Evening journal., 1892-09-13

cidental circumstance gives her the i'm
preston that her husband is making
great deal more than she supposed. Very
likely she is quite mistaken in this, but
the fact that she receives the impression
is enough. ThereupOn she begins to let /
things 20 a little easier in the house, and /
not to be afraid of getting nice things |
when she wants them. Her thought is, |
"John, am sure, is making more than |
he was, and there is no cause TO worry |
about little things Yet in fact, the |
times he has chosen for relaxing her efforts |
at economy may be the very time at
which she ought to have been saving /
Another evil that arises from the English |
plan of keeping the family income
secret from the wife, is the habit which |
wives fall into of coaxing their husbands
to spend money. The wife who knows
that the family balance is low will feel
il is impossible to present an estimate for
a new bonnet or "a lovely little cloak,
which win be an economy in the end, as
it will match the dress / think | shall get
if Aunt Jane gives me two s. notes, as
she did last year, The wife who knows
no more whether the family account is
overdrawn than the kitten, will boast that
she coaxed a cloak out of Jack, although
he talked for half an hour about Argen-
tines and things that make ones head
ache.
The wife who is pecuniarily her hus-
bands partner, even if she is inclined
to be reckless, is restrained by an exact
knowledge of how things stand. When
she knows as we'll as her husband that
the account at the bank is overdrawn
she cannot ask for more clothes. Indeed
there can be no asking. You cannot ask
for your own. Again, the wife treated
on the plan of complete confidence as TO
money matters cannot shrug her
shoulders when expenses are talked
about. and say: Il can't understand
why | can't have things as nice as other
people. l am sure l don't ask for much.
and YOU could manage perfectly well if
you weren't so mean. Such criticism,
though often made quite sincerely is
obviously fatal to a happily managed
home the moment things go wrong. II
tempts the husband to allow too large an
expenditure ont of sort of wounded
pride He has not taken his wife into
counsel when things were prosperous
and so he does not like to speak about
them to her when they are going badly.
Perhaps some of our women readers,
conscious that they add up the pass book
every month, win say that we are mis-
taken, and that Englishmen habitually
tell their wives what their incomes are.
No doubt the wives in the upper classes
do know, and for this reason-they have
money of their own, and hence it is
hardly possible to avoid what is virtually
a common purse. Housekeeping allow
ances may be general; but they are rather
estimates and appropriations than allow
ances, in the stricter sense. Let any
such obiectors, however, recall such
scraps of information as they have had
about the affairs of the big tradesmen
with whom they deal They will remem-
Der how it came out when Mr.. Runter,
the grocer, who was supposed to be so
rich, died, that Mrs. Runter was quite
unaware that he had been virtually a
bankrupt for some five years.
Again, Mrs. Dennis, the retired chem
lists WIFE was utterly astonished to be
left with a clear three thousand year
her husband having always assured her
that, il she did not save every halfpenny
they would be certain TO end their days
in the Union Besides, even ia the more
cultivated and richer classes, we can all
remember instances of women who never
knew their husbands income till the
husbands death. Yet another proof OF
the commonness Of the practice is to be
found in the fact that the manuals on
housekeeping always assume that tn,
wife is quite ignorant of her husband
income, and has no responsibility in re
gard to expenditure outside her own de
, partments
8 The Ignorant widow.
Another bad result Of this system il
q l..
( displayed by English widows When tn,
, husband dies the ordinary wife finds
I herself utterly at sea. She does no
e know even how to draw a check. She
I does not understand why OF how divi
, dends are paid; and she has not the re
hottest conception of what is good an,
r what bad Investment How should sh
S l1now2 Her husband has been at no pain
!. to explain things to her, and she ha
!. lived on the principle enunciated by tn
s old gentleman in the Knight of tn
a Burning Pestle. She never wore out
d dress without an obliging dressmake
e bringing another and as for food of al
IS kinds, it flowed into the house just as j
Il It was laid on like gas and water He
/. the average woman can learn to under
e stand money matters quite as well as tn
e average man.
o Unfortunately the husband is too ieal
/" Gus of his power to tell his wife his eXac
n financial position, while the wife is to
If shy to insist on knowing, or very poss
1t bly, regards it as quite a virtue not to in
!. terfere with such things The cons,
q quenCes are often disastrous. Many
household would be thriftily instead {
extravagantly managed if only the wifi
, knew her husbands income; while hun
dreds of widows would be saved frOl
y countless worries and impositions if the
y realized more of the ways Of none,
!, English wives will not be perfect til
~ their husbands share with them the myi
q teries of the passbook London Specti
:, tor.
Some Splendid Farm Products.
,e EAsToN, Nd, Sept. 12-This is
4. busy day at Idlewild park, in preparatio
g.. a. CT. L..