Seek by all means to make it the former, and never the latter. To attain this, however, you will need to exert every possible effort to win the confidence, and merit the esteem of your husband, depend upon it. To do so you will have to lead an exemplary life as far as you can, and by maintaining an unshaken sweetness and patience, lead him to feel that you are entitled to his fullest trust at all times. It is worth every effort on your part to get him to say ""Tis said that ever round our path The unseen angels stray, That give us blissful dreams by night |