West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-10-19
THE WIFE'S ALLOWANCE.
Married People Should Have Proper
Understanding Concerning Money.
Good Housekeeping.

CON>% @@Oe%o~
In the want of proper under
standing concerning pecuniary mat
ters lies another source Of friction.
Where the management and labor
of the wife count as nothing she is
conscious of injustice and wrong.
MY DEAR" said an eminent philan-
thropist to his wife one day as he
suddenly burst into the sitting room,
II have been counting the windows
in our house and find there are for
ty.
1T lust occurs to me that you
have TO keep those forty windows
clean, or superintend the process.
And that is not beginning of your
work. All these rooms have to be
swept and garnished, the carpets
made and cleansed, the house linen
prepared and kept in order, besides
the cooking, and | took it all as a
matter of course. just begin to
see what woman's work is, even
when she has help, which you are
not always able to procure. You
ought to receive monthly stipend
as housekeeper would. Why
haven't you made me see it before?
| have not been just to you while l
have been generous to others"
The wife who told this in after
years to her husbands credit sat
down with him, and, for the first
time since their marriage, opened
her heart freely upon the topic of
woman's allowance. She confessed
to having had many a sorrowful
hour at her position as beggar.
At the head of a large household in
a Western town, where domestic SER
vice was both scant and incOmpe-
tent, she had hardly been trusted
with So at time during their uni
ted lives.
"Robert and | talked it over" she
said, "and decided that the woman
who takes care of any household ar
ticle, like Il carpet, for instance,
from the time it is first made till it
is worn out, has expended upon it
an amount of time and strength
fully equal to the labor that made
it, counting frsm the shearing of the
wool till it comes from the loom. 1t
NAV be unskilled work, but it is
work ali the same. And thisis only
one small item in her housekeeping
labor. Does she not deserve some
of the payment besides her board
and clothes?
Robert saw woman's work i'll a
now light. From that time till to-
day he has placed a generous share
of his income in my hands, not as 4
Gift but as right. And he knows
that l will no more tritter 1T away
than he will. If l choose to deny
myself something | need and bestow
its cost in charity or buy some books
/ crave, he no mere thinks of chiding
me than / think of chiding him for
spending his money as he likes
There are other Roberts who have
vet to learn this lesson of justice,
and they are found in evary walk OF
life. | have known rich men who
were ready to buy silks, yelvets and
diamonds for their wives. sometimes
far beyond what were desired, yet
who grudgingly doled out So at a
time when appealed to for little
money. The reason given is that 1T
may be spent foolishly. If anything
will prolOng babyhood into maturity
it is such treatment. Against it a
woman's nature rises in rebellious
Indignation. Thoughts of bitterness
rankle in the wounded heart, and
there are flighty, mocking, flippant
creatures made so by just this want
of trust on the part of their hrs-
bands. The gravest and most elns-
i've faults are always found among
dependent classes.