The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-09-14
A Grievance of Wives.

In an article entitled THE Domestic
Purse Strings" Mrs. Alice E. Ives, in tae
September Forum, points out a grievance
of wives. 1t is the want of pocket money
or pin money Comparatively few wives,
according to Mrs. Ives, have money which
they can call their own--money which they
feel free to spend as they please without
rendering an account of it to
their husbands. If they want a few
dollars now and then they must ask
their husbands for it, and they seldom got
it without answering lot of questions as
to what they want to do with it aud with
out being told that they are extravagant
Many husbands, if asked by their wives
for five dollars, will ing lire If they cannot
get along with two or three dollars, and
will give them that amount whether their
wives consent to accept it or not Hus-
bands cannot understand what wives want
with money. They pay the household bills,
the rniIliner's and dressnaker's bills, and
they don't see what use their wives can
have for money.
Husbands themselves feel that they must
have certain amount of money in their
pockets all the time, aud they are contln-
ually spending it for things other than
clothes for themselves and wives and chill.
dren and articles needed in their households.
They treat themselves aud friends to cigars
and wines and they make donations to char
| table and other objects. If their wives
were to ask them to give an account of their
| expenditures they would be amazed and in
l 80 &ha% a.
the money and that they should spend it as
they please.
| And yet the wives help to earn the money
that goes into the pockets of the husbands
They take care of the household aud make
home comfortable and pleasant for their
husbands and children. Good wives are
careful in their household management, and
contribute TO the success of the matrimonial
partnership by making their household ex-
| penses as light as possible. They ought,
therefore. to have a little of the money
! which their husbands earn to do with as
they please.
Mrs. Ives gives examples of the ways
that some wives get little pocket money.
| They don't like to ask their husbands for
it, because it is so grudgingly given. They
therefore resort to deceit. Some take it
from their husbands pockstbooks when the
latter are asleep; others have their MILL,
ner's bills sent in for $40 or
$50 when the real amount is not
more than $50 or $50, the milliner return
ing them the excess collected from the hus-
bands, and still others ask for money to pur-
chase provisions which are not needed in
the household. These are only samples of
the methods to which wives are driven to
get few dollars for pocket money. There
are wives, however, who are too honest
for deceit, and too proud to beg for what
is theirs by right, aud SO they live their
whole lives through, surrounded by luxury
perhaps, yet poorer and less independent than
their servants. They cannot send q few
flowers to an invalid friend, nor treat q
friend to refreshments when on shopping
expeditions, for all their purchases are on
credit and the bills are sent to their hus-
bands
Mrs. Ives says that there are wives of
rich men who secretly earn little pocket
money by taking in sewing, or by turning
to account some accomplishment in art or
music which they may have Husbands, a.
rule, are not penurious. They
are thoughtless, aud perhaps
selfish. They think that women do not
know how to take care of money. and SC
don't give them any. II they realized how
unpleasant it was for their wives to be
J without pocket money, even enough for car