SINCERITY BETWEEN HUSBANDS AND WIVES.
By Charles Wagner
It is to the highest advantage of both that each should be kept frankly informed as to everything concerning their mutual interests, material or spiritual, and that each should bear part of the responsibility of these things. Especially should perfect sincerity be fostered and encouraged by each one's mode of speech, and the manner in which he receives the other's confidences. There are husbands and wives who have put an end to all frank understanding, by their narrow-mindedness and their unpleasant remarks. Man's sincerity should never be put too rudely to the test; it needs encouragement and most indulgent welcome. He who rebuffs it by inhospitality is likely to frighten it from his house. Even if there is surprise at learning certain things, and if what is disclosed can not always be approved, at least the candor should be acknowledged. With honesty and kindness on both sides, it is always possible to find a way out of our difficulties; but the moment one knows fear in the presence of the other, or prefers to conceal his sentiments for the sake of peace, the union has received a hard blow. Then, built by their own hands, between these two who ought to understand each other, there rises a wall that grows forever more and more impenetrable. Under the same roof, and at the same table, it separates one from the other, cutting off all real communication. Many a man comes to regret having left his wife in ignorance of things upon which his prosperity, his health, or his honor, depended; but few husbands and wives ever regret having kept each other informed. How many misfortunes has this one habit not warded off! Husbands and wives must share frankly life and all that it brings. And let neither withhold his own confidence while demanding the confidence of the other; the advance should come from both sides, heartily and loyally. Those who do not follow this course know not what they do. In all the trying life they become, for each other, an unhappiness, and a source of strife, and such event shows them their isolation by unmasking their mutual dissimulations. The burdens are thus made heavier, the evils worse. O, the pity of the troubles that make discord between those who ought to bear them together! On the other hand, what a resource when two make one, and can count upon each other absolutely! No matter what happens, they bear it with one effort, saying to each other, "Thy pain is my pain." There is no thought of mutual accusation. Each regrets the faults of the other as tho they were his own, and tries loyally to atone for them. Where harmony is lacking, every difficulty that presents itself is like an enemy with inside information; where harmony exists, the stronghold is well guarded; each is at his post. To work together, suffer together, never to find one's self shut out when he needs to be calmed or encouraged; to walk abreast, like comrades in arms—how good it makes life! what courage it gives us! The farther on we go, the more closely allied we feel; all the common past binds us together. And when this harmony is once experienced, it becomes the most cherished thing in the world; everything else is secondary. How often have I heard such words as these, spoken from hearts attuned to it: "Come what may, so long as we two remain of one mind!"—Charles Wagner.