Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1915-08-24
CURING HABIT

Have You been affected by the hard
times very muchg" Mrs. Drake asked
her caller. q had . letter from . rel
alive in New York today and there
about hard times. We have not noticed
amy great difference i'm our house yet"
We'll, I did" Mrs. wilkinson de-
clared. Away back last year after he
had had trip TO New York my hus-
band began to talk poor and II was
very depressing"
No more than the fact" Mrs. Drake
laughed. I'VE all would like to have
automobiles and trips west. you know"
+ TT was depressing to economist"
said Mrs. WILKINSON First Of all,
we cut out entertaining. My, husband
thought we were on the verge Of .
big panic and he saide that we had
better save our money for a time of
trouble. OF course. was thoroughly
scared. The word panic In enough to
put woman into nervous prostration,
anyhow. especially when q man like
my husband speaks SO solemnly. as II
we shouldn't have cents to bless our
selves with by the next week"
Men are like little boys and like to
talk big to scare the girls, don't you
fhink2" Mrs. Drake asked in q whis-
per. 1T sounds SO important. you
know"
There may be something in that"
Mrs. Wilkinson laughed. "At any rate,
was very much worried cut down
expenses In every way could all win
ter. wore a suit that was two years
old and hat that had trimmed my
self. so You can see how good / was
/ stayed good until one very fine eve
ming. when 1 asked my husband IL he
up from his paper and said in sur
prised tone: Worried about what?
and then began to think.
noticed that all the men who came
with their wives to call talked about
little else ti1an the hard times and the
necessity for economy and / made up
my mind that it was just a habit. /
thought that probably there had been
q little anxiety at first about the way
things were going to act. and that men
had grown so used to cautioning their
| wives to be careful that they couldn't
stop. They probably were saving a
tidy sum and liked the sensation too"
"A man never realizes how much
| it takes to run a house." Mrs. Drake
| sighed. And Mhey imagine that women
| spend untold hundreds on their
clothes"
well. I investigated personally and
privately" Mrs. Wilkinson chuclled.
II found that all the apartments we
own are occupied and everybody is
paying promptly. and then asked in
nocent little questions of my brothers
fn-law. about the business. You see,
there are three brothers in the business
| together and 1 could ask one thing
| Of one of them and another of his
brother. so I finally put all the replies
| together and discovered that this has
| been the best year they ever had had.
| and the coming year promises to be
| even better. My husband had remarked
| to some one that for them the war In
Europe was the greatest thing that
ever occurred. Then, too, every one
| of those partners had furnished his
| office anew in mahogany during the
/ so-called hard times. When I heard
| that I went right down and bought
the most expensive hat 1 ever pos
| sessed."
81 don't blame you in the least"
| Il told my husband that as long as
| the times were so hard I'd better have
l q hat that would last and be worth
| the money put into it. He said this
| was a good idea, but he sighed and
| added that there was no telling which
way the cat would jump. The same
| evening I overheard him telling the
janitor that he expected to retire from
| business in a couple of years, so the
| very next day went down and boughi
a good suit 1t was only a week Later
that he agreed with q caller that pow
erty was staring this country in the
face. so went the following day and
got the parlor curtains I've wanted fol