Evening star., 1897-02-06
ingly. because. you know, It was really a

ingly. because. YOU know. # was really a
| delicate matter
.,Oh. dear. yes" she replied, with a nerv-
GUS little laugh. Il have had six In two
weeks. If could only write book on my
experience with applicants for service with
me- Mark Twain wouldn't be in IL with the
reputation 1 would get humorist The
girl l hired yesterday Fred fired this
morning. as he puts ii. He went into the
kitchen to hurry up his breakfast and
found her using my solid silver forks for
stove lifters. She said il wouldn't hurt
them, because they were solid. If they
was plated, of course. il would wear them
on. she remarked. complacently. Fred
told her his patience was very thinly plated
with good nature. and he couldn't stand
that so she left the fork i'm the griddle and
the steak on the broiler and fiounced of.
The worst of it is. we are running behind.
L am sure that We ought to he able to live
comfortably and have a balance each month
on Freds salary, but there seems to be
leak somewhere
Perhaps it is mostly in the Kitchen /
suggested, knowing how easy it is for in
ma teriaIS.
Il think il is she replied with earnest
frankness. The blind leading the blind
isn't circumstance to my denseness in
the kitchen. Fred threatens me with the
boarding house every time he finds that L
have been IN that region of the house and
insists that the cook should he able to at
tenu to matters there. So she should, buc
l have not found one that will. I pay good
wages, and my kitchen is a marvel of
modern coEveniences. but that seems to
have no effect whatever on the servants.
They kIow L am ignorant and they pre-
Srme upon II, that is the amount of Ii.
Our grocery bills are enormous. yet We do
not have many luNuries. and our tastes
are OF at all expensive. Then our house
linen, Why. 1 had stacks of il when
were married. The handsomest of this |
have rever taken from the boxes in which
it was presented. But although l have
4 "a my linz in iaIt of f.nrIf
the last lady Of the kitchen informed me
that the towels were ALI and tha. nearly
every Cne OF my handsome linen sheets
was whipped oat al the corners.
A Simple Remedy.
| 1t was with a feeling of intense relief
| that l discovered that Nelle's unhappness
could be cured by a cook. outside of the
| courts, if taken in time, and the medicine
| | gave her took the form of lady in re-
| duced circumstances. bat wide home
keeping knowledge. who was delighted to
find safe harbor under such pleasant con-
| ditiops. Bright. sensible Nell, with the
energy that marked her determination to
| have real home. has taken her 'med
| cine bravely. and her pretty pariors
| as spick and span as the inside of a china
| cup She keeps them SO herself. and care
and Nell are utter strangers, because she
has learned to husband her strength, to
use it economically. and she drives her
work instead of letting it drive her. Fred
would sooner think of ward in St. Eliza
beth'S than rooms in a boarding house,
| now. and SO would any other man of sense.
Marriage is something of a lottery
| best, but the couple who must enter the
| married state as inmates of a boarding
| house are daring fate and inviting disaster
! to many of the highest hopes and noblest
aspirations of the human heart. Ii those
| who would marry find it impossible to set
| up home of their own the wise and seusi-
| pie thing to do is to wait till the time
comes when they can do it. While men
| do not marry because they want house
keepers. they do have hazy idea that a
home would be nice thing to possess, and
/ the central figure of home is wife. They
| seek the wife too early sometimes. before
| judgment is formed or they have any con-
ccption of the responsibilities of married
| life. and this leads them to select for
companion young immature girls, who are
pretty to look upon, sweet of disposition,
perhaps. but unlettere,i in homely accom-
| plishments a grievoIs fault of the age,
but who appear well in society, and whose
educa ton is all that could be desired in
| golflng, wheeling, tennis mad other ath-
| letic sports, though the correct swing to
give a broom to produce the best results
or the force necessary to reduce a tough
| beefsteak to an eatable condition by ap-
| plying ''pounder' is Greek and Hebrew
/ to them. After marriage, what? For couple
mated in that manner, a small house.
| even tiny bird nest of d fat. is out OF the
question. Boarding is the only alternative
The wife is ignorant of housekeeping and
| 1t is much cheaper" to board There are
boarding houses and boa arding houses, some
| of them good many of them utterly bad.
| and the bad ones are not all in the cheaper
category, by any means. The young, in
| experienced woman finds her associates
! in the new life a lot of worldly wise wives
| who iill her head with nonsense about a
! husbands duties and the proper spirit that
wife should display. They talk gossip and
| scandal-they have nothing else to do-and
| they seeds of doubt in her trusting
heart and give her volumes of advice
about managing q husband The couple
dare not show the natural affection they
| feel for each other. for fear of being laugh
ed at for pair of spoons and the little
| quarrels that would be forgotten in an
| hour in pleasant home, or perhaps never
| have occurred. are discussed and Elagni-
fed by the woman of the boarding house.
| to whom The young wife unconsciously un-
| bosorls herself. and thus the first riffs
come in the perfect harmony of married
| life.
Selling Happiness for Society.
All this time the new wife is learning ab-
soIutely nothing about the management of
a home, and they are saving nothing,
| really are further away from their first
ideals than when they married. Many,
! very many. of the 'incompatibility" di-
vorce suits and the pleas Of "non-suppOr,"
have grown out of the seed sown in the
boarding house life of young married
people who were selling happiness for al
legged society. 1t is true that the newly
wed do not always ffnd happiness in house
keeping. In Nellie's case. for instance 1t
was not the boarding house life that had
caused her unhappiness, but her lack of
knowledge of housewifely du,ics and her
unadaptibility. The remedy for this can
| only be applied by the sensible young wo-
man herself. The very bes. man living
will not put up with a slouchy. SLOW ,nly
wife who shirks her responsibility, ami he
Is right not to do so il he does his part as
a producer and gives ner enough money to
his home. Married lifr ic nf
give and take, and there is no way of n ak
ing home happy where only one of the
firm is interested In it.
Every woman who contemplates mar
riage should make herself thoroughly ac-
Quatated With housekeeper's duties. 1t
may be that she will never have to lift
her hand to perform any Of those duties,
but IL she knows all about them herself
she can tell the instant the cook tries to
impose upon her, or the maid neglects
her 49,. 49,