The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1892-01-29
THE FAMILY PoCKET.BOOK.

OrK, one oay last week. his vile ealIe0
I i'm back, and heard her say:
will. must have some money. We
are out Of"
NEARLY everything, of course" he in
terrupted. Il gave you $40 Monday"
But | had to buy the children's shoes,
and pay for"
well, here's $40 more, and for heavens
sake make it last till the end of the week"
| had watched the life and brightness
fade out of her face since her marriage,
and wondered at the tired, depressed looh
that had succeeded it, at the fretful i'm
patience with her children which had
clouded over the old weet and sunny tenn
per that never failed her young brothers
aud sister. Was this the explanation?
He carried the family pocket-book, while
she was the family q~uartermaster and pur-
chaser, held to strict account that every
thing should be in the proper place at the
proper time, and in the proper way, but
without power to purchase, or to fulfil
contra its, or to provide for household
wants. Will is at the head of a mechan-
zeal department, and has been receiving
s45 or $50 weekly for the past ten years
a careless, good. natured fellow, who would
NOT listen to anything for three minutes.
By chance, that afternoon, | was offert d
a desk and book case for about an eighth
of its value, and knowing that Dick, the
head of another department, receiving $40
salary, had said that he needed one badly
for work st his house, l sent for him and
proposed that he should take advantage of
the chance.
"I9I let you know in TIE morning. be
said, after have tai ked it over with my
wife. | want it, but s25 is too large an
amount to take out of my money, and l
can't interfere with my wife's."
do you and your wife carry SCI a-ate
pocket-books?" asked, as we sat down to
lunch. In explanation of my curiosity l
repeated the conversation | had overheard
that morning. Dick smiled.
"0f course We do. My wife never asked
me for a penny in her iife-except for
change, as gu would ask me-"
Would you mind explaining how you
manage your fnances?"
Certainly not. Just before We wer,
married, | heard Baldwin's wife say tina
she intended to tease her husband until h,
bought her a bracelet, and that she bough
a sealskin sacque With the money she la,
taken out Of his pockets without his know
ing it. That set me to thinking. If m
married life was to have anything lik
that in it, should certainly resign. Th
frat day We were married, sitting on thi
, veranda, | proposed to my wife thai sh,
should be the secretary of the treasury
She knew my income; l told her of my
i expenditures, and gave her my savings
She consented. 1t was then and there
agreed that | was to have S., weekly,
for car fares, lunches, tobacco, drinks,
and the like. The remaining $50 were to
be the family revenue, which she was to
take charge of, and With it provide for
everything needed, TO the best of her abil-
ity. Every Saturday night | handed her
$50. When my salary was raised, | took
81 and 81 we're added to the family fund.
She governs and reign. l have no respon-
sibility for the house management. She
plans everything, provides everything. and
attends to every detail, large or small. /
have enough of that kind of worry in man.
aging that department of mine without
having to make up yearly estimates for my
household expenses, and to prepare all the
different household appropriation bills. !
am not qualified to interfere or NEEDLE
with her administration. | doubt if any
bis whole time to it, as she does. Certain.
ly no Ia can meddle without marriug.
The untrammeled charge of the home is
her natural-born and inalienable right as a
wife, and any interference on my par,
would be quite as silly as her interference
with one of my paper contracts. She knows
quite as much about my business as I could
find out by two hours of daily looking at
hers.
"What do you do about presents to one
another?"
"We rarely make them. Once I saved
from my allowance enough to bny her a
watch for a birthday gift. That money
was a long time coming, and | stuck closely
to my pipe for months. She was not hap,
by at what | had done. and frankly told
me the reason why. There was no pro.
vision in our scheme by which she could
do the same. Then it struck me that while
I had the IS weekly for myself-say So
clear OF necessities, charging the other g.
to the family fund for expenses-she had
absolutely not q penny she could call bel
own. The $50 was a trust fund, managed
for the common good; and while she had
an item 10 her Omnibus bill'for our joint
presents to our friends. there could be no
individual presents made by any one except
myself. csn't give myself a present She
could not give herself a present. If We
took anything out of the common fund, by
agreement, then 1t was not a present but
an appropriation for her or my benefit. |
could make gifts ont of my 50. but there
was no possible way by which she, as an
individual, could personally make a pres
ept to any one. She had no priyy purse