The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-04-25
WIVES SECRETS.

- o0SA0O" AAAs AAay VIC tEuGt Ill
though we by no means vouch for it, as
to those secrets which are entrusted to
then by others, but it is certainly not the
truth in regard to their own These they
will occasionally hold to with tenacity
uneAualed by any secretiveness of the
NAB sex. So
There is the essential difference be-
tween the motives for the retention of
their secrets by men, and women, that
while the former ordinarily refuse dis
closure to the latter from contempt, fear
commonly prompts the reciprocal reserve.
of these. 49,, -,-
There are questionably many things
VIII ch a husband, father and son would
carefully withhold from wife, mother and
daughter through reverential dread of
otfefase to modesty and respect; and thus
it is that the cultivation Of the most init
mate confidence in all the family relations
with woman is the surest safeguard of
mans purity. This is the liberal educa-
ton, in its highest sense, which Steele, in
his lofty tribute to one of England's fair
est and noblest women, said it was to
know her. A faithful attachment to
higl-minded woman seeks conformity
with her moral excellence, and release
from every drag of grossness which may
hinder that delicacy of sentiment which
alone can raise it to the elevated SYM
pathy 70 which it aspires. No man who
really loves an excellent woman can long
possess stains which require hiding. The
purest men, however, though they refuse
to cherish any feeling of the heart at va
rance with the moral sentiment of those
women worthy Of their Sympathy, and
consequently have nothing; of the kind to
conceal from them, may yet be very Sc
cretive. Husbands will often regard
their wives as proper confdantes to whom
may be trusted every concern of the
heart, and yet deem them quite insult
able for the least revelation of matters of
business. These are generally the secrets
withheld by husbands from their wives,
and the motive which prompts their con-
ceal ment is the contempt with which
man ordinarily regards the intelligence
OF woman.
The excessive fondness of some women
for trinkets and fine clothes frequently
leads them into expenses which they are
induced to conceal for fear of the dis
pleasure Of their husbands. These are
often, it must be confessed, such crusty
dispensers of their money, even when re-
CURED to defray the ordinary expendi-
ture of household, that their wives pre-
sent their habitual accounts and make
their necessary demands with fear and
trembling. It is not, therefore, surpris-
ing that woman who has been tempted
by her love of finery or other motive to
incur an irregular and exorbitant expense
should dread to disclose the fact to any
husband not endowed with more than
the average good nature and readiness to
disburse of his kind. 3"
1 There are women, however, who will
have their bit of glistening gewgaw, be
it what it may,at an y hazard, and if they
cannot presume upon the indulgence of
a husband, they will, unless they have
the courage to defy, which is rare, evade
by some means or other, the severity they
have reason to dread from him. With
magpie cunning they will avail them
selves of the oldest articles of conceal
iment, and the most familiar but least
suspected localities are often chosen for
favorite hiding places. They have been
NAO"A3 AOL S1AcsAAPACt w COV0A w dill IL
resistible piece Of new silk with the dirty
clothes, and put coveted bit of jewelry
into the meat tray, SO that a grumpy
husband has paid the quarters bills of
the washer-woman and butcher, not, in
deed, without grumble at their exor-
bitancy, but with no suspicion of the
cause. These resources are, however not
always available; there is limit to the
capacity Of the most expensive accounts
of grocer and market-man, and to the be-
lief of the most credulous husbands.
Wives are often tempted to indulge
their love Of expense to an extent which
renders all little articles of concealment
useless. They accordingly, unable, like
most spendthrifts, to resist the immediate
fruition of prodigal caprice, get at once
whatever fills their covetous eyes for the
moment, and leave the consequences,
whatever they may be-. to the future.
They thus incur debts, and when the de-
mand comes, as it must, for their pay
ment, the foolish women bethink them
selves, for the first time, of the reluctant
paymasters at home, surrounded by all
the terror of angry and storming hus-
bands. -I@
Many of the articles of the toilet are
merely means by which the vanity Of
woman seeks to hide her secrets of in
creasing age and diminishing beauty
from the world. Women should be re-
minded of the frequent futility of their
efforts. They alone are ordinarily the
victims of the deceit they practice, for
they are deluded with the idea that they
are deluding others, when they are only
deluding themselves. Their, attempts
not merely fail in their object of giving
them the grace and beauty of youth, but