Page:Side talks with girls (1895).djvu/261

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The Young Husband's First Year
249

paper. By the next morning your lordship condescended to say a word or two, and the poor little woman was so glad that she cried with delight. And you thought of your own importance, and felt that you had given her a lesson that she deserved. It was like breaking a butterfly on a wheel. You ought to feel mean. It is a great pity that you can't see yourself in a mental looking-glass, that you might realize how mean, and poor, and contemptible you are, and how unmanly it is to take revenge on a woman. It would have been a deal better to say to her that you didn't like the way she spoke to you; then you would have heard the reason for it, and you would have parted with a kiss, and everything would have been all right.

It is never unmanly to speak a loving word, to give expression by kiss, or by gesture, to your affection, and the strongest and the bravest men that have lived were those who did not fear to tell their wives how much they loved them. Many women are hungry for loving words, and they are so easily said! You may argue to yourself that you love her just as much, even if you don't say so. My dear boy, she doesn't know that; she is not a mind-reader, and so you must take just a few minutes every day to make your wife understand that you love your wife better than you ever did your sweetheart.