The true northerner., 1882-10-06
THE WIFE'S WAGES.

"Well, Nettie, what do you want?"
said Mr. Jarvis to his wife, who stood
looking rather anxiously at him, after he
had paid the factory hands their weeks
wages.
"Why, Donald" said she, Il thought,
as had worked for you all the week, L
would come for my wages, too. You
pay Jane So n week; surely | earn that,
and would like very much to have 1t
as my own
"Pshaw, Nettie, how ridiculous you
talk. You know that all l have belongs
to you and the children-and don't l
furnish the house and everything?
What under the sun would you do with
the money if you had it,"
q know, Donald, that you buy the
necessaries for us all, and l am willing
that you should do SO still, but / should
like little money of my very own. We
have been married fifteen years, and in
all that time / do not seem to have
earned dollar. As far as money is
concerned, l might as well be slave.
I cannot buy quart of berries, nor
book, without asking You for the money,
and | should like to be a little more
independent.
Mr.. Jarvis, proprietor of Jarvis mills,
worth thousands and thousands OF dol
lars. laughed derisively.
you're fine one to talk of in
dependence" he said "If YOU would
start out to make your own living you'd
fetch up in the poor-house soon enough,
for what could you do TO earn living?
The girls in the factory knew how to do
their work, and they earn their
wages. When l have paid them my
duty is done, but l have to board and
ciothe You, and take care of You whom
you are sick. If L had TO do that for
the girls l would have precious little
money left, / can tel YOU"
Donald, / gave up good trade
when l married you. For five years I
had supported myself by it, and many
n time since have L envied myself the
purse of those days. As for my not
earning anything now, lelve it 20 YOU
to say whether it would be possible to
hire another to take my place, and how
much do you suppose it would cost to
do without me year? ! know the
girls have little after paying their ex-
penses, but they enjoy that little so
much. Allie Watson supports herself
and her mother with her wages. and
they both dress better than j do
Jennie Hart is help ng her father to pay
OFF the mortgage on his farm, and she is
happy that she can do so. Even Jane,
Nle kitchen girl, has more freedom than
/, for out of her own money she is lay
sVo Nv ho, aIot nj
will send them Christmas, as much to
her own pleasure as theirs. Yesterday
an Indian woman was at the house with
such handsome bead work to sell, and,
although | wanted some money so much,
j had not dollar | felt like CRYING
when Jane brought in her weeks wages
and bought half a dozen articles that [
wanted so much You often say that all
you have is mine, but 50 would have
given me more pleasure yesterday thln
your hundreds of thousands of dollars
worth of property did"
mo doubt of that, Mrs. Jarvis. You
have ho idea of the value of money, and
would have enjoyed buying lot of
bead trash that would not he worth a
cent TO anybody. Jane needs a guar
dian if she fools away her money like
that. She will be in the county poor
house yet if she don't look out. It's
very lucky, indeed, that men do hold
the money, for there's not one woman
an hundred who knows how to use it !"
~For shame, Donald Jarvis! You
know better Look at jerry and Milly
Creg, will you. and say that he makes
Al r l.. hn 10 OF
home with her parents every night,
making them comfortable, while he is
carou ing ine the village wasting his
time and money, and making a brute of
himself beside. And why does Mrs.
Sart II come to receive her husbands
wages herself? Simply because he can
not gc5 by the saloon with money in
his pocket, and if she did not get the
money they would all go hungry to bed
af CT his wage' were paid. And L be-
Iieve that everv woman that earns
monev here spends it as wisely as the
average men. and i have yet to hear of
one of them being in debt"
Mr. Jarvis knew that he could not
gainsqy word his wife Had said, for
thev were all true Luckily he thought
OF Jane.
well, how much do You suppose
Jane will have left when New Year
comes? If she would get sick how long
could she pay for care such as you
have?"
at is not likely she will lay up many
dollars out of hundred year; but she
IL laying up something better, / think.
Last winter she sent her mother warm
shawl and pair of shoes, and to her
brother and sister new school books;
and the warm, loving letters they send
her do her more good than twice the
amount of money in the bank would.
This year she is laying by number OF
useful and pretty things for them, and
IL any misfortune should happen to Jane
they would only be too glad to help
her"
well, who do You suppose would
help you if you needed help?" said Mr..