True Loyalty and False - The Irritation of "Little Ways" - Betrayal of Confidence - The

Value of Comradeship in Marriage oyal je serai durant ma vie." This was the refrain of an old troubadour song. With an 'e' added to the adjective, it would make a good motto for a wife. There is too little loyalty in the world, particularly in small things. In larger matters, self-interest may prompt a woman to do all she can to uphold her husband and set him in the best light, but the very same wife may be disloyal in little things. No man is faultless, and the husband of such an one may have defects of temper, irritating little habits, small weaknesses which it would be her truest wisdom to ignore. A great writer and a keen observer of human nature has said that merely to put a feeling into words is to increase it. To chatter among friends and acquaintances about a husband's small failings increases the wife's estimate of them and her irritation about them.

Yet one often hears a woman discuss her husband in a disparaging way, and forms a low opinion of her discretion.

"For Better or Worse"

It is but seldom that men speak depreciatingly of their wives, except perhaps among their closest friends. And yet there are just as many annoying, irritating little feminine faults as there are masculine. If only women could realise this, and, instead of magnifying the husbands', would try to minimise their own, many thousands of homes would be happier.

To put it on the lowest ground, it is in very bad taste to discuss a husband's failings in general company. One cannot respect a woman who does so. And, after all, she has taken him "for better or worse," and it is true philosophy to make the best of him.

Most of us have our "little ways," but are quite unconscious of them, unaware that we do anything to annoy or irritate our companions. It is possible to some, who have a pleasant manner, to indicate any failing of the kind without giving offence, but it is a difficult thing to do. Most of us do it disagreeably, and there can be no greater mistake. And yet the purpose behind is not entirely selfish. We see that some trifling defect in one for whom we feel affection prevents his being appreciated by others as he deserves to be. We should like him to be perfect, liked and admired by all. Therefore, we venture on suggesting to him that there is room for some small improvement. This may be well received if sufficient tact has been brought to bear upon the task.

Is not this, even if unsuccessful, a better way than making a joke of any small failing? Of being disloyal to the man who should enjoy, and very probably deserves, one's best fealty?

Betrayal Of Confidence

One of the worst forms of disloyalty is that which betrays a confidence. There are moments of intimate fireside talk in which a secret thought or hope or memory finds expression, regretted, perhaps, as soon as uttered. The hearer should regard this as a sacred trust, never to be spoken of to others and not even referred to with him who has "opened the side-door/1 as Oliver Wendell Holmes puts it, unless he should himself revive the topic. These moments of expansion are dangerous to any l>nt the noblest friendships. We all have our Inner chamber of the heart, kept veiled away, and we are apt to feel a very unjust resentment towards the friend whom we have admitted to it in an unguarded moment. If the friend is loyal, this feeling wears away in time. But otherwise it is the destruction of friendship. The wife who, in a moment of irritation, easts such a confidence in her husband's teeth, is guilty of a base treachery.

The Comradeship Of Marriage

To "go back upon" one's matrimonial partner is a bit of meanness. It is also utterly impolitic.

There are such things as reprisals. and even if the other partner is too high-minded to retaliate, there is little chance of that true friendship which should unite men and wife after the glamour of first love and early married days has faded.

It cannot be expected to last, any more than we can expect the " roseate hues of early dawn " to last throughout the day. But they may be succeeded by serene skies, with many sunny hours. The comradeship of marriage can be a very beautiful and happy thing; but there must be a reciprocity of loyalty and generosity on both sides.

Mistakes Are Secrets

We all make mistakes. We do not like them to be published to the whole circle of our acquaintances. We should like them to be forgotten as quickly as possible. A loyal friend will help us in this, and will himself, or herself, erase the incident from memory as speedily as may be. But what can be said of the wife or husband who keeps recurring to the mistake, jeering over it, retailing it to all and sundry, and wounding the very heart of the unfortunate offender ? This is " no way to behave," to use the language of the famous Scottish jury. And to quote from a more classic source, our own immortal Chaucer:

" Let us then speke of chiding and reproche which ben full grete wounds in mann' is herte; for thei nusowe the semes of friendship in mann' is herte."

The whole Pacific Coast demands more than all other wealth the very essence of perpetuity and prosperity - a generation of mothers fit to give birth to men. If these come not, Asia will prevail."

These are the words of the answer received to a query as to whether English women are wanted in British Columbia. Could reply be more definite ? Fortunately, there is an organisation at Vancouver for the reception of English girls, and a steady stream of immigrants has been received there, but the demand far exceeds the supply. The report for 1909 of the Young Women's Christian Association at Vancouver gives the number of applications from employers as 2,983. Only 764 could be furnished with the help they required, some of it only temporary, as the demand for English girls is so great that they are sent for a time to someone who needs them specially, and afterwards to some other employer in similar straits.