Page:Fielding - Sex and the Love Life.pdf/148

other, and tolerant, there are blue moments when the faculties of judgment and reasonableness are a little upset. When either one gets into such a frame of mind from whatever cause—and it does not just develop from nothing—this gives the other an opportunity to display some psychological insight, which can be shown with excellent results in a little special consideration, meeting the situation as one would an emergency of a physical nature.

It may be compared to an accident or illness when we forget our own convenience for the time being, and give a helping hand. The result of treating tactfully a temporarily upset state of mind will do much to overcome the feeling—prove a help in a very real sense, and should awaken in the mind of the indisposed one a sense of gratitude for the devotion shown in so practical a form.

Mistakes should be admitted, mutually, and readily condoned. Sullenness and pouting have no place in the personal repertoire of an intelligent adult, and are distinctly a reversion to an infantile stage. Expressions of this kind are more or less cultivated—and to a degree are deliberate and voluntary, even if they have become a habit, and are therefore inexcusable.

Nagging may have had its historical mission when only the energy of the shrew could compensate for the autocracy of the male in family life—but it has no place in the family circle of a modern marriage based on love and respect. It symbolizes a cat-and-dog existence and not the married life of a man and woman based on equality, mutuality and love.

A sense of humor is perhaps the most wonderful tonic in the world. Philosophers from the time of Aristotle have tried to explain it. They have written long and interestingly, if not over-illuminatingly, about it. In any event, it is important enough to have merited their notice. Encourage