Lovely in Her Husband's Eyes by J.R. Miller 1840 through 1912. The good wife is a good housekeeper. I know well how unromantic this remark will appear to those whose dreams of married life are woven of the fancies of youthful sentiment, but these frail dreams of sentiment will not last long amid the stern realities of life, and then that which will prove one of the rarest elements of happiness and blessing in the household will be housewifely industry and diligence. A Greek philosopher, walking at night and gazing up at the sky, stumbled and fell. His companion observed, one should not have his head in the stars while his feet are on the earth. There are some wives who commit the same mistake. They set their eyes on romantic ideals and neglect the real duties that come close to their hands in which the true secret of happiness and blessing lies. They have their eyes and head among the stars while their feet are walking on mundane soil. No wonder if they stumble. It may be put down as a positive rule, whether among the rich or the poor, whether in a palace or in a cottage, that the wife who would be happy and make her home happy and permanently beautiful must work with her hands at the housewifely tasks that the days in turn bring to her. When young people marry, they are rarely troubled with many thoughts about the details of housekeeping. Their dreams are high above all such commonplaces. The mere mention of such things as cooking, baking, sweeping, dusting, mending, ironing, jars upon the poetic rhythm of the lofty themes of conversation. It never enters the brains of these happy lovers that it can make any difference in the world in their home life whether the bread is sweet or sour, whether the oatmeal is well cooked or scorched, whether the meals are punctual or tardy. The mere thought that such subliminary matters could affect the tone of their wedded life seems a desecration. It is a pity to dash away such exquisite dreams, but the truth is they do not long outlast the echo of the wedding peals or the fragrance of the bridal roses. The newly married are not long within their own doors before they find that something more than tender sentiment is needed to make their home life a success. They come down from the clouds when the daily routine begins and touch the common soil on which the feet of other mortals walk. Then they find that they are dependent, just like ordinary people, on some quite prosaic conditions. The palace that is to rise into the air, shooting up its towers, displaying its wonders of architecture, flashing its splendors in the sunshine, the admiration of the world, must have its foundation in commonplace earth, resting on plain, hard, honest rock. Love may build its palaces of noble sentiments and tender affections and sweet charities, rising into the very clouds, and in this splendid home two souls may dwell in the enjoyment of the highest possibilities of wedded life, but this palace too must stand on the ground with unpoetic and unsentimental stones for its foundation. That foundation is good housekeeping. In other words, good breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, a well-kept house, order, system, promptness, punctuality, good cheer, far more than any young lover's dream, does happiness in married life depend upon such commonplace things as these. Love is very patient, very kind, very gentle, and where there is love, no doubt the plainest fare is ambrosia, and the homeliest surroundings are charming. Husbands are not angels in this mundane state, and not being such, they need a substantial basis of good housekeeping for the realization of their dreams of blissful homemaking. There is no doubt that many a heart estrangement begins at the table where meals are unpunctual and food is poorly cooked or repulsively served. Bad housekeeping will soon drive the last vestige of romance out of any home. The illusion that love weaves about an idolized bride will soon vanish if she proves incompetent in her domestic management. The wife who will keep the charm of early love unbroken through the years, and in whose home the dreams of the wedding day will come true, must be a good housekeeper. It should be understood that for every wife the first duty is the making and keeping of her home. Her first and best work should be done there, and until it is well done, she has no right to go outside to take up other duties. She must look upon her home as the one spot on earth for which she alone is responsible and which she must cultivate well for God if she never does anything outside. For her, the father's business is not attending Dorcas societies, missionary meetings, mother's meetings, and temperance conventions, or even teaching a Sunday school class until she has made her own home all that her wisest thought and best skill can make it. There have been wives who, in their zeal for Christ's work outside, have neglected Christ's work inside their own doors. They have had eyes and hearts for human need and human sorrow in the broad fields laying far out, but neither eye nor heart for the work of love lain about their own feet. The result has been that while they were doing angelic work in the lanes and streets, the angels were mourning over their neglected duties within the hallowed walls of their own homes. Let it be remembered that Christ's work in the home is the first that he gives to every wife, and that no amount of consecrated activities in other spheres will atone in this world or the next for neglect or failure there.