The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-07-05
Do Mothers Earn Their Own Support ?
BY mELEN P. JKSKISs.


lies, should support themselves ~
'Sir," said /, confronting not my
questioner merely, but a stalwart error
Of six thousand years growth, ''the
mother of family of children does sup
port herself"
NV questioner looked surprised, as if
an unexpected blow had been given
him, which was true; ideas strike hard
1t is arrogance for any
man to insinuate that he supports the
wife who makes their home, who keeps
house neatly and beautifully, who bears
nurses them, cares for them
with a patience and watchfulness no
other occupation can require, who rears
them through helpless infancy and way
ward youth, and educates them into
manhood and wOmanhoOd-this wife
who, during all the days of care, and
the tedious nights spent with worrying
children, has never shirked responsible
ity or tOil-has never faltered in the
midst of sickness and death-never hes
itated before sacrifices which would
daunt the strongest men-can q husband
believe he has supported his wife be-
cause he has furnished her board and
clothing? Does he support the man
who tills his garden? Does he support
the cook i'm his family because he fur
nishes her a home, board and four dol
lars a week besides? These persons
would resent as an insult the assertion
that they are supported by the man who
pays them for their honest labor.
Well, then, does this man support his
wife, who does more work than either
gardener or cook? The husband thinks
SO, because he provides her q home,
board and clothing, but he provides
home and board for the cook, and more
money than enough to buy clothing,
and does not dream he is supporting
her.
It is adding insult to injury to suggest
to the wife that she lives on bounty.
My queStiOner says: "But the wife is
working for herself, is she not? And
for whom is the husband working il not
for hcr.p'
Very practical is this-sweet rs song.
but il is not true. y fortune is amassed
as the years 90 on. The husband dies.
If the wife has been working for herself,
and he for her, rs you say, my friend,
the property all belongs to her, does ii
not?-and the husband cannot dispose
of what j. hers. We are mistaken. He
| has made will, knowing il is all his,
L
of his property!
But, suppose before she dies, the hus-
/ band, if the property was all hers, or as
much hers as the husbands, she can
make u will and give to her husband
the use of a Hirci, can she not? Oh,
| bless you, no! y lawyer tells US the
/ husband has it all without any prOces,
of law-it Is not divided among the chill
dren or distributed while he lives. Poet
ry, gallantry said it was all hers, be-
cause the husband tolls for his wife, but
| law says not one cent of this property
which has accumulated by their joint Ia
/ bOrs and prudence is the wife's; and law
/ is somewhat more binding than gallant
/ ~. If there is class in the community
| which earns its living by honest, nOblC
labor, il is these perpetual toilers Of tn,
/ home.
If there is n class i'm the community
which is not paid for its toll, which j:
actually defrauded of its honest earn
/ ings, it is this same class of har,l-wOrk
I ing wives and mothers, who get merely
I board and clothing, and have some
/ times to maneuver to get even that.
do not say husbands are individual
ly responsible for this error, nor tina
men have been plotting injustice. be
lieve men are ignorant of woman's IA
ture, and have got the very wrong no
ton in their heads-BlackstOne havin
helped to drive it there-that the wife
merely an adjunct of the husband O
rather a fraction of the matrimonial unit
so "infinitely small i'm comparison wit
the husband, that it is lost, as matl
ematicians say. [See Blackstonel +
"The husband and wife are one, an
that one is the husband"
This work of the hOme-this mOthC
work, which men POLITICALLY prais
(praise is so cheapI, is not recognize
by the State as having any value wha
ever. Neither does society recognize
value in it, notwithstanding it nevt
tires of lauding and flattering.
The estimated worth of a thing, a.
the world gOes,n is its money valu,
Law and society say this home wOT
need not be paid in money; therefor
society and law value this work of I'll
mothers of the nation at-how much
If my answer-nothing-is not correc
will some lawyer or lOgician solve III
problem, and give n correct answer. VI
listener said:
"You would not have the husban
pay the wife ~
| looked n moment to take the prob:
bic dimensions of this mans soul.
Certainly | would" / said; "bI
don't be alarmed; il would be to his a,
vantage rs well as hers"
At least he ought to pay her, rs I'll
law gives to him the property resultiu
from their combined labor and prudenc
instead of recognizing her as an equ;
partner in the matrimonial firm.
know this idea is shocking; but il is Il
more so than, twenty years ago, was I'll
then new idea that married women cOul
own property.
That idea does not frighten men at a
now. Instead of DESTROYING the hon
. and the nation, as they said it woul,
men have themselves received so niue
advantage from this law that they liB
it; and so they will yet like this ne
idea of the absolute money worth OF I'll
work of mothers and wives.
y man receiving n salary should 81
To his wife: 81 receive so much; "
ought to live on so much. As you a
ways purchase for the family, / wi
place this amount in your hands. Max
the best of it you can. This reserv,
- dollars n week to you and the sam
: to me, for the private use of each, or [
lay up for future need.n Then, if Il
never idliett 10 place III MS vile ; ndllt
the designated amount that famil
would prosper; and rest assured Ii
wife would clay up'' more than III
husband, and would grow bright, happ,
and wise in her independence.
Men who have been in the habit
dealing out money by morsels to the
wives, when the latter get up sufficier
courage to ask for it, will laugh at sue
plan, and exclaim, "What do wome
know about money? The world woul
go to ruin if women get this advaI
tage."
But women know much more aboI
| n1nnnr- fhntn fhi- nInn. Of man Ennu I