The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-10-22
FOR FEMININE READERS
HIGH FINANCIAL TALENTS or THE
WIVES OF wORKINGMEN.
Information About the Furniture OF
Different Periods-Fashionabi
Women Keep Diaries.

s-There are women in this city who know
more about finance than, and who could
give lessons in financial and true political
economy 10, many Wall-street wizards
said Miss Grace II. Dodge 20 New YORK
Tribune reporter. These are the women
whom / call the financiers Of the tenement
homes. They do not belong to the classes
or the masses, are little appreciated ana
less understood, but are withal a large and
very vital part Of our eitys population.
These women are of the self-respecting
Kind. who are never found in missions and
only too rarely in the churches, though
they often give OF their poverty 10 help the
progress Of good.
"a young girl OF this class marries
young man who earns from So TO sl4 a
week, and instantly she becomes what the
society woman rarely does-her HUSBAND
helpmeet and a sharer in all the interests
OF his life He brings her the weekly wage,
abe returns him portion OF 1t for lunch
con. car fare and personal needs, and with
the rest she pays butcher and baker, land
lord and grocer, lays little aside Tor
clothes and a little less for the proverbiaI
rainy day. Her credit Is good, her home
IS clean. there Is a good cup or tea ana
something nice for the visitor, and she ana
her husband are somehow able 10 get on TO
the seashore now and then. There is no
Increase IN the husbands wages with the
increase in the family, but somehow money
for shoes little dresses and many little
trousers comes from some place or another
All the financier has gained is experience,
and she puts that TO good advantage. Jim
my gets a pair of shoes one week, Annie
IN apron the next, papa new shirt or a
sEa 1v.1 fFra4 10 m
for a bonnet, which she herself makes up
the nexttwo weeks. If a bOarder Is taken
IN his money pays the rent ana an over
coat or a dress can be bought with less
pinching. When the little ones go to work
they only receive from 81 TO 81 a week, ana
this is not much more than enough Tor
luncheon and car fare. but the tinancier
knows how high the eagle on a penny can
fiy, and the home begins TO look more at
tractive. causing the proud mother 10 say,
-Oh, you know my Annie and Jimmy are
working now.
when one remembers that these women
have had no training before marriage she
wonders at the magnificent results, and GER
tainly should not be surprised at failures.
A respectable workirgman's wife Is made a
member OF the family firm the moment Sne
enters IL. IL Is not James Blank as IN
the case of the rich man. but James Blank
and wife The wife enters into the business
problems Of the family, has a little 70 spend
n she feels she can AFFORD IL, and Is the
trusted banker of her husband, whereas the
average wealthy woman never has a dot
nothing about her husbands affairs and is
perfectly helpless In business matters. A
trained nurse told me a little while ago
about a wealthy society woman In whose
family she was employed who said when she
gave her her weekly salary of So: i wish
that was mine: / envy you
I" You do? cried the astonished nurse,
'why. l thought you had everything you
wanted"
81 have not dollar / can call my own
the woman replied. i get an allowance but
have to keep an account of my expendi-
lures, and the bills for my dresses and such
things are paid by my husband band l 90 not
II wanted 10 give s. 10 charitable society
] could not do so without asking him for
''Worlcii : women are. as q rule. loyal TO
their husbands, and gladly endure pr1vatlOn
and hardship with him and for his sake.
II q righteous cause Is at stake, as in the
case OF strikes for principle. they are will
Ing to make any sacrifice necessary. They
are generous and sympathetic, too, and IL
these very ones would head IL, for they give
one hundred fold more according to their
means. than the prominent women whose
names get into the newspapers. Some writ
ers tell about how the other half lives.
and the newspapers give pictures OF what
thy call the other half but ii would be
much fairer TO call u the one-eighth. The
great class OF heroic working men and
the saloons: they are not discovered by the
novelist or the sociologist, nor do they wish
60 be. Wives and daughters of workingmen
are banded by thousands in benefit socie-
ties in this CITY. their money circnlateS. pro-
notes trade and supports many industries.
Many are found In labor unions. but nearly
all belong 20 benefit societies. have In my
possession now list of these societies for
women into which hundreds of thousands OF
dollars have been put by these wonderful
fnancierS"