The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-05-31

without having to ask Jonathan
whether or not they might do the one
thing or the other, and whether he
would supply the needed funds TO
do So
Many husbands who are generous In
the extreme when their own buying
of family stores is involved, or when
the question is one of bestowing a
gift on their wives, have an uncon-
scious drawing of the purse-strings
when their wives spending is con-
cerned. L once heard a gent eman
| 90 make this ungracious speech. dis
| playing the while a watch-chain and
seals just bestowed upon him by his
wife on their wedding anniversary
Pretty little plaything, isn't it?
Juliet gave it to me this morning. It's
very much, you know. like taking q
/ fellows money out of his pocket to
buy him something he doesn't want,
when his wife fits him out in this
fashion
AT heart ~that man was a cad. But
| he expressed feeling, dormant in
some of his sex, who would be shocked
coarse in their assumption that wife
is herself only part Of their personal
/ assets.
Said a jeweler once IN my hearing;
| = have been very much touched, now
J and then, when wives have paid me for,
/ presents bought for their husbands,
! thu price had so manirestly been saved
up, bit by bit, from the housekeeping
! money" 49,
/ "By good management and con.
| trivance, shipping here, cutting, Of
| there, doing without butter and sugar
myself for days together, ] got the
! money to buy books for my own little
! library" was the confession of n lady
1 to whom books are rs the breath or
/ life. She is the presiding genius of
| home where the carpets and curtains,
/ the pictures and sofas are dream of
! luxurious ease. But Mr.. - sees no
/ use for literature beyond the daily
! journal. .-,-ssr-
In many cases, and especially dur
! ing the collaborating years, the wife
! can not well be a bread-winner to any
great extent. But, granting that the
/ conditions are favorable, or that they
may be made so, what reasonable OBJ
! lection can be urged to q wife's adding
her share, pecuniarily. to the stock
in trade of the family, increasing di-
! rectly, so to speak, its available cap
ital.
! It is not that men wish to be mean
} or churlish. They simply DO not ap-
preciate the situation. Were it re-
versed, and themselves compelled to
ask for evory dollar and shilling from
the best OF wives, how soon they
would rebel against the teasing tyr
rany of such a fate.
Again, it is urged, and with much
truth, that all women do not know the
value of money. Women will be la
bOriously frugal in one direction and
ridiculously extravagant in another.
They are often insensible to tho Just
laws of proportion, and, though they
play at keeping accounts, arc not
more brilliantly successful in that role
/ than was the child-wife of David Cop
! perfield. szzE~;sa -
| Yet again, mans sense of the fit
ness of things, his sturdy independ-
ence, is sometimes scandalized at the
notion that he can not by his own
right arm, his own good brain and
hand support his wife and children.
Il don't want her to do work while 1
can work for her." he protests, with
eager and almost wounded feeling at
the bare suggestion. at will be time
enough for my wife to earn money
when 1 am laid by, or am helpless
cripple on her hands" - !
Suppose we put it in this way: The,
! wife had acquired, before her mar
riage, some bread-winning art or ac-
complishment, as indeed every Ameri-
can girl ought to do, in these DAYS of
changeful circumstances. She sells
her pretty decorated cups and saucers,
her embroidery, her designs, her
poems or stories, and has q small but
regular income from that source. Per-
haps she puts her artistic skill to tho
trimming of hats and the making of
gowns. Possibly she had a wonderful
knack at making pickles and pre-.
serves, or was famous for her bread
or homemade cake. There are =
dozen occupations which a woman
may carry on, never leaving home.
nor neglecting a solitary ono OF its
duties, while her nursery, her kitchen
and her drawing-room are the moro
carefully looked after, that she has
systematized her time and cut off ex-
traneous pursuits.
If she have the trained facility, the
discipline of eye and head, for the
finer tasks, why not exercise that mar
ketable skill, while by the additional
means thus gained she hires another
servant to perform what to her is
drudgery?
If, with many young people just
starting in life, the family are board
ing. it is distinct advantage to the
wife to have some money-making avo-
cation, savingther from the tempta-
tions to idleness and gossip which lie
at the root of much mischief when
women have the leisure of boarding
house on their hands.
That which cost us effort we prize.
The penny saved may be a penny
earned, but in the case of a woman
Loyalty working to help her husband
along, the penny earned is likely to be
the penny saved, and thriftily put at
interest.
Last, a husbands respect is in
creased, not lessened, If he see in his
wife the ability to produce that which
stands the commercial test of availa-
bility One perilous rock is removed
from the channel of life. and with
Hope at the prov. and Pleasure at
the helm" and Love, the captain. di-
recting all, the good ship Home swings
cheerily from her moorings when the
wife, as well as the husband, is a
bread-winner.-M. E Sangster, in