THE WIFE AS A COMPANION.
By Mrs. M. C. DuBois
The wife may well be called the home thermometer. The qualities she possesses and exhibits in her daily life make her home a peaceful harbor or a place of unrest and misery. The wife who looks only to the temporal wants of her husband comes short of wifely duty. Many a woman who is a good cook and excellent housekeeper is not at all companionable. A man, as a general thing, does not like to hear about faulty servants, cross children, and the hundred and one unpleasant things that his wife has had to meet and bear during the day. The companionable woman will not detail all these things to him. She has a better place to lay all her many trials, and that is at the feet of Jesus, the woman’s Friend. When the husband comes home at the close of the day, it cheers him to meet a smiling, cheerful wife instead of a cross, faultfinding one, and to find the table neatly laid, tho the food be of the plainest, simplest kind. And the wife should endeavor to be entertaining. If she has had any bright, cheerful experiences during the day, let her relate them instead of talking over the vexing things. But some may say: “The wife has been shut up all day with cross children, hard work, and patience-trying duties; she hasn’t any bright, cheerful experiences to relate. The husband has been out among other men, or in the fresh air and bright sunshine; he ought to be the one to bring the good cheer to the tired wife.” Yes, this is true; and every man who loves his wife as “his own body” will bring a whiff of fresh air and a gleam of sunshine into his home every time he crosses the threshold. But too often the wife meets her husband with faultfinding or in sullen silence, and this reflects back upon herself, and the result is a cold, unhappy home. I think the angels weep over the sad condition of many professedly Christian homes. That these conditions are wholly due to the wife, I do not admit, but it is certain that much, very much, depends upon her. It makes such a difference whether she is hopeful, cheerful, and pleasant! It is not my desire to censure either husbands or wives. There are good, noble husbands; there are true, faithful wives; there are homes where God is feared; but we all know there are too few of such, and many, many unhappy, desolate homes. There are husbands and wives11who are untrue to each other; husbands and wives who are drifting apart because of some misunderstanding, or because of false pride, which prevents either party confessing his or her wrongs. What a sad condition! It is for such I write. If God will, by His Holy Spirit, reach some wife who is not doing all in her power to make herself a true companion, a helper, to her husband, the writing of these words will not have been in vain. Woman’s influence over men for good or ill is great. Only a God-fearing woman can realize it as she ought. A wife should bring to the surface the good in her husband that often is hidden beneath a rough outside. By her gentleness and refining touch, his better nature should be brought to view. The wife who is a true companion will not parade the weak points of her husband before others; his faults will not be mentioned to a third party, far from it. Man is called the stronger, the braver sex; but how often in times of financial trouble or bodily pain the wife is seen to bear up better than the husband; and it is here that her true companionship is fully realized. She becomes his comforter, his strength, his counselor, and by her words and acts he is encouraged to press on, at last becoming a victor in the battle of life. A Christian wife—who can measure her influence? Perhaps her husband is not a God-fearing man; but how often such a man has been won to Christ by a wife who was patient, loving, true in all her wifely duties, holding up Christ in holy conversation, in true companionship, in cheerful forbearance. If the husband is a Christian, what a help, what an inspiration such a companion is! O wife, be faithful in every home duty! Be all that the word “companion” suggests. Put out of sight the faults of your husband; look upon his good qualities. Be a loving, God-fearing companion. Time is short; be up and doing to-day.