The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1886-09-11

>
boarded one winter with an excellent
family in western village. The hus-
band and father was good man, but he
had what his wife called his 'touchy
points," and, good and honest man
though he was, some of these 'touchy
points were lifelong source OF actual
sorrow to his wife. who was good and
faithful wife and mother, tidy, thrifty
and ever watchful of the common inter-
est of the family. She was economical
to the last degree and most industrious.
She seemed to me to be a model wife.
Her husband thought so, too, and would
have angriy resented any imputation to
the contrary He taught his children to
honor and love their mother, although
failing, as it seemed to me, in manifest
ing love and honor for her himself at all
times, but these times were only when
his TOUGHEST points had been pressed
upon.
One day | accidentally heard the wife
say to her eldest daughter mo, dear :;
| cannot ask your father for money for
you new hat. You know how very
touchy he is on that point. | sometimes
lie awake half the night trying to devise
some method of scrmping or saving so
that need not say the word money to
your father. Nothing hurts him as much
as to ask him for little bit of money.
dread to ask him for anything" How
many wives who read Good housekeeping
suffer this same injustice and mortitca-
ton?
| was engaged to Mrs. d .ne at the
time and | made a solemn vow that she
should have purse of her own and that
it should never 90 empty if | had any
thing to put in it. We have now been
married six years, and | have faithfully
adhered to that resolution. And there
is no " fixed sum about it. Household
expenses vary at different seasons of the
year and under various circumstances.
Ten dollars will, perhaps, cover all ex-
"cannlug or company" week and
several extra dollars may be required
In any case, resent the idea that my
wife is a mere pensioner on my bounty
reject the imputation that she mas not
sense enough to know the value of money
and dare not be trusted with it. l am
tI IL,
sense of the term but thank the LORD |
am man enough to recognize that my
wife, as my wife, and the mother OF my
children, has rights, money spending
right, that have no business interfering
with. Every good wife should have this
right as a royal marriage prerogative |
regard Mrs. Dane as an equal partner
under the contract in which we have be
come firm Tor life. We share profits
and losses alike. There is one money
drawer to which we both have free &C
cess | have not the inclination nor right
to limit NY wife in her daily expendi-
lures so long as those expenditures are
W lunlu TcdSOu. IhOSb WIVES anu 1lOtucIo
earn all they spend. A woman who does
her duty as a wife and mother earns more
than money can pay for. | must be very
humiliating to a woman to have to humb-
ly and tremblngly ASK her HUSBAND for
the money she must have for her actual
daily expenses. Any sensitive, womanly
woman must feel it something of de-
gradation to have to thus ask, or even
coax, for money given grudgingly and
complainingly at last.
| knew of woman who said 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 extracting bills
from his purse when he was asleep or had
his coat off Imagine wife forced into
such degrading act as that! Women
are often compelled to practice mean,
cruel economy in order to
make their expenses come within the
limit fixed by inexorable husbands, who
Woulu lufiouSly TeSenC any interference
with their own expenditures.
believe that this simple question of
the wlie's allowance has wrecked the
happiness of many household. Men
are often SO blind and unfeeling and I'M
reasonable in this matter.
Aud of 'urse there are women who
must have a tight rein kept upon them
because of their tendency to wiliul and
wofLl extravaganza There is, | fear,
little chance for happiness in IA home
having such mistress over it. But the
majority of womel can safely be trusted
Let the husbands of wives thus worthy
trust them ana this trust will not often
be abused
My own personal experience has been
that money is safer with women than
with men. Most women can beat man
''all to pieces making bargain, and
the marketmen and grocers seldom get
ahead of them, whereas most men are
careless pun chasers.-Zends Dane, in
GOod housekeeping.
The Way General Dow Became IA Prohibi-
ZIONIST.