How Do You Make Your Husband Happy?

1 — If he flares up... keep calm
2 — Respect his hours of silence...
3 — Beware of household problems
4 — Look to your appearance
5 — Don't ask him to the market with you...

"How can I make my husband happy?"
A question answered by one of the happy wives.

— Do you believe that your husband is happier today than he was before marriage?

— Yes! I am sure of it, because I am always inventing amusing jokes to create a light, cheerful atmosphere for him at home; I surprise him at every moment with a joke that makes him laugh. How could he not be happy, when I keep every cause of vexation out of his way and let him hear nothing but what is pleasant?!

— How do you treat your husband when he flares up?

— That is inevitable in the life of every married couple. The method that has succeeded with us in treating these abnormal moments is to laugh at them. When my husband flares up, I keep calm, and I laugh... and he too laughs at my flaring, and so the storm ends and we pass into a pleasant atmosphere with wonderful speed.

— How do you behave at the table while he reads his morning paper?

— That is a sacred time with me, in which I feel that complete silence in the house is an absolute necessity; so I give him twenty minutes to look through the paper, and then I go to him announcing that the time is up, and we take up our talk again without any grumbling on my part. A wife must not cross her husband in the things that are dear to him, nor may she blame him and heap up blame and criticism, for that repels him from her and drives him to flare-ups and anger — and these two are the greatest destroyers of love between husband and wife.

And when I sit before him at the table in the morning I take care that my appearance be pleasing: I do not appear with disheveled hair, far from elegance and charm. And I believe it essential that the husband begin his day cheerful and glad, and that he not be exposed to anything that might upset him. If there are household problems, the wife must not recite them in the morning; let her wait for her husband's return, and let her choose the suitable time for discussing the affairs of the house, to which a man rarely likes to listen.

— And what is your opinion of the untidy husband?

— Most men are untidy, and so when the wife runs up against this fact she should herself set about repairing the fault and make it a part of her duties, to be performed with pleasure... It is futile for a wife to taunt her husband with his untidiness and try to make him mend his ways; that policy never succeeds with a man, it clouds the serenity of his life perpetually, and it brings not the least benefit.

A man generally cares to be the head, and he rarely admits his mistake; and it is not wisdom for the wife to call his attention to it and criticize his doings, for that only makes him more stubborn and more attached to his mistake.

— And if the husband hates going with you to the market, how do you reconcile your wish and his?

— That is another trait most men share. I remember that I once got my husband to go with me to the market: the result was a failure, and it was the last time! I learned from it that it is better for the wife to go to the market alone, and to be independent in what he dislikes.