Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1870-11-12

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Rosalie asked for money. She was q
petted child at home, and she rebelled at
this treatment After few years of un-
happy wrangling, she applied for smaller
sums and at longer intervals. Her bus-
band believed she was learning his pet
lesson of thrift, I. e., meanness, and even
to commend her for the
in her management. She
dressed more handsomely than formerly
the table was well supplied, and yet he
gave her only one.half the amount she
used to assert was necessary. Finally,
1T all came out. / needn't rehearse the
tale how she had been living on anoth-
er mans money. OF course everybody
blamed her. She had good home and
a rich husband. There was no excuse
for her conduct. 1t was very wicked,
very horrible, but his skirts were not
clear. can imagine how sic was goaded
into the evil way. Poor Rosalie! Such
a pretty, bright, affectionate girl as she
was t''h~ .
Mr.. Garvay was loftily coutemptuous
of Mrs. PerrY's grievances, incredulous
as to the cause of the tragedy Salome
related upon her friends authority.
thought Annette had more sense, more
respect for herself and her husband, than
to peddle complaints of him through the
community, he said. James is not stingy,
or churlish. Having known him from
boyhood, may be excused for declining
to believe that his behavior to his wife is
positively brutal. 1t seems more proba-
BILE, if you will allow me the alternative,
that she has an erroneous idea of his
ability TO crafty her whims, and is dis
posed to be more lavish in her expendi-
lures than his means will justify. Wo-
men are apt to forget that, while their
horizon is the outer wall of their home,
man has to labor to provide in wider,
more complicated sphere. Her draught
upon his pocket is but one of thousand,
and there must be times when the fount
is SO nearly exhausted that the latest de-
mand creates a feeling of chagrin and
irritation the wife mistakes for displeas-
ure at her demand. You and Annetta
speak of the humiliation she and others
experience in asking for money. What
think you of mans sensations when he
is obliged to say NO in these circum-
stances ?
Candor on both sides would extract
the sting from the predicament, returned
Salome. Any true-hearted woman would
sympathize with the embarrassment, and
bow cheerfully to what she was assured
was a necessity. But James Perry and
Others of his stamp are prosperous men
in business, and not illiberal at heart.
What l find fault with is, not occasional
asperity when cash chances to run low,
but this habitual snarl whenever the
wifely petition is broached. 1t always
reminds me OF the suddenness with
which bulldog shows his teeth, and
erects his ears at sight OF a suspicious
stanger or known enemy. l witnessed
the like so often in my own home that
the hearing of Annette's experience made
me sore and bitter of heart. Our father
was a good man and an affectionate
husband; our mother the most pru-
dent of managers. Yet, from the time
| was six years old, 1 dreaded to be in
the room when she asked him for money.
And she-poor soul went through the
task as weekly penance, modification
of spirit and of flesh, until she died AS
grew older, l used to say to myself :
if he really loved her, he would remem.
Der sometimes that she must be out of
funds, and spare her this ignominy.
learned to despise the artifices by which
she paved the way to the unwelcome an
nouncement that her pocket-book was
empty, while pitied her for the bust
ness cost her. She would watch for
days together for an opportunity to in
troduce subjects denying herself the
cheapest luxuries, meanwhile, to make
the scantY residue of her last supply
hold out until she could replenish the
lean wallet would regale him with his
favorite dishes, wear the dresses he liked
be entertaining, sportive, loving--but
cannot talk about it now. She did what
she thought was right. Since the disa
greeable operation must be performed
she braced up the patients system to sus
tain it.
"If 1 thought" began Mr.. Garvey
slowly, thrusting his right hand into the
pocket of his pantaloons, and stretching
out his legs, gesture significant with
him as was Mr.. Caxton's, of harrying
his hand in his waistcoat, "it thought
that the false and peIniciOus prejudices
you and Mrs. Perry encourage one an
other in chershing against men in gene
raj, and husbands in particular. prevailed
among your sex to the extent you as
sert, would allow my wife separate
maintenance forthwith f; bid her go he
way, and leave me to mine. There il
no question of sovereignty or dependence
in the case. There must be a banker, ;
cashier in every firm. My wife shoulC
feel no more hisitation in drawing upoI
ME for what she needs, or would like t.
have, than have in writing a checl
when | know / have heavy balance il
my favor in bank, or in saying to m,
cash-keeper "Hand me such and sucl
and such an amount" II she has
right appreciation OF our mutual rela
tions, she will not torment herself wit
such fancies as make Mrs. Perry "rav
| like a mad.wOman." l am the righ
hand, she the left. Both have the sam
right to handle what the man earni
albeit one may manipulate it more skill
fully than the other. That is the resul
of usage. Women are Indifferent finar
ciers, but that does not alter the quei
ton of their rights" aIi
"We are not speaking of you and you
| u,ifa - said Saloma In. whom the mr.