It is not in human nature for a man who has been hard at work all day to
return to his home toiled and weary, or with his mind agitated after
being filled with many things, and to regard with complacency little
matters which go awry, but which at another time would not trouble him.
The hard-working man is too apt to regard as lazy those who work less
than himself, and he therefore looks upon the slightest unreadiness or
want of preparation in his wife as neglect. Hence a woman, if she be
wise, will be constantly prepared for the return of her husband. He,
after all, is the bread-winner; and all that he requires is an attention
less by far than we should ordinarily pay to a guest. In the good old
Scotch song, which thrills our heart every time it is sung, and makes us
remember, however skeptical we may have grown, the true worth and
divinity of love, the wife's greatest pleasure is that of looking
forward to the return of her husband. She puts on-her best clothes and
her sweetest smile; she clothes her face with that fondness which only a
wife's look can express; she makes her children look neat and
pretty--"gi'es little Kate her cotton gown, and Jock his Sunday coat"
because the husband is returning. There is not a prettier picture
throughout the whole range of literature. How her love breathes forth--
"Sae sweet his voice, sae smooth his tongue;
His breath like caller air;
His very foot has music in 't
As he comes up the stair.
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