Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-28
Written for The Evenine Star.
HUSBANDS AND WIVES.

GONE MONTHS AGO IN AN IDLE MO-
~ ment picked up daily journal and read
a nice little story, q very nice little story. in
deed, - you shall see. 1t was about little
married woman named Bessie. cor course shs
was httle-fancy big woman called BessieD
Well, Bessie lived with her husband and one
child in . coy little home, did all her work,
including sewing. and made things very COM
Portable for her husband, meeting him on all
occasions with a smile, suppose. though the
story did not mention this fact. It happened
one day that the husband lost his position,
whatever il was, and Of course Bessie. who, it
seems highly probable, had never been eatrava-
CANT in her habits, was urged to still greater
efforts in the way Of economy. Ot viii be OBJ
served that whenever this situation arises it il
always the wife upon whom the added strain
comes.) On Saturday morning, then, Bessie's
husband handed her IS for the weeks market
ing, remarking sententiously that he had no
idea where the next was to come from, and
leaving him smoking his cigar and reading the
morning paper by the fire tho good wife
wended her way to the market. Then followed,
in the story, q pathetic account Of Bessies
struggle with the devil in the shape OF sue
cuient chops, enticing spring chickens and pre-
mature vegetables, and her clever and ingenious
selection Of those articles that combined cheap
ness and nutritive qualities with other qualities
that might render them acceptable to the palate
of her liege lord, and having performed miracles
those daily miracles which the lives of women
are 80 full of-iittie Bessie went proudly home
and handed over Sl.35 to her husband. Was
be astonished, gratified, magnanimous? Did he
tell her to keep the money-that she was dear,
clever, wonderful little woman, and far better
able to hold the diminishing funds Of the fam
! lily than he was?
Not bit Of it. The story tells US nothing Of
| his mental state, but as he remarked while
pocketing the change that he believed he would
take to"smoking pipe instead Of cigars. it is
| to be presumed that somewhere in the hidden
recesses Of his selfish masculine nature there
was aroused a sneaking little consciousness Of
his own meanness. SO small and devltalized,
however, as to perish of it's birth.
Does any one believe that man like that
| would have moral backbone enough to carry
| out his proposed noble reform? Certainly not.
The story did not say. but, with a closing pane
gyric on Bessie. left the denouement OF this in
| terestng romance to the imagination.
Strange to say it has occupied my mind fire.
| quently This good little Bessie. meek. patient
| and housewifely. and the man who calmly put
| in his pocket the money she had saved by her
| cl- verness and thought without q word
| OF praise, without apparently the eight
est realizing of what jewel OF a
| wife he possessed or the shadow Of an idea that
| she had any individual rights except to keep
1
| bic sum, and all for her board clothing and the
! honor of being his wife. And, to tell the truth
do not suppose Bessie herself ever dreamed
of such a thing. There are good many Bes-
sies in our midst, in spite of the nationsl
| convention of women which meets here
every year. and always will be as long
rs marriage is the one-sided sort of arrange
| ment it seems in the nature of things to be. 1t
| is a curious spectace-this readiness Of women
| to surrender themselves to 3 life of dependence,
| to reduce themselves to state Of pauperism
| and bondage. all for love of man. Why, this
/ same Bessie may have been a self-supporting
| woman before marriage. q teacher, a clerk, a
| seamstress, with the control OF person and
| income, hours OF leisure and recreation. Now
| she is somebody's darling-the property Of a
| man who permits her to work like three servants
/ and pockets the change left from the family
| marketing. / know some Bessies who would
| not have done this particular Bessie did.
| They would have kept that change in their
| pockets and said nothing about it. And small
| blame to them. Tyranny begete ignoble or
| spring The wife who is compelled to resort to
| tricks and schemes and cajoleries to get money
| from her husband naturally becomes the mother
| of children lacking in integrity and frankness.
| Husbands, think Of that. Do not keep your
wives in the positions Of beggars or paupers.
| The consequences may be terrible and far
reaching. If your wife deserves your love, she
deserves your respect and confidence. and let
me tell you most emphatically that where one
| woman takes wicked advantage of her husbands
generosity ten are led into slippery ways by
reason of his penuriousness and selhshness.