The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-12-09

IuyU WICH WOQCu; Uut tu0t0 ID 8u0t00E
side that is disgusting to contemplate.
There are great multltudes of faithful
wives, obedient daughters and cleft
sover'' sisters, to whom there is never
given willing penny. The brute who
occupies the head of the family never
gives dollar to the women dependent
upon him without making them feel
the yoke of their dependence, and
tempting them to curse their lot, with
all its terrible humiliations. Heaven
pity the poor women who may be de-
pendent upon him-women who never
ask him for money when they can
avoid 1t, ana never get it until they
have been made to feel as meanly hum.
BILE as if they had robbed hen-roost!
There is but one manly way in treat
ing this relation OF. dependent women.
If q man recognizes q woman as a de-
pendent-and he must do 80, so far at
least as his wife and daughters are con-
ccrned--he acknowledges certain duties
which he owes to them. His duty is to
support them, and, so far as he can do
it, to make them happy. He certainly
cannot make them happy if, in all his
treatment Of them, he reminds them of
their dependence upon him. We know
of no better form into which he can
put the recognition of his duty than
that of an allowance. freely and
promptly paid whenever it may b.
called for. If man acknowledges to
himself that he owes the duty OF sup
port to the women variously related to
him in his household, let him generous
ly determine how much money he has
to spend upon each, and tell her just
how much she is at liberty to call upon
him for per annum. Then it stands in
the relation of debt to the woman,
which she is at liberty to call for and to
spend according to her own judgment.
We have watched the working Of this
plan. and it works well. We have
watched the working of other plans,
and they do not work we'll. We have
watched. for instance, the working of
the plan of the generous husband and
father, who says: "Come to me for
what you want, whenever you want it.
l don't wish to limit you. Some years
you will want more and some less"
This seems very generous; but, in
truth, these women prefer to know
about what the man thinks they ought
to spend, or about what he regards as
the amount he can afford to have them
spend. Having gained this knowledge
by voluntarily proffered allowance,
they Immediately adapt their expendi-
lures to their means and are perfectly
content. 1t is comfort to a depend
emit woman to look upon definite sum
as her own-as one that has been set
aside for her exclusive use and behoof.
A great multitude of the discomforts
that attach to dependent woman 3
lot arise from the obtuseness and
thoughtlessness of the men upon whom
they depend. They are some men so
coarsely made that they cannot appre-
ciate a woman's sensitiveness in asking
for money. They honestly intend to
do their duty-even to deal generously
by the women dependent upon them;
but they cannot understand why q
woman should object to come to them
for what they choose to give her. If
they will ask their wives to tell them
frankly how they can improve their
position, these wives will answer that
they can do it by putting into their
hands, or placing within their call, all
the money per annum which they think
they can afford to allow them, and not
to compel them to appeal to their hus-
bands as suppliants for money when
ever they may need dollar or the quar-
ter of one.
The absolutely brutal husband and
father will hardly read this article, but
we recall instances of cruelty and in
suit toward dependent women that
! Nd mt
in every fiber. A true woman may le-
ultimately rejoice in her dependence
upon a true man, because he will never
make her feel it in any way; but a
brute of husband can make a true
woman feel her humiliation as de-
pendent hundred times day, until
her dependence is mourned over as an
unmitigated curse. -.Scrib,ser's Monthly.