Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-02-13

SlDl1llleS Oh ulSH-
The Stinsy Husband. sastea1 A.
ception and disunion to the square inch
than any other subject in the vocabu-
larry of matrimony. 1t car be settled
for a lifetime in a single hour.
Before the honeymoon reaches its first
quarter this problem should be quietly
promoted from the ranks of the un-
solved. In a spirit of loving confidence
and conference, In the interest of their
united happiness. this question of the
wife's settled income should be clear
" and definitely understood between
them. The amount of money involved
may be only a tride, but the principle
means justice. and justice is no tritie.
She seems in an atmosphere of sweet
ness over her happiness when he is the
one who proposes this plan-a regular
income for her as household queen.
with a private purse of her own. But
should he just driftingly let it remain
In the realm of the unspoken she should
lOt UCLl1tt DiiAC W idh ( Ah ~
complice in his silence.
When a man says at the marriage
altar, with all my worldly goods |
thee endow." and two months later
makes it necessary for her to resort to
diplomacy to get 20 cents from him to
pay the iceman his memory needs re-
pairing.
When a man puts his wife's love and
her respect for him in pawn for So or
any amount of money he is likely to
lose the ticket and be unable later to
redeem the pledge. When she fears to
speak to him about money and under
goes sacrifice, self denial and humilia-
ton to avoid the ordeal her love is
scheduled for adjournment. It is true
that perfect love casteth out fear"
It Is equally true that perfect fear
finally casteth out love.
The husband who dolorously doles
out dollars under protest on the in
stallment plan to meet family expenses
as IL they were reluctant contributions
to an outside charity is viewing home
from a wrong perspective. When he
requires his wife to mark down In a
little book every item of expense-not
to guide her in wise management. but
for his personal satisfaction-and then
goes over 1t as an auditing committee.
quizzing her in civil service style on
the wisdom of this expenditure and
the reason for that. he Is mistaken
about wanting a wife. What he needs
is-a h~ousekeeper without pay To be
consistent he should set up a cash reg
lister in the kitchen and have every
purchase rung up and a voucher put in
the drawer.
When he leaves on the corner of the
mantelpiece in the morning just
enough money to last through the day
while he is selfshly humoring every
within or wish of his own there is a
suggestion of running a home on the
slot machine principle-the mechanical
delivery of scant supplies through
small investments for immediate use.
There Is 80 irritating assumption Of
superiority in mans managing Of
money and a cowardly insistence on
woman's responsibility and extrav-
agance quite characteristic of some
men If a wife car be trusted with
the motherhood of his children and
their guardianship and training and
the management of his home. surely
she should be trusted with whatever
amount he can afford to run the house.
not to be extracted from him by daily
assessment" but by weekly or month
ly allowance that will permit her to
take a broad view of income and ex-
ly. If she be ~extravagant she must be
taught economy through money re
sponsibility. She can never learn by
any other method.
The husband who splashes money in
the home one week may let the weeks
following be as dry as the bed of a
mountain brook after a long. parched.
~rainless summer. You cannot keep
the house wheels running by the wa
ter that is past. With this spasmodio
supply of domestic funds there is
usually an air of conscious generosity
as If he were donating this money tc
his wife as a personal gift for which
she should be grateful. In reality
much of it may be already prompted
by bills: the margin left for current
expenses may be little. He usually
has a vivid memory of the amount Of.
his contributions. but a fine forget
fulness of the long intervals between
them.
She may have to face. too. that most
humiliating and most mean of all ques.
lions in home management, "What
did you do with that $40 l gave you in
February?" This method means un-
healthy alterations between extrav-