The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-11-30
there is limit to her exchequer. On the other
hand, she does not,know where to draw the line,
and is thus led into reckless extravaganza"

sentative Morrow, / found comfortably settled In
her apartments at the Richmond. She said: "By
all means, women should possess an annual
allowance. When so much OF the home comfort
depends upon the mother and daughters, more
especially the wife, how she keep things
running smoothly unless she knows just what
she has to depend upon, and unless she be guided
by definite comprehension of the income
allowed for household expenses2 1t ia impossi-
BILE for her to manage systematically or even ac-
ceptably."
"Some husbands and fathers like to hold the
purse strings" Mrs. Morrow went on, simply
q salvc to their vanity. They do not intend to be
mean; more often they lavishly generous, but
even in this they make serious mistake, for
every woman should be taught self-reliance
And this can never be obtained when they are
compelled to call upon the head of the house for
every little domestic or personal demand There
are thousand and one expenses in household
that will escape mans notice at the time. Yet
when the bills fall due they will assume gigantic
proportions in the general expenses, and must be
carefully considered when the necessity arrives.
Women are invariably influenced more or less by
the trust i'm posed in them, and all hesitate before
asking for the continual little demands that
forever cropping up. Many are led into reckless
extravaganza by this lack of mutual confidence
between husband and wife or parent and child.
l believe that every little child should have his
allowance and be kept within it. He will thus
spend his pennies more carefully and Will learn
what money is WORTH"
MRS. SENATOR MAEDERsON.
Mrs. Manderson, wife of the Senator from Ne
braska, says that personally she has never found
it necessary to request any regular allowance
from her husband, as she and the Senator make
up the family and as everything is left TO her dis
erection. She thinks, however, that the impor-
tance of trusting wife with regular sum,
cordiug to the means of the individual is too
fp hen nncil ra6 foro a m In tbn
first place." she said, 1.-THE very possession of
means, no matter how limited, gives q woman q
feeling Of self-relance and an ambition to prove
herself worthy of the trust. I have never seen
an exception to the rule, in that there is domestic
comfort and harmony in families where the wife
is not simply in name, but in deed, the honored
helpmeet of her husband. Such confidence is,
think, the secret of true economy. Many years
ago was deeply interested in the bringing up of
two girls, both cousins. The families of both
were in well-to-do circumstances, but they had
widely different systems. In the one the
parents lavished every luxury upon their daugh-
ter, and her slightest wish was gratifed to the
fullest extent In the other the child was
taught from comparative infancy to appreciate
the value of every penny and never to encourage
waste in the smallest measure. A regular sum
of money sufficient for the qualification of all
reasonable childish wants was placed every week
to her credit and Il strict account required TO be
kept of every penny. She WAS taught to shop
and consulted in the selecting of her own clothes.
I often considered which was the better of the
two systems and looked anxously for the results.
To-day these cousins are both grown and students
at college. In the first instance the woman has
reaped the results of her lack of early training in
helpless inability to manage for herself in the
very simplest matters Of practical Importance.
She at times actually wears herself out in the ef
fort to decide the common questions of every day
occurrence. Her more fortunate cousin, on the
| contrary enjoys the satisfaction of understand
| ing thoroughly how to manage her affairs in any
and every emergency. | think, in fact con-
cluded Mrs. Henderson. 'every one is happier for
| having been carefully taught the importance of
| attention in money matters, and you may say
| that L approve most emphatically OF giving
| young women an opportunity to test their tai
| ents in practical manner"
| THE OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERALS WIFE.
! Mrs. Attorney General Miller said: II consider
| the question one of vital Importance. 1t Is not
| only a domestic, but it is also national issue.
To realize its full significance has but to take
| an example of young girl fresh from the care
less experiences of school life without the least
practical knowledge, and all unacquainted with
| the problem OF how to make both ends meet.
| Plunge such girl suddenly into the whirl of
fashionable life with its thousand and one de-
mands upon generous fathers purse. Then
| marry her of-hand to some ambitious business
| man possessing a comparatively moderate in
| come, and see what sad tangle she will make of
| domestic matters, and in doing SO how easily she
! will ruin her connubial happiness.
II believe" Mrs. Miller went on, "that moro
| than half of our unhappy marriages are the
direct result of this neglect, and the sooner hus-
| bands and fathers seriously consider the impor-
| tance of granting definite allowance to their
! wives and children the sooner will reform be
| brought about in the eXtragances of the present
! age. i believe every girl should be trained from
| the time she enters her teens to understand the
value of money. no matter how wealthy her
parents may be. If they possess large means
| there is all the more reason for this branch of
| education and if they must make their own liv-
| ing, why not prepare the boy or girl for the
proper accomplishment of his or her destiny.
"A girl should be early trained" continued
| Mrs. Miller, "in all matters relating to domestic
| economy. Mothers should take their daughters
| shopping with them and initiate them into the
| selecting their own clothing. They should teach
them to know the true value of the various
kinds of cloth and its comparative worth and
quality Let your young girl realize from the
first that her garments do not grow upon a bush
for the pleasure of pluckng, but must be paid
for in hQrd-earned cash. Then place in her
| hands certain amount, according to her re-
quirements. varied, of course, by the means at
| command, and let her learn by experience the
proper disposal of the money. There is not one
| girl in a hundred who will not be guided by the
mothers advice in the matter, and the all
| important lesson of self-reliance thus learned
will be strengthened and grow as the years
! flow on.
SCHOOL BOYS ALLOWANCES.