Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-01-11
MRS. BEECHER'S ADVICE.
A Homily on the Expenses Of
Young Married Women.


If a girl never hears a word about econ
omy from her birth, and is only conscious
that to secure the means to crafty her
slightest wish she needs but to stretch her
hands and they will be abundantly filled,
how, ''sks Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher in the
St Lc uis P0st-Dispatch, can one expect after
marriage she can have the faintest mowl-
edge Of the duties that must belong to her
in tho care of her household She has never
been called upon to know any thing about her
own expenses. What she fancied she wanted
she bought without thought that il might be
well to learn if she ought 70 afford the
money. How money came, how it was al
ways ready for her when she asked, were
questions she had never been taught that
she ought to ask and to understand the an
swer. As far as any teaching she had ever
received she might imagine that money
grew in the woods, and her father
had It gathered for her as wanted
and of course her husband would
do the same. No education before
marriage ever taught her any thing more
rational With such a girlhood, free
from every thought but her own personal
qualification, what reason can there be for
surprise if she makes many mistakes-well
for her II they are not irremediable. Duty
when girl. After marriage her husband
gives her no insight into his business af-
fairs, no cautions as to expenses, never
talks 10 her of, or consuits or advises with
her, about their mutual expenditures. The
same cruel love and indulgence-o- Il may
be ndifference-surrounds her in b-r new
home, and thus she continues to b. !, 70 in
utter ignorance of all practical KIN, ge,
simply toy, butterfly. seeking OF Y IN
shine and personal enjoyment.
And yet under proper training { a
noble specimen of womanhood she pei lps
was capable of being made Had size bsen
sensibly trained, how much more II true,
noble enjoyment she would have found,
when all the talents God gave her had been
turned into their natural channels! How
sad to think what might have been, what
talents may have been folded away and
buried
Defrauded in early youth Of such knowl-
edge as every girl, however rich, ought to
have, why should so much blame rest on
fashionable women, even though her lavish
expenses crlpples, and at last destroys, her
husbnnd's financial operationsl Was the
fault wholly hers, or, rather, was it not
more misfortune than a FAULT Is she not
more to be pittied than blamedi
This, however, is not all. Suppose, after
the early months Of married life, gradually
her husband begins to hint atless lavish use
of m 'ney, and then to urge upon her some
little attention to economy, assuring her his
busiT ess will not allow such thoughtless and
vast ,ful purchases. Economy is a word she
has 'ldom heard, and has no definite mean
ing. But love for her husband flor it is but
chart able to suppose that their union came
throu gh genuine love- may lead her to make
an ef srt to follow his wishes, in so far as
she 10 able to understand them. Yet the
way g dark; no one offers to lead her
through the gloom into the true hight.
WherI shall she begin, how take the first
step b ward reformi She presses forward
to gaiII higher ideas and to understand how
to male them practical, but steps back to
the OLE place, and tries again. She can not
yet lay hold of and follow the thread that
will guide her out of this labyrinth of
trouble. Now, suppose that while thus
cropping in the dark, earnestly but ineffect-
ually seeking the right way and grieving
that she makes so little progress, she OBJ
tains il. some accidental way a slight insight
into her husbands mode of practicing that
which le would fain teach his wife. Her
mind 10 beginning to wake up, her vision
grows clearer. Perhaps because she has
had her thoughts so intent on correcting her
own shortcomings she has been led also to
see her husbands proceedings in a some
what different light Hitherto she thought
of his ways as what was absolutely neces-
sary for gentlemen who desired TO move in
the best society. She has always known
that he kept fast horses, was constant at
races, now and then ''enters" horse, or
bets on some favorite in the course He
belongs TO club-to several, perhaps-is
often absent at club dinners or excursions
univ ,Of1 10 Sl,o
pensive cigars. has a costly collection of
meerschaums, and his smolxing-room is gor-
geously furnished. He spends large sums
in the qualification of all his so-called culti-
waited tastes, and seldom stints himself In
any Of the gentlemanly pleasures which
seem to him as reasonable indulgences.
Hitherto his wife-f indeed, she ever gave
o thought TO this part ST her husbands daily
life supposed 1t perfectly consistent with
his position in good sOciety-was not she
also having her full share of all the pleas
ures and Injuries money could procure!-
and no thought Of criticising his daily course
has ever entered her mind until he began
10 urge some retrenehments. which she was
very willing to attempt. She had turned to
Tim for advice; she gets only vague uncer-
tain responses. and she begins 10 see that
her husband knows no better than herself
A1N " lAlAS ENlAuCtlOn EXPENSES.
Unfortunately for her peace It begins to
dawn upon her that he lays a heavy burden
upon his wife's shoulders, but takes 10
share of it upon his own. She sees in hls
life no signs OF the retrenchment in his lux
uries and pleasures he has urged ON her;
and yet, should the day come when money
Is not as easily obtained for either as in
their earlier life. and the husband sees
trouble and danger ahead. il is to be feared
that he viii see his wife's extravaganza
through magnifying glasses before he win
realize his own Her eyes have not yet, per
haps, been opened so far as 70 enable her to
draw just comparison as TO realize TO the
fun the true situation on either side, but
how can she help Zee ing that she has been
somewhat uniustly censuredl
mans exfr1VnEancc can be more skill