y repeat that
for industry he does not know a woman who could compete with her. That
is the way he encourages her in the path of duty. The domestic tyrant
is particularly great on duty, and when he and his wife are alone, and
there is nobody else to hear him, he tells her that he fulfils his
duties, and that surely he can expect 'females' to perform theirs. For
him, women are 'females.' His wife alone can tell you what he really is,
and on the subject this is the information you will receive from her:

'I have to be his slave for twenty-four hours a day, work for him,
humour him, and, most especially, I must never complain of being ill,
or even mention that I am tired. I have never had from him a word of
pity, of condolence, or even of sympathy. I have never received
encouragements. I have never heard a word of praise from his lips.

'On the other hand, it takes very little to discourage him and make him
lose his high spirits. If anything has gone wrong with his business
during the day, he comes home frowning, snarling, quarrelsome, looking
for more trouble and grievances. He does not use me as a consoling
companion in the hour of misfortune or as a comforter in moments of
annoyance. No; he looks upon me as a target at which he can aim all his
bitterness.'

And she will tell you much more than that. She will probably tell you
that the larger the family gets, the more he is pleased, because it
gives her less and less chance of finding time to leave her home.

He goes out when he likes, where he likes, and would never think of
asking her, 'Won't you come along?' You never see them out together.
Poor thing! life would be tolerable to her if they were never in
together.

It would never enter the domestic tyrant's mind to ask his wife if she
is able to do her work alone, whether he can help her in this or that,
or simply inquire, in a sympathetic manner, whether she doesn't feel
tired after her day's work.

If he should hear complaints from her he has a beautiful phrase ready
for an answer: 'What did my mother do? What did your mother do? I am
sure you are not worse off than they were.'

This moral man, the domestic tyrant, is not uncommonly dyspeptic, and
bad digestion has been the cause of more unhappy marriages than all the
immorality of the world put together.

PART II

RAMBLES IN MATRIMONY

CHAPTER I

ADVICE TO YOUNG MARRIED PEOPLE

The great art, the great science of happiness, in matrimon