BHamSam

My awesome daughter-in-law (I have one - soon to have two more) is always showing me interesting sites on the Internet highway via her blog, Sagebrush Coast, that I had no idea existed and have been for a long time. Here's a recent discovery: Lists Of Note plus there is a companion site called: Letters of Note with scanned letters from mostly famous people or addressed to famously, well known people. I get lost reading other people's mail. 

The following little tid-bit caught my eye and I just had to share it with you.

10 Rules for Wives

In 1923, the Legal Aid Society of New York City published some advice to wives in the area, in the form of the  following list of rules.  (Source: Family (Great Contemporary Issues.)

1. Don't be extravagant. Nothing appeals more strongly to a man than the prospect of economic independence.
2. Keep your home clean. Nothing is more refreshing to the eyes of the tired, nerve-racked worker than the sight of a well-tidied home.
3. Do not permit your person to become unattractive. A slovenly wife makes a truant husband.
4. Do not receive attention from other men. Husbands are often jealous and some are suspicious without cause. Do not supply the cause. Friendly attentions from others may be received in a spirit of perfect innocence. When reported by the busy-body they become distorted, often criminal.
5. Do not resent reasonable discipline of children by their father. Mothers should not assume that all chastisement of a child by his father is severe and unjustifiable.
6. Do not spend too much time with your mother. You may easily, in such a way, spend too little time at home.
7. Do not accept advice from neighbors, or even stress too greatly that of your own family. Think for yourself. Have a plan of your own for solution of home problems. In all causes consult freely with your husband.
8. Do not disparage your husband.
9. Smile. Be attentive in little things. An indifferent wife is often supplanted by an ardent mistress.
10. Be tactful. Be feminine. Men, in the last analysis, are but over-grown children. They do not mind coaxing, but they resent coercion. Femininity attracts and compels them. Masculinity in the females repels.

                   They forgot #11. Stay barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen

All I can say is: Really??  Really??