Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-08-26
WOMAN'S ALLOWANCE
AN Earnest and Sensible Plea for Jrstioo
and Generositx


All Earnest and Sensible Plea for Justice
and Generosity.
"A year or two before I was married T
poaroea one winter with very excel
cent family in Western village. The
husband and father was a good man
but he had what his wife called bis
touchy points, and, good and honest
man though he was, some of these
"touchy points We're a lifa-lono
source of actual sorrow to his wife. who
was a good and faithful wife and moth
er' tidy. thrifty and ever watchful of
the common interests of the family.
one was economical to the last degree,
ana most industrious. She seemed to
be model wife. Her husband thouoht
50, too, and would have ancrilv resent
ed any lmputation to the contrary. He
taught his children to honor and love
their mother, although failing, as if
seemed to me. in manifestinr love and
honor for her himself at all times, but
these times were only when his ..toucbi-
est point had been pressed upon.
One day accidentally heard the wife
say to the eldest daughter, No, dear:
can not ask your father for money for
you new chat. You know how very
touchy he Is on that point. l sonnet mes
lie awake half the night trying to devise
some method of scrimping or saving so
that need not say the word money to
your father Nothing hurts him so
much as to be asked for a little money.
dread to think of asking him for anu
thing How many wives suffer this
same injustice and modification?
was engaged to Mrs. Dane at that
time, and | made VOW that she should
have purse of her own and that it
should never go empty if | had any thing
to put in it. We have now been mar
rled six years, and have faithfully adj
hered to that resolution And there is
no fixed sum- about it. Household
expenses vary at different seasons of the
year and under various circumstances.
len dollars will, perhaps, cover all the
expenses one week, and the next NAV
be canning" or a company" week
and several extra dollars will be requir-
ed. In any case. l resent the idea that
my wife Is mere pensioner on my
bounty; L reject the imputation
that she has not common sense
enough to know the value of
money and dare not be trusted with it.
siih iIot 81 NOllldn IlpHleE, Ill lOc
popular sense of the term, but | thank
the Lord that l am man enough to
recognize the fact that my wife, as nv
wife and the mother of my children, has
rights, mOney-spending rights that |
have no business interfering with.
Every good wife should have this right
rs a royal marriage prerogative. | re-
gard Mrs. Dane as an equal partner in
the contract under which we have be-
come Il firm for life. We share profits
and losses alike. There is one money
drawer to which we both have free ac-
cess. l have not the inclination nor the
right to Limit my wife in her daily eN-
penditurcs so long as those expenditures
are within reason. Most wives and
mothers honestly earn all they spend.
A woman who does her duty us a wife
and mother earns more than money can
pay for. 1t must be very humiliating
to a woman to have to humbly and
tremblingiy ask her husband for the
money she mast have for her actual
daily expenses. ANY sensitive. woman
~ woman must feel it something of a
degradation to have to thus ask. or even
coax, for money given grudgingly and
complaining y at last.
/ knew OF a woman who sad once
that the only way she could get money
from her husband for other than her
actual household expenses, was by
watching her chance" and slyly ex-
tracing bills from his purse when he
was asleep or his coat was Oft. Imagine
wife forced into such a degrading act
as that! Women are often compelled to
practice mean, niggardly. cruel econ
omy in order to make their expenses
come within the limit fixed by ineXor
able husbands. who would furiously re-
sent any interference with their own
expenditures.
| believe that this simple question of
happiness of many household. Men
are so often blind and unfeeling and I'M
reasonable in this matter. And, OF
course, there are women who must
have tight rein kept upon them be-
cause of their tendency to wilful and
woful extravaganza. There is, | fear,
little chance for happiness in Il home with
such a mistress over it. But the ma ior-
ity of women can safely be trusted. Let
the husbands of wives thus worthy trust
them and this trust will not often be
abused.
NV own personal experience has been
that money is safer with women than
with men. Most women can beat man |
.sall to pieces making n bargain. and |
the market-men and grocers seldom get |
ahead of them, whereas most men are |
careless purchasers. Dane, az |
Good Housekeeping.