The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-02-15
WHY HUSBANDS
LOOK Shabby
One Conscientious Wife Is
Awakened to Her Duty.
How Money Can Be Saved and "a
Good Work Done for
Busy Men.

1t was the frivolous looking little wo-
man, with the blonde bang, who told
how she had saved enough money on
ner husbands wardrobe to buy ner
chinchllla cape and muff.
At first the other married women
present jeered and laughed and sug-
gested frankly that she had been loot
ing Johns pockets at night or selling
his cast-offs to the ragman, but she
got word in at last and gave so in
teresting subscription of how the fund
for the chinchillas was laid by that she
not only slenced her accusers, but
sent them off so thoughtful that she is
sure her small seeds Of advice did not
fall on stony or thorny ground.
You see" she said, smoothing her
gray muff tenderly, Il wanted chinchil-
las ever since l married and, though
John undoubtedly has an excellent bus
mess, we don't pretend to be rich, and
l couldn't screw my courage up 10 the
point of asking the dear boy to let me
go in debt for them. In spite of my
best endeavors l found ii was only pen
MES could save on the marketing. and
when I began to cast my avaricious
eyes about in earnest they lighted on
my hard working husband tumbling in
to his overcoat. prepatory to giving me
a hasty, moist kiss, and dashins out af-
| ter his car.
| ITO tell you the honest truIn-anu
think | am a pretty devoted wife-he
| didn't present a very pleasing or sat
| isfactory figure. He certainly bore so
| distinctly careless, wrinkled, neglected
sort of appearance that / promptly
| tried to think about something more
| agreeable
| Years ago, when he went accounting
John was one of the greatest handles
in town, and l think fell in love with
him as much for his exquisitely-se
| ed ties, perfectly fitting coats, and ir-
| reproachable boots as anything else.
| Since our marriage | had To confess he
| had been, sartorially al least, going
| steadily down hill. and that very day
| determined to turn him right about
| face.
Il fattered myself that | always
/ darnen his socks and put on his but
tons, as any good wife should, and
| when | went home and added up his
tailor's. hatter's, and shOemaker's bills
| nearly tainted to find that he actu-
! ally spent every year nearly double
| what / did on my dres.
! Il overhauled his room. his closets
| cupboards. and drawers and found
| where the difficulty lay.
All his neCkties We're handily swing
I ing on the gas fixture to collect every
! bit of dust; his dress shoes were kicked
| upside down in closet corner; summer
sweaters lay in the very path of the
moths: handsome golf tweeds came
| down from a shelf already chewed in
/ to uselessnesS. and-but | spare you
| further narrowing details. Let 1t suf-
/ flee that ] took that pathetic wardrobe
/ in hand.
Every morning after this / devoted a
! part Of the time usually spent in cod
ding my own clothes, stuffing my
| sleeves with tissue paper. and smooth
! ing my ribbons, to attending to Johns
! possessions.
Il had his top bureau drawer divid-
ed by a carpenter into sections, and
there j laid his ties. handkerchiefs
gloves. collars and cuffs, protected. Yet
quite handy: for men. you know, hate
To have their things kept in boxes,
WESle they will take kindly to sec
tional drawer. After this 1 invested
in case for his top hat trees for his
shoes and a tailor's goose. Sending
things To be pressed and cleaned by a
professional is an expensive practice,
so | showed the maid how, by using
naphtha, or merely d piece of brown
paper and a hot iron. spots could be
easily eradcated. and with the heavy
goose | taught her TO press Johns
clothes
Finally / persuaded John never to
wear the same suit to business two
days i'm succession, but by alternating
between the browns and the grays al
ways To have one suit to rest up for
day and undergo an enthusiastic air
ing. brushing and pressing. Then ev-
cry morning laid out for him was set
of clothes. quite crisp and sweet SMELL
ing. and to help the good cause of
graduating the OdOrs of tobacco and
general stufiiness that hang about the
cleanest mans wooden garments. | put
in his drawers and closets plenty of
vertivert and dried lavender.
Right around the corner from our
house is a little tailor. of whom l GER
tainly wouldn't permit John to buy his
clothes, but a cheap. neat little man.
who will put on fresh braids. reface
trousers legs and do odd bits of tailor
ing at low price. To him | took
quantity of things John had tossed
aside as of no further use, and so
neatly did he Turkish them up that
that innocent husband of mine is wear
ing them under TIE impression that
they never wore out at all
by these tactics | succeeded in turn
out model man every morning. a
sweet. smiling. immaculate creature.
with never a wrinkle in his waistcoat
front with faultless creases down his
trousers legs and his overcoat pockets
wearing their flaps outside instead OF
in
But the long and short of it is, la
dies" said this arch domestic econo-
mist. besides the pride and sentiment
and duty of this thing. there is bright,
hard yellow gold to be saved or made
out of looking after your husbands
wardrobe When John cast up his ac-
counts at the end of the year, and
found to his vast establishment, that !
his personal expenses had fallen far |
below the usual figure, he gave me a |