Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1880 — What Men Need Wives For. [ARTICLE]

What Men Need Wives For.

It te not to sweep the house, and make the bed, and darn the socks, and cook the meals, chiefly that a man wants a wife. If this is all he wants, hired servants can do it cheaper than a wife. If this is all, when a young man calls to see a lady, send him into the pantry to taste the bread and cakes she has made; send him to inspect the needle-work and bedmaking ; or put a broom into her hands and send him to witness its use. Such things are important, and the wise young man will quietly look after them. But what the true man most wants of a wife is her companionship, sympathy, and love. The way of life lias many dreary places in it, and man needs a companion to go with him. A man is sometimes overtaken by misfortunes; he meets with failure and defeat; trials and temptations beset him; and he needs one to stand by him and sympathise He has some stern battles to fight with poverty, with enemies, and with sin, and he needs a woman that, while he puts his arms around her and feels that he has something to fight for, will help him fight; that will put her lips to his ear and whisper words of counsel, and her hand to his heart, and impart new inspirations. All through life —through storm and through sunshine, conflict and victory, through adverse and fevorable winds—man needs a woman’s love. The heart I earns for it. A sister’s or a mother’s >ve will hardly supply the need. Yet many seek for nothing further than success in housework. Justly enough, half of these get nothing more. The other half, surprised above measure, have obtained more than they sought Their wives surprise them by bringing a nobler idea of marriage, and disclosing a treasury of courage, sympathy, and love.