The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-06-03

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: An amiAbls young friend q perhaps
twenty-five or three summer, after som
hesitation, and witlIs charming sufason
cheeks and brow. <prppounded to us on
Sunday morning, I'M voice slightly tremulou
and Insulating, this qusstion: Win yos
please tell me how much- pinmoney lady
ought to have?" The question took us lit
tie by surprise. mot moving whether oul
friend asked the information with view Il
matrimony, or whether he inquired in behal
of sister about to become bride, o wheth
or he was merely seeking the Qualification of .
laudable curiosity. After recovery from on,
momentary confusion. we branched out on
pin-money for few minutes, much q
follows:
Long after the invention Of pins in England
in the fourteenth century, the maker was
allowed to sell them on two days only each
year, the FIRST and second of January. The
ladies of the court and the rich danes of
London, on those two days Aocked to the pin
maker to lay in . store of these convenient
articles for the whole year, the money for the
purpose being furnished by fathers and hus-
bands Pins afterwards became common and
cheap, but the pin allowance was not changed
in amount, and was applied to the purchase
OF any needed articles Hence the sum annu-
ally allowed to lady for her peculiar and
personal use was and is called pln-money.
It is commonly understood in one of two
senses, an allowance over and above strictly
necessary expenses for which q lady
is not expected to account, or
more generally, what lady needs for per-
sonal use, over the cost of her Subsistence.
In the latter sense it includes all expenses for
dress, books, special entertainment, presents;
daily fare in bus, hack, stage or car; charity,
and the thousand tribes which are not in
Guided in board if living at an inn, or in |
household expenses il living in her own
house. It is not mere pocket money, since it |
is in part for the purchase Of necessaries such |
as dress, and in part for reasonable Injuries |
and ornaments.
Employing the term in this latter sense, the /
question is about this What part Of the
husbands income ought he to allow to his
wife for her personal expenditure, not in
,luding those expenses which husband, wife
md children consume in common, and
which are necessary to subsistence? The mere
of the question shows that it ad-
nits Of IS many answers as there are
rank, position and income The
ggregate income from business or rental Of
property, or interest on shares may leave q
urplus over necessary expenses, large or
mall II the average surplus is large, gal
ant husband will make q liberal annual do
alton to his wife out of it If that surplus is
mall, the prudent, considerate and frugal
'ife will expect and accept no more than such
share Of the smaller sum as will still leave
omething to be carried as profit to the years
usiness. In no case ought more than one
bird of the net income over all the necessary
kpenses of business and household to be thus 9
pplled. No sensible man will rob his bust
ess. imperil his creditors, wrong his clients,
! grind his tenants in order to minister to
folly; nor will any lady Of sound
'nse take. for pleasure and ornament, what
nght to be added to productive capital
Our gallant Louisiana civil code makes wife =
ID husband joint and equal sba rers in gains
ID profits from their joint estate, business or 9
Under such an equitable sys- 2
m 1t il easy to judge ct any time Of the y
oper sum which the lady may expend from
ar to year on matters merely personal. q
Il happens very naturally that many men q
d many more women do not know what 81
'ney is, it value, the duties attached to 1t, y
. requirements which hinge upon it, the =
'ims of business on it, the rights Of credi- q
q to it They are not aware that money
presented labor which has been done g
some one, and il chapgeable "
o labor or the products of Ia a
]. The lady whose husband employs e'
ny laborers, or buys and sells large stores g
merchandise. or handles vast amounts w
money as q banker, is very spt if ignorant o'
infer that he is wealthy and can afford to se
the means of elegant and ornate display.
8 hard lesson to learn that to handle VI
perty is one thing. to own it quite another. IN
Is another hard lesson to learn to distin- NC
sh between the necessity Of expanding All
ney for the good of business, and the folly 'n'
wasting it upon trifss Injuries, gewgaws "
ornaments Tho want of this knowledge ao'
the part of really fond and worthy wives pr
kept many millions of masculines bound ~
n the remorseless wheel Of poverty. ~
is said that the honeymoon lasts until W.
bride asks for money. The pin-money =. !.
may not insure for life the con- :.
lance Of that mellifuous lunation, but il il ~
excellent preventive Of the sudden and ~,
lpt total copjugal darkness which results
a an extra demand upon the young hus- .-0
d's exchequer. When the annual or ~
thly allowance is fxed. the lady has the A.o'
faction of feeling that it is her own and 'io'
she can do with it a. she pleases. She ''1.
rts to her multiplication table and memo o'p
Inv, 49, 80 49,. :. =. -. 49, ing
goes to pursue pleasure with frugal -
l." "A did the thrifty spouse Of the eonas ue"