upies in the
Champs Elysees. He pretends to follow her advice in everything.

CHAPTER XLIV

FAILINGS AND FOIBLES OF GOOD WOMEN

Women of strong character--Obstinacy and prejudice--Tastes and
temperaments--The diplomatic woman--The strong-minded woman--The
superiority of woman--Monopolizers--Little women--The woman who is
wrong--'I told you so'--Why women were not given beards--Women who
marry for money and for titles--The only chance of success in
matrimony.

When you say that a man has a strong character, it means that when he
has made up his mind to attain an object in view, nothing will divert
him from the road that leads to the goal. He will take advice and
profit by all the circumstances that may help him to succeed. That man,
as a rule, is successful in the world.

When you say that a woman has a strong character, it often means that
she is obstinate and prejudiced, and that whatever advice and arguments
may be placed at her disposal, she will follow her own mind and have
her own way. That woman, as a rule, is a failure in life.

Obstinacy and prejudice, which are the characteristics of even the best
women, are not proofs of a strong character, but weaknesses.

* * * * *

Which is better for a man and a woman to possess in
matrimony--similarity of tastes or similarity of temperaments?

I would reply at once: The former, by all means. If a husband and a
wife have different temperaments--and, of course, love each other (this
must always be granted in any discussion on 'How to be happy though
married')--their lives may be all the more interesting for it, because
they will have to constantly study each other, make concessions, and be
diplomatists ever on their guard. People of different temperaments can
get along very well, but unless their tastes are similar they cannot
enjoy life together.

* * * * *

George Eliot says that a difference of tastes in jokes is a strain on
the affections.

Fancy a humourist married to a woman who cannot see a joke!

Fancy a Wagnerian having a wife who prefers the 'Casino Girl' to
'Lohengrin'!

Fancy a poetic, romantic woman, a lover of Nature, taking her husband
to see Vesuvius in eruption and hearing him remark that he has seen
smoke before at Pittsburg and Newcastle-on-Tyne; or visiting with him
the banqueting-hall of Heidelberg Castle and hearing that P