The Cook County herald., 1893-09-16
STlNGY HUSBANDS,
Men Who Grudge Every Cent WhleX
q !! They Give to Their Wives.

Men Who GrudEe Every Cent whleH
= They Give to Their Wives.
II see a good deal Of the mean side
of human nature in my business - said
q woman hairdresser the other day to
Washington Star reporter. But the
worst of it is shown by husbands.
There isn't anything meaner in this
world than q mean husband. For in
stance, one customer of mine has
husband who is a vegetable crank He
never eats any meat himself, and so
he will not have any bought FOR the
household. His wife used to get pretty
nearly starved. For while she had an
arrangement with the green grocer by
which he procured for her and sent
home beefsteaks. The steaks figured
in the family bills as so many pecks Of
potatoes or so many quarts of beans.
''She used to have beefsteak at lunch
when her husband was down town.
But one day he came home uneXpect-
edly in the middle of the day, and then
there was a row. He said she was q
deceitful creature, and she replied that
it wasn't possible for a person to be
sincere and truthful on a diet of bread
used to watch her more closely after
that, keeping an eye on the refrigerator
and even insisting upon doing the mar
ketng himself. I believe his .heory
was that the eating of flesh rendered
people more feshy. He thought that
the consumption of cabbage and green
peas reduced the elements of animal
ism in human beings and was calcu-
lated to render them more soulful
. $50 his wife, not being able to obtain
any substantial food, began to grow
alarmingly thinner. Finally she de-
clded on a new plan. 1t was suggested
by accident. A dealer in secondhand
clothing called at the house and offered
the highest cash price for any garments
that might be discarded. The lady be-
thought herself Of an old coat Of her
husbands. With the price of it in her
pocket--she always had to account
strictly for every penny that she got
she went down the street and indulged
in a. luxurious meal at restaurant.
She confined herself to meat; there
wasn't a vegetable ON her bill of fare.
by and by the old-clothes man be-
came a regular visitor. On each ecca-
sion he carried away pair Of trousers,
waistcOat OF a coat. With fair but
Hot eAlIeuc ecODOtuy lue pTlce OF one
| article would frequently pay for two
| OF three meals. That this sort of thing
could not go on forever was quite eyi-
dent. One day the husband discovered
that the greater part Of his wardrobe
had disappeared. His wife attempted
| no cOncealment. She said frankly that,
being driven by hunger, she had rold
the things to buy food. Furthermore,
she was determined to persist in that
| course until proper allowance of
| money was given her to buy meat or
anything else she liked. She expected
that the furniture would go next; in
short, she openly defied him.
Now, what do you suppose that man
did? He gave in helplessly, and there
has not been, any trouble since, I be-
Heve. That case affords first-rate
illustration of a theory of mine, which
is that the only way to manage a man
is by frmness. The average husband
if he can bully bis wife will do so, md
that is the reason why most women
are bullied more or less.''