The Good Wife's Guide

The other day, I received an email from a Good Housekeeping article published in 1955 entitled "The Good Wife's Guide."
The opening words of advice include:

°Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.
°Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you"ll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work weary people.
°Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
°Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.
Click here to view the entire article.
A couple of weeks ago, Mishpacha Family First, published an article about Rivkah Bas Meir Tiktiner, a sixteenth cenury Yiddish authoress and a member of Prague's Jewish community.
The following is an excerpt from her book, Meneket Rivkah: A Manual of Wisdom and Piety for the Jewish Woman.
Chapter Two
This is the next chapter, which will speak of how a woman should relate to her husband, if they want to grow old with each other with respect.
She should not tell him everything that goes wrong in the house - she should excuse him from (involvement) since nothing good comes from a fight; .....(a fight) begins with a quarrel over one little word, and later a big fight grows out of it. That is why the verse says, "Before a dispute flares up, drop it." In Yiddish this means, before the fight begins, give it up. This means that one should quickly cut it off.

Year ago, my grandmother and I visited a Rebbetzin, the wife of a leading Torah personality. She led us into the study. She pointed to the chair at the front of the desk in the center of the room. She told us, "That's the Rav's chair. I never sit in it."

The woman accorded the greatest respect to her husband. Her utmost pleasure derived, not from sitting in a comfortable chair, but rather in helping her husband excel and achieve great heights in Torah learning.

As someone once told me, "Treat your husband like a king, and, by definition, you will be a queen."