Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-30

actually wears herself out in the effort to
! decide the common qualities of every day
| occurrence. Her more fortunate cousin, on
the contrary, enjoys the satisfaction oi
understanding thoroughly how to manage
her affairs in any and every emergency"
THE ATTORNEY GENERALS WIFE.
Mrs. Attorney General Miller, said: 81
consider the question one of vital import
ance. To realize its full significance, one
has but to take an example of a young girl
! fresh from the careless experiences of school
| lite, without the least practical knowledge,
and all unaequalnted 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 demands upon
4 generous fathers purse. Then marry her
of hand to some ambitious business man
| possessing comparatively moderate income,
and see what a sad tangle she will make OF
domestic matters, and in doing so, how easily
she will ruin her connHbial happiness.
81 believe" Mrs. Miller went on, THAT
more than half of our unhappy marriages
are the direct result of this neglect, and the
sooner husbands and fathers seriously con-
slider the importance of granting definite
! allowance to their wives and children the
sooner will reform be brought about in
the extravagances of the present age. Let
your young girl realize from the first that
her garments do not grow upon bush for
the pleasure of plucking, but must be paid
for in hard earned cash.
SCHOOL BOYS ALLOWANCES.
'In my opinion" continued Mrs. Miller,
ga young girl should not be allowed too
handsome an income, or one requiring no
forethought or management. This would
Illustrate the very end in view. In our
family, the General has followed this sys-
TEN. My eldest daughter, Florence, has
for years past received an annuity, and this
plan has worked remarkably well. The i'm
portance of educating our bows in this re-
spect is another important question, and it
would be as we'll if more of our colleges for
young men were to institute the system OBJ
served at Hamilton College in Central New
York, of which my son is a student.
The pupils are organized in separate
chapters, or messes, of a limited number,
and the different chapters occupy individual
houses, which are owned by the institution
and which are conducted upon strictly do
mestic principles. A certain amount is con-
tributed by every member into a general
fund, which is placed in the hands of
treasurer elected from the senior class. A
messkeeper is also appointed each year in
the same way from among the older boys.
To these two are entrusted all matters con-
nected wi tn the management of the home,
subject to the approval of the mess, and to
them is left the furnishing and selecting of
every article, not only for the table, but for
the household, such as furniture and car
pets, china, glass, bed and table linen, etc.
MAKES THEM GOOD HUSBANDS.
"ShouId an extra demand crop up for
entertaining each member is assessed an
equal amount for the additional expense,
which is never allowed TO exceed moderate
sum. | was greatly amused when my son
returned tor his holiday last year to see the
interest he took in little questions of the
household that formerly never seemed to
trouble his brain.
"At the dinner table one day he remarked
casually: we keep pretty good table at
our house, but, mother, 1 notice that your
damask is much finer and of prettier pattern
than ours Not long afterward he said:
we are anxiously considering a new carpet
for the parlor, and have not been able to
come to a decision whether it shall be body
Brussels or something equally as effective
and less expensive / think the boy is
getting quite as valuable an education
through his housekeeping as through his
books, and 1 doubt not that it will make
him better husband and better business
man."
WHAT MRS. R. P. PORTER THINKS.
One of the brightest women of the present
administration is Mrs. Robert p. Porter, the
wife of the Census Commissioner. She has
a decided opinion upon the allowance ques-
ton, and she believes girls should be given
a fixed weekly sum from the time they are
in short dresses. Said she: 81 believe that
a child of years can profit by it, and a
weekly allowance at that age, if it be only
10 cents, or better 5, could teach the child
great deal
Gas the girl grows older, the sum should
naturally increase. and when she is 16, with
a judicial mother to guide and consult with,
her allowance should cover the cost of her
wardrobe with a destined portion, no mat
ter how small, set aside for individual
pleasure and charity. Ii she prefers to buy
books and photographs instead of bonbons
and ices, so much the better, and if in spirit
she is a little sister of the poor, it will 90
for better purpose still. When girl who
has been brought up in this manner marries,
she will use her husbands money as wisely
as she had her father's."
HER WEEKLY ALLOWANCE.
"About an allowance for married women?"
"Well, you know there are questions such
as love and religion that are difficult 10 dis
cuss without touching on something OF ones
personal experience. In this question ones
opinion is naturally the result of exper-
ience, and any apparent lack of taste In
alluding to it must be pardoned. l have
fixed, as every woman should do, who is
possessed OF common sense and respect for
the money which represents her husbands
brain labor, on a weekly sum which covers
the household expenditures, and use my
own discretion in the spending of it.
HMv nal exnenditures | never allow
to 90 beyond certain limit, and they are
kept quite distinct from household accounts.
We have no bills, and 1 have never had
occasion to ask nv husband for money.
This is thing, by the way, that no woman
should be compelled or asked to do. 1t
puts her in false and humiliating posi- ion,
and to a woman who has been independent,
would be intolerable. Neither would
man of fine or delicate feeling permit 1t"
MRS JUSTICE LAMAR OBJECTS.
Mrs. L. Q. C. Lamar is the only dissent
ing voice in the universal verdict, and she
speaks from her lifelong experience of the
Southern open-handed generosity. Said
she: sit has been my experience that the
women of the South, with few if any ex-
ceptions, make the very best of wives, and
though generally educated without thought
OF the little questions or economy which
figure so conspicuously in the domestic
management of New England household,
they seem to possess a natural instinct for
management.
"When Southern girl marries a young
man in moderate circumstances, she in
variably adapts herself to the requirements
of the position, and undertakes the control
of a house of moderate size with as keen
delight as though she had always been ac-