Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-09-18

1 was engaged to Mrs Dane at that
time and l made solemn vow that she
should have a purse of her own and
| that 1t should never go empty II had
| anything to put in it, We have now
been married six years, and I have
faithfully adhered to that resolution.
! And there Is no fixed sum" about II
| Household expenses vary at different
seasons Of the year and under various
| circumstances. Ten dollars will per-
haps cover all the expenses one week.
and the next maybe several extra dol
lars will be required. In any case I
resent the idea that my wife is a mere
rcnsioner on my bounty; | reject the
imputation that she has not common
sense enough to know the value OF
money and dare not be trusted with
il. | am not a 'Woman's Fighter" in
the popular sense of the term, but
thank the Lord that I am man enough
10 recognize the fact that my wife, as
my wife and the mother Of my children.
has rights, money-spending rights, that
| have no business interfering with.
Every good wife should have this right
as royal marriage prerogative. / re-
gard Mrs. Dane as an equal partner in
the contract under which we have be-
come firm for life. We share profits
and losses alike. There Is one money
drawer to which we both have free ac-
cess. l have not the inclination nor
the right to limit my wife In her daily
expenditure so long as those expendf-
lures are within reason. Most wives
and mothers honestly earn all they
spend. A woman who does her duty as
a wife and mother earns more than
money can pay for 1t must be very
humiliating to a woman to have to
humbly and tremblingly ask her
husband for money she must
have for her actual daily ex-
penses. Any sensitive, womanly
woman must feel 1t something Of
q degradation to have to thus ask, or
even coax for money given grudginR-
inGly and complainingly at last.
! know of woman who said once
that the only way she could get
money from her husband for other
than her actual household expenses,
was by watching her chance" and sly
y extracting bills from his purse when
he was asleep or his coat was off,
Imagine wife forced into such a de-
grading act as that Women are often
compelled to practice mean, niggardIy,
cruel economy in order TO make their
come within tho limit fixed \
BY itiexorable husbands, Who would.
uriously resent any interference with I.
heir own expenditures. - d.
| believe that this simple question Os !.
the wife's allowance has wrecked the
happiness of many a household: Men
ire so often blind and unfeeling and
in this matter And Of
Course there are women who must
nave tight rein kept upon them be-
'ause of their tendency to wilful and :
yoful eXtrava gance There Is, 1 fear,
title chance for happiness in horne
With such a mistress over 1t. But the
majority Of women can safely be
rustcd. Let the husbands Of wives
hus worthy trust them and this trust
will not often be abused.
My own personal experience has been
hat money is safe with women than
With men. Most women can beat 4
nan "all to pieces" making a bargain.
and the marketmen and grocers seldom
get ahead Of them, whereas most men
ne careless purchasers-Zenas Dane In
Good Housekeeping.