The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-06-04
MRS. FRANK LEsLIE's ENTERPRISE.
How to Make a Lazy Husband
disappearing.

has set out to accomplish is to reg.
ulate lazy husband and make him
work. 1t will be remembered that
after many vicissitudes of marital
character Mrs. Leslie succeeded re.
Gently in landing Mr.. Willie Wilde
as husband. Mr.. Willie Wilde
belongs to a family over which the
stately Lady Wilde presides. The
nobility of labor has not seriously
impressed this family, which is
more addicted to languishing and
lolling than to hustling for a living
and since one of it's scions has al
lied himself with the rich American
widow the disposition to indulge in
ecstacies and lilies has been encour.
aged still further. This view of the
case has particularly impressed it.
self upon Mr.. Willie Wilde, who
now that he finds himself married
to an active woman of business with
a handsome fortune, does not see
why he should not be supported by
her and allowed to recline in rosy
beds of ease. Mrs. Leslie, however,
does not share this conviction, and
proposes to apply the heroic rem
edy. Before she married Willie be
had shown an earning power OF
about SIS, 900 a year. She is resolved
he shall continue to produce that
or a reasonable amount by labor, or
he shall not have cent of her
money.
To solve this problem Mrs. Leslie
has taken Willie with her to London
and laid her case squarely before
the Wilde family. Mrs. Leslie has
given the Wildes a reasonable time
to make decision. If Willie de-
cides to go to work and earn his
IS, 900 per annum, she will bring
him back with her and allow him
to share the luxuries of her elegant
home at Gerlach, for boarding at
which $4,000 a year is not an exor-
bitant sum. If he declines to do
it, then she will leave him behind
in London, free to live where he
pleases, to do what he pleases and
to pay his board as he best can.
Such is the situation. Willie
Wilde must learn to work or he
must cease to be Mrs. Leslie's hus-
band. It is due to her to say that
she did not resort to this crucial
test until she had labored with the
young man long and earnestly,
seeking to impress upon him the
American idea of the nobility of
labor. Moral suasion failed to have
any effect upon the young gentle
man. This sort of foolishness, how
ever, will not go down with Mrs.
Frank Leslie. Willie must earn his
board or quit. The result of the
experiment will be watched with
interest, and there will be no occa-
sion to sympathize with Mrs. Leslie.
If she carries her point it will be a
distinct gain for American women,
particularly American women who
have made the mistake of marry
ing foreigners who have contracted
the matrimonial alliance for the
money there is in it. If Mrs. Leslie
succeeds, why should they not also
notify their titled lords that they
must go to work and earn their
board or quit? Compared with the
experiment in domestic economy
inaugurated by Mrs. Leslie, all that
the Federation of Women's Clubs
accomplished was of small account,
provided she succeeds. And we be-
lieve she will, for she is woman of
energy, business talent and consid-
erable experience in managing the
masculine animal.-Chicago Herald.