Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-09
Household.

Women Of to-day are Clamoripg for
rights vested and rights claimed, and like
all clamcr of the masses there is, amid
much senseless din, & still small voice
th2t utters words OF truth and soberness.
Women should, however, remember that
in order to render rights apparent 1t is
necessary that the claimant show cNpsc-
ity for exercising them, and that SO long
as women are themselves content
with ignorance on subjects pertinent
to their claims it is hardly fair to
expect concessions. a husband says:
"Whst does woman know about bust
iness?" daughter says: "Whst does
mother know about society" and the
wife and mother makes no answer. She
remembers that in her school days, she
knew Of stocks, bonds and Interest, And
has vague memory thst bankruptcy fc7s
lowed careless expenditures and
often resulted from wasn't
of proper adjustment between
income and outgo, aud that as the DIS
burser of monies In the relation Of vile
she has endesyored to be governed by
these principles of finance, but more Wv
idly does she REMEMBER that she has never
had such knowledge Of the income as
would enable her to Judge whether she
was indulging in eXtravagancie5, and She
wonders if marriage is = partnership or If
she Is indeed Dope dent on the bounty,
it msy be of generous husband or it may
be Of niggard.
Her mistake lay il not insisting on a
knowledge of the resources Of the firm that
she might regulate the expenditure of the
household. IL Is S pretty st Immortality
on the srt Of the husband inst he Will
deny her nothing, and he is Ctten q vic
tim Of his own softness; but manlier far
is it to possess moral courage that shall
enable him to make clear to the wife, his
helpmeet, sn his business, thSt she may
intelligently proportion her disburse-
neuts; and manlier, far msnlier, to
give her liberty of action in the
use OF money, than to eXsct from
her strict account OF funds placed in her
hands, that are doled or freely given as
his character may be. The vested right
of wife to an entire knowledge of her
husbands business is not urged upon
men Of despotic nature, but upon lavish
husbands who, under guise of generosity,
fad & kind of selfish pleasure in making
the wife dependent on their bounty
Every mistress of household needs 10
know how much can be safely used in the
family, snd be thoroughly spprised Of any
important contingency. To do
| this efficiently it is neces-
sary that wife impress her
husband with her fitness for the trust she
asks. This will never be, so long SIS she
! suffers herself to be engrossed with the
! petty cares of Dolly life. Too often is 1t
the case that the most domestic of wives
is least fitted from Indifference to these
things to become her hus-
bands counselor. Her hus-
| husband begins by treating her as plsy-
thing and ends by classifying her with 6
sex that he disdsinfully declares "knoTs
nothing about business" His right is to
insist that she shall know something
about business, and then If storms come
or death oVertskes him ere his plans are
matured, he will IN the one case thsve 10
her wise counselor, and in the other as
the reins will fall from failing hands there
will be an abiding faith that those he
loves best aud for whom he has striven
will not be left without 5 guiding hand,
and intrusts without lar to this wise
woman the future of those he held Sc
| dear.
al will make 8 helpmeet for him." was
the language Of the Great Designer, and
right established In creation should not
be lightly esteemed BY either man or
woman; but upon the latter rests the re-
sponsibility Of htting herself for the po-
sition assigned. The duty of wife ought
to be paramount, and little thought on
the part of those who have assumed this
relation will easily serve to convince
them that this includes self prepsra-
ton In order to enter intel
| ligently with her husband into
all the spheres active life msy call
him. Socially she must be his equsl;
morally his peer; intellectually his com
panion; financially his partner, land her
place in his heart and in his life no one
save himself can assign. Churlish indeed