In 1894, Ruth Smythers, 'Beloved Wife of Reverend L.D. Smythers,' wrote: 'While sex is at best revolting and at worse rather painful, it has to be endured.One cardinal rule of marriage should never be forgotten: give little, give seldom and, above all, give grudgingly. Most men are by nature rather perverted, and if given half a chance, would engage in quite a variety of the most revolting practices.' The Methodist wife didn't intend to be amusing, but this brief treatise written for young brides is side-splitting today and an eye-opener to how mores have changed in just over a century. AUTHOR: Ruth Smythers was the beloved wife of the Reverend L.D.

Smythers, Pastor of the Arcadian Methodist Church of the Eastern Regional Conference. b/w illustrations.