The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-09-12
THEINDEPENDENr WOMAN.
IHArper's BaIar.l 1

lHArperS ba1ar.
 No man, it is probable, can ever real. ize the happiness of an independent woman. bee ause no man knows anything that can compare with the dependent condition Of most women, and few men in their pre-occu patious, pay any atten- ton to the state of mind of the women about them in relation 10 their inde- pendence.
 A wife, it is true, has noreason to con- Sider herself & dependent. Not only does the law give her precise right to all she re eceives, and usually to something more than that, but equity and justice pronounce in the same manner upon her right, and declare that she g,ves her equivalent in becoming a wife. It is un- derstood that she spells career to be- come wife; she might be ranging her selt with the great army ot the self.sup- porting. and be earning much better support than that she has, might be liv- ing at her will, free to come here and go there and the fact that she chose what seemed to her to be more desirable companiouship, confidence, love, and freside pleasure re-does not invalidate her rights .ov the self-sWrender, As wife, she should feel herself an equal, and in no wise a dependent, even if she does not earn fair livelihood as housekeeper, were sh- paid as she would be in the house of somebody else; but as mother, the shadow of an idea of any dependence must vanish with the assumption of all her responsibility, superintendence, care, working, waiting and watching.
 Few husbands, evidently, give this sub ject sufficient thought; the greater mum. Der are accustomed to feel, when they think of it at all, that their wives are as dependent on their bounty as any slaves could be; if they give them generous allowance, it is out ot their own magnan- imity rather than as just debt; and as a general thing, either through forgetful- ness, masterliness. or inability to do otherwise, they oblige them to ask for every cent they spend, in a way that de- bases them and their children with them. We do not say that every husband should, yet whenever a husband is able, let us say, to afford personal iuxuries for him. self, then there can be no doubt that he should give his wife a stated allowance for her expenses, raid quarterly, of the amount that he can afford from his in- come for that purpose; and he should feel, and she should feel, that this is just as much hers as if she had earned it out side, or as if her father had bequeathed it to her with reservation from any hus- band.
 Nor rightfully can a mother ever be considered dependent by her child. All that the child gives her is owed to her, part of a debt that cannot be repaid whether it was solicited or not in the first place and into the heads of few children does it enter to feel the burden of the so- called dependent mother anything but an unadulterated blessing.
 But we suppose that in all other rela- tiens women may be held to be more or less dependents upon those that are obliged to furnish them with what they require for comfort, clothes, food, shelter and pleasure. Many of these womea, meantime, render services altogether worth what they have; but even under such circumstances it is galling to re- ceive, for these women know that the person giving might not, perhaps, be able to afford the luxury of this service if not obliged to make the best of the facts of the Case.
 In some instances this dependency, in house, for example, where the means are limited, is not altogether honorable to the dependent. The daughter of poor man, or of one with moderate in- come, has two hands and her health and a modicum of intellect, and if she is not needed at home, is to blame if she does not find her way to become, if not wholly. yet partially independent, ana she can render great assistance by merely I lifting a small portion of the weight the father has to carry. If it is the mer. qualification of pride that hindess this, her position borders on the disgraceful, and no endeavor to "keep up appear. ances" can justify it and if it is the grat- ifcation of indolence, there is no excuse for her al all. Something of the dis grace, too. in such case attaches to the parents of this daughter, not only that they have not inculcated principles that would make her scorn her incidence, but that they have not from the outset given the child to understand that she was to Dc self-supporting, and that there was honor in that path, and have not strained every nerve to afford her, moreover, the means, the education. the special tIain- ing of the special talent that, followed up, would make her 90. That is a course they will not pursue with their son it is a most short-sighted and foolish tender ness or shirking of responsibility that al. lows them to pursue it with their daugh ter. They mean to leave her well-to-do in the world, perhaps; they mean to mary her well, or they are sure if she does not marry, that she will have a home with her brother or with some sis ter who does marry. But none of the sisters may marry; the brothers wife may not wish for her, and may make that home horror to her, and the well-to-do portion may vanish into thin air; and under all these possibilities it is plain that a most positive duty is neglected by the parentS
 It seems, indeed, to be very general opinion among mothers. and fathers too, that the boys must be helped, whenever, it iS in the least practicable, to make a