Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-11-30
A Lesson For Wives.

II was her private opinion that he
was not good business man, and pos
slbly she was right.
II can handle the family finances
better than you" she was accustomed
to say, and she said it so often that he
finally told her to try 1t.
"I'll have my personal account at
the bank put in your name" he said,
and will proceed to stand from under
All bills, everything tnat pertains to
our living expenses, shall be attended
to by you. l will draw a certain
amount each week for such personal
expenses as lunches and car fare, with
small allowance for something in
the liquid line occasionally, but you
shall have entire charge of every
thing else"
Naturally she was jubilant. She
hadn't put in ten years telling him
how he could save money without get
ting the idea that she knew something
about It, 1t took a little time to have
his book written up and his account
transferred to her, bu finally one even
ing he brought home nice little
check book and told her it was all ar
ranged. Then he instructed her in the
mysteries of drawing checks, warned
her not tooverdraw the account and re-
tired entirely from the business man
agement of their joint affairs.
Just about a week later she met him
at .the Office late one afternoon and
went to dinner with him. They had
good dinner just such a dinner as they
had had on previous occasions when
they had taken dinner together down
town, and she enjoyed 1t thoroughly
until he pushed the check for it over
to her.
whats hat for?' she asked
Pay it," he said.
"WeL, guess I won! do any SUCH
thing she returned warmly, You
pay it yourself"
81 haven't anything to do it with"
he insisted. You're the cashier.
You've started in to show me how to
keep expenses down, ana naturally
you'll find it no trick 1t all il 1 pay
your bills. When l was making you
an allowance for your incidental per-
sonal expenses l never expected you
to pay for dinners you took with me,
did II"
She paid. She felt that she was be-
ing chea ed in some way, bu; she
paid, ari then she suggested sarcasti-
cally that she supposed he would ex-
pect her to pay for the theatre tickets
too.
Certainly" he replied.
"Well, then, we won't 60" she said.
Just as you say" he returned plea
sanity You're the financial mana
ger"
The ride home was not an especially
enjoyable one, although he seemed t.
be in excellent humor. She was in
clined to be morose, and she had not
entirely recovered her equanimity
when he reached home the following
evening.
"a bill for a dozen shirts came to-
day." she said shortly. 81 don't see
why they addressed it to me-"
charged them to you" he explain
ed, "Pm not running any accounts
these days, you know. Did you pay
lt?'
mo, l didn't, and l won't"
"Oh, you'd better" he urged.
well, I won't" she answered de-
cidedly.
"You wouldn't have your poor nus
band sued by a haberdasher, would !
you?" he asked. Just think how it
would look"
well, how do you suppose I'm go
ing to save money if l have to keep
paying it out like this?" she demand
ed.
Il could have saved money myself |
II l hadn't had to buy for both of us"
he answered.
well, it isn't fair; that's all that | |
can say" she exclaimed, but she paid |
lie bill, although she did it under |
protest.
Things went along with comparative
for few days after this,
and then one morning one of the
children asked for 9S cents to get a |
school book.
Go to your mother" was the reply |
of the man who had abdicated as the
head Of the house.
"But l haven't any change" she |
protested.
"A cashier should make it a point to
always have change" he said. "You |
surely can't expect me to buy the
school books out of my pock-
1t money.
ne said he was a mean thing, but |