The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-03-17
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Supported Wives.
TBy Alice Stone Blaekwell.l


1t has been several times asserted OF late
that the laws are more than just to women
aud less than just to men. The example
most frequently quoted is that husband Is
legally bound to support his wife, while
wife is not legally bound to support her bus
band. There is another side to the case
which is not so often mentioned. The law
gives husband a right to his wifs's ser
vices, and the services commonly rendered
by wives are considered worth much more
than board and lodging, when they have to
be performed by hired servant. curious
illustration of this has come to my notice
in Massachusetts country town. An old
farmer died childless and without will,
leaving little or no property except his farm,
The widow was over 80 years of age. She
had done the hOusework for some 80 yearsf
had cared for two daughters till they died o.
consumption, and had nursed her husband
through years of helpless invalidism. After
his death, the law entitled her to the lie use
Of third of the farm. She could neither
farm the land nor eat it, and the life inter-
est Of woman over so years old would not
sell for more than a trife. She bad to 90 to
the poor-house, where she soon died insane
Not long after another farmer died childless,
and without a will. The heirs were avari-
cious. They grudged the widow her third.
They discovered and proved haw IN her
marriage, which she had never suspected,
but which invalidated the ceremony. They
were not obliged to give her anything, and
did not propose 10 do so. 1t was hard
case. The Judge advised her 10 bring 10
bill for her services. She had done the dead
mans honsework, the ordinary hard work
of a farmers wife for years. She had also
been 'supported;' but, with the discovery
that she was not a married woman, came
too the discovery that her board and lodging
were not an equivalent for her labor She
brought in bill for her services accordingly,
at the rate of 81 a week. The court allowed
the claim. 1t took all the property to pay
it, and the greedy heirs got nothing.
One of the earliest "remOnstrants," Mrs.
Melnsina Fay Peirce, says, in ber bright lit
tie book on COOPERATIVE Housekeeping"
just out: ''It is an entire Misrepresentation
to speak of any woman who does her own
work as being supported by her husband.
She earns her living within four walls just
as surely as he earns his out of them"
Mrs. Peirce might have included wives who
actively oversee servants, since good house
keeper commands higher pay than hired
girl.
In 1880 there were in the United States,
according 10 the census, S,S40,JlO Iamllee,
and only 1,075,655 domestic servants. Thus
only about one family in nine could keep
servant, even If no family kept more than
one. The great majority of wives do their
own work. The law which requires hus-
band to support his wife, therefore, s not
''more than just' to the wife, since 1t en-
titles him to a full equivalent If there are
wives who do not furnish the equivalent,
there are also husbands who do not furnish
the support
There are few points in which the law
is more than just to women; but these do
not offset the more important points in
which it is less than just. The few unfair
advantages which the laws do give TO wom-
en- can almost always be traced to the idea
that women are properly wards of their hus-
bands or of the STATE rather than citizens
entitled to equal rights and equal RESPONSE
hilitips