Married Life; Its Shadows and SunshineArthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
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Married Life; Its Shadows and Sunshine
Arthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
Married people -- Fiction
TO those who have never tried the experiment, the management of a
husband may seem a very easy matter. I thought so once, but a few
years' hard experience has compelled me to change my mind. When I
married Mr. John Smith, which was about ten years ago, I was not
altogether blind to his faults and peculiarities; but then he had so
many solid virtues, that these were viewed as minor considerations.
Besides, I flattered myself that it would be the easiest thing in
the world to correct what was not exactly to my taste. It is no
matter of especial wonder that I should have erred in this, for Mr.
John Smith, while a lover, really appeared to have no will of his
own, and no thought of himself. It was only necessary for me to
express a wish, and it was gratified.
I soon found, much to my disappointment, that there is a marked
difference between a husband and a lover: it was at least so in the
case of Mr. Smith, and observation, since I have had my eyes open,
satisfies me that it is so in most cases. I must own, in justice to
all parties, however, that this difference is made more apparent by
a want of knowledge, on the other side, in regard to the difference
between the relation of a wife and a sweetheart--between the wooed
and the won.
There were a good many little things in Mr. Smith, which I had
noticed before marriage, that I made up my mind to correct as soon
as I had an opportunity to apply the proper means. He had a fashion
of saying "Miss" for "Mrs.," as "Miss Jones" and "Miss Peters" for
"Mrs. Jones" and "Mrs. Peters." This sounded exceedingly vulgar to
my ears, and I waited almost impatiently for the time to come when I
could use the prerogative of a wife for its correction. He had, an
ungraceful way of lounging in his chair and half reclining on the
sofa, even in company, that was terrible. It made me uneasy from
head to foot. Then he said, "I _shew_ it to him" for "I _showed_ it
to him,"--"of-_ten_" for "oft'n"--and "_obleeged_" for "obliged."
Besides these, there were sundry other things that worried me not a
little. But I consoled myself with the reflection that when I became
Mrs. Smith all these little matters would vanish like frost in the
sunshine. I was, alas! doomed to be mistaken. But let me give my
experience for the benefit of those who are to come after me.
We had been married just ten days, and I had begun to feel that I
was really a wife, and had a right to say and do a little as I
pleased, when Mr. Smith said to me, as we sat quite lover-like on
the sofa in the evening,
"I met Miss Williams as I came home this evening--"
"For mercy's sake, Mr. Smith! don't say _Miss_ when you speak of a
married woman. It is excessively vulgar." I was not aware that I had
spoken in a very offensive way, but I noticed an instant change in
Mr. Smith. He replied, with some dignity of tone, and manner--
"I ask your pardon, madam; but I didn't say _Miss_. I am not quite
so ignorant as all that comes to."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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