little girl is a little woman,
and, when a woman, she will possess, only more accentuated, all the
qualities and defects that she possessed as a child of ten or twelve. I
have known very good boys become very bad men, and very bad boys become
splendid men. I have known young cowards become very brave soldiers. An
affectionate little girl will be an affectionate woman; a little girl
passionately fond of her dolls will be a beautiful mother; and a little
flirt of ten will become a terrible flirt at twenty, and a terrible
coquette at thirty.

* * * * *

The most painful feeling for a woman to have is to know that she is
wrong, because she will not acknowledge it. While she is consuming her
own smoke, pity her, and never aggravate her by saying, 'I told you
so!' There is such a damnable look of self-satisfaction on the face of
a man who says to a woman, 'I told you so!' If I were a woman, I could
not resist the temptation of slapping the face of a man who _told me
so_.

Poor thing! It is quite bad enough for her to be wrong, without having
to suffer a sneering reminder.

The man who tries to prove, or, worse still, who succeeds in proving,
to a woman that she is wrong has not a particle of gentlemanly feeling
in him. He is an idiot, a bore, and a brute.

* * * * *

If your wife is wrong, cast down your eyes modestly, smile, and say
nothing. If she does not know she is wrong, she will admire your
courtesy; if she does, she will admire your self-control. A woman
always admires these two qualities in a man.

And when she is right--mind you, perhaps she may be: the most
extraordinary things _will_ happen--don't be mean. Be sure you allow
her the fullest enjoyment of the victory.

So, whether your wife be right or wrong, always treat her as if she
were right. You will thus pay the lady either her due or a compliment,
and you are sure to win.

* * * * *

Alexandre Dumas said that women were not given beards because they
would never have been able to keep still and silent while being shaved.

Women's tongues have been the eternal theme for men's sarcasms. Yet,
for the gift of the gab, for gossip and scandal, give me a few old men
together in the smoke-rooms of their clubs. Women are not in it!

* * * * *

I see no difference between women who marry for