An Econoclectic Perspective
It's very lucky for Dr. Econoclast that he's not a Puritan currently living in seventeenth-century New England because his abject failure to protect his wife from grave danger would surely have been a ground for divorce ("neglect of duty"). At the very least he would have been hauled up before the County Court and heavily fined for this blatant dereliction of his husbandly duty.
Why is Pooh yammering about Puritans? Quite simply because, for no particular reason, he's currently immersed in the following excellent works:
The Puritan Family
Professor Edward Sears Morgan's amazing doctoral dissertation (Harvard, 1942).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido...=books&
n=507846
Puritans at Play
Myths exploded in a most entertaining and scholarly fashion by Chair and Professor of History at Texas Tech University (formerly a prof at the Universities of Winnipeg and Manitoba), Bruce C. Daniels.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido...=glance&
s=books
The Pirates of the New England Coast
Immense fun.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido...=glance&
s=books
Reminds me of the time that my wife and I and another academic couple were enjoying a lovely fire in one of those Chimenara's (sp?), you know, those tall, gourd-shaped thingies. Between us, there were 3 PhDs and several masters degrees. Nevertheless, we had set the Chimenara on top of a WOODEN deck (fortunately, a FLOATING deck away from the house). As we got up to call it an evening, I (the only non-PhD in the party) asked, "Should we put this out?" And the PhDs, in unison, said, "Oh, no, it's contained and it's only embers." At 5am that morning, my wife, while answering the call of nature, yelled, "Fire! Fire!" and I, in my underwear, played fireman to our smoldering deck.
As I frequently say, "With PhDs, they cram all that knowledge in and all the common sense runs out!" 
He he he, good story.
Poor you
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