Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1870-05-13
SETTLING PROPERTY ON A WIFE.

When men are prosperous, and are max
ing money, and consider themselves rich, l
wonder that it so seldom comes home to
them that they are liable TO reverses, which
shall plunge their families into the utmost
pecuniary distress Men know that busi-
ness is subject to fluctuations, and that
nothing is more frequent than that men
should in one year have all the comforts and
advantages of wealth, and the next year be
stripped bare. But vicious hopefuIness
prevents them from realizing that they shall
ever be subject to this fate which befall
others.
Men expect to live; they do not anticipate
bankruptcy. When times change, and the
pinch comes, it is too late for them to make
provision for the family. The wife, the chill
dren, the whole household, are suddenly
plunged into distress Indeed, much as the
business man suffers for himself his own
pangs are the least part Of the suffering.
have lived long enough to see the over
throw of great many families because the
father, believing that he should live and al
ways keep them in comfortable circumstan-
ces, had neglected to make an independent
provision for them.
At the mans death the estate proves
either insolEent or is reduced to minimum.
The wife, not trained to business, is obliged
to settle the estate by agents. What with
uuskillful management, carelessness or even
sometimes deliberate fraud, the residum
melts in her hands. and the widow, with
fyc or six young children to be fed, clothed
aud educated, finds herself alone and penni.
less! Habits cannot be changed in a day.
She has not been trained to business. She
may have been good horsekeeper, but now
she must earn money, which is a very
different thing from ordering household
skillfully Some, utterly overmatched break
down under the trial, and the children are
scattered, like young partridges, whose
mother the hawk has devoured.
| believe it to be the duty Of every man
who is prosperous, out Of debt, and making
money, to settle upon his wife certain
amount of property, which shall not be eff.
fected by either his bankruptcy or his death.
This may be done by a life insurance-es-
pcciaIly if it be a policy which is not forfeited
by neglect OF payment. Buta stiil better
way is to settle upon the wife good house
and the furniture Then, if misfortune
comes, the man viii still have home. He
will be secure at the root, and may begin
again with some hope. IF death takes away
the father, the nest remains. The children
! do not need to be scattered. @
Some persons have questioned whether a
scrupulous honesty would allow one to hold
back from creditors any part Of husband
property. A settlement of property on
another, while debt hangs over it, either fol
the sake Of avoiding payment Of debt, or o.
securing the family, would be fraudulent
dishonest, and wicked. But il, while clear
ed of debt, the husband settles property OF
bis wife for the just maintenance Of hersel
and children, his after debts have nc NOR
claim upon that property than if he had solt
and transferred il to aneighbor instead Of II
his own WIFE No man has o right to leav
family whom he has accustomed TO aflu
ence liable to sudden and wasting poverty
A provision made betiues, in property, 70
the safety Of his family in the case Of deatl
or bankruptcy, may be accepted aud EN-
pleyed, by the most sensitive conscienct
write strongly on this subject, because
have seen 50 much distress arising from tn
want Of this precaution. Henry Rdn
! Beecher.