If I had been more careful, darling, But we vex our own with look or tone For though in the quiet evening You may give me the kiss of peace, And hearts have broken for harsh words spoken It is of little avail to dwell on each other's excellence when the other is gone. I have in mind a man who gave himself absolutely to his own selfish pursuits, thinking that if he furnished his wife with fine dresses, a beautiful home, and costly presents, his duty was done, forgetting that a woman's heart hungers for something more, forgetting that love will starve if not fed, and that true hearts pray for their daily bread. She came to die, the children gathered around her bedside; the husband took her in his arms and said: "You have been a good wife to me." It was not much to say, but it was much to her, who had never heard anything like it before. A flush came over her pallid face, and with a husky voice she whispered: "My dear, you never said so before." Keep not your flowers for the cold dead brow. Nixon Waterman sweetly sings: A rose to the living is more Than sumptuous wreaths to the dead; In filling love's infinite store, The hungering spirit is fled. Than sumptuous wreaths to the dead. G WHY SO MANY DIVORCES. NORDON, the singer, complained to Handel, saying, that if he did not accompany him better, he would jump upon the harpsichord and destroy it. "Very vell," replied Handel, “tell me ven you vill do dat, and I vill advertise it. More people vill come to see you jump dan to hear you sing." So with the music of the wedding march, more people will notice the discords than the harmony. Though more than 500,000 divorces have been granted in the United States in twenty years, and only 214,841 in all Europe during the same time, with 380,000,000 population against our 80,000,000, it does not follow that from a domestic view-point we are the worst people on the globe, or below the moral standard of European communities. The best men in the world are in America. Nowhere do men toil, purpose and plan for happiness of wife and children like the American men. Nowhere is woman enthroned as in America. The American woman is looked upon as man's co-worker and equal in all that embellishes life and sanctifies humanity. The average European woman thinks that man may impose upon her by divine right. In many parts of Europe to-day women are nothing more than beasts of burden, and are ruled in the spirit of the dark ages. Denied education and completely subordinated to her husband, woman lives in fear of and in subjection to her lord and master. Our advancing civilization has enlarged and sublimated woman's ideas and, with a better comprehension of her nature and rights, the average American woman would rather make her own way in the world than live a lie with a man for the sake of a home. There is no insurance policy of happiness furnished at the marriage altar. Marriage is a |