Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-06-15

| ent describes, where the wife is
| skimped to the last penny and
strangers are lavshly entertained, it
seems to me that the wife is justified
in calling in all her woman's wits to
deal with such situation.
! Two Courses Open
Two courses are open to the young
women who has written me. She can
| get a position-fortunatel not a
| difficult thing these days--or she can
use her ingenuity to bring her hus-
| band to terms.
When there is no money forth
| coming for the laundry, why not neg
! lect to send it? A lack of clean linen
may perhaps be a more effectual ap-
peal than either tears or entreaties.
A dialogue like this might be helpful:
Husband-Mary, where are my
clean shirts?
Wife-There aren't any, John. l
had no money to pay the laundry.
; In a somewhat similar case the
! husband of a woman, who wrote me
several times, had a habit of doling
out pitifully small sums for house
hold expenses. He would strip one
or two dollars from the outside of
his 'wad" and, with all the anguish
he might have displayed in having
himself bodily skinned, present
| them.
There was never money enough to
run the house and she presumably
made up the deficit from a small
income which she was fortunate
enough to have. This continued until
| the wifely worm decided to turn.
And the next time her husband told
her he was bringing home friends to
dinner and accompanied the an
nouncement by laying a couple of
| dollars on the table, his wife took it,
went to market and did not exceed
the given sum. And the principal
dish of that little dinner was beef
liver.
Her penurious helpmeet could
hardly wait till his friends-all off,
| GERS of the concern that employed
him-had gone before he demanded
an explanation.
He got it, His wife took out pen
Gil and paper and showed every
penny duly accounted for; indeed,
she was fifteen cents short, and this
she contributed. But how did you
| manage so well before?"
II didn't manage; 1 donated. Now
1 am investing every penny l have
in Liberty Bonds
l wish l could report that an i'm
mediate conversation followed, but it
did not. The lady kept strictly with
in the amount her husband gave, and
the road to that gentleman's CONVEX
sion was via his stomach.
In time he grew weary of tripe,
liver and herring, and it nerved him
finally to strip his roll deeper than
the first outer cuticle. At least he
has this compensation for his suf-
ferings; he knows what provisions
cast, he knows what it takes to run
house.
Such cases are hard to under
stand. Why should a man seek to
humiliate the woman he has chosen
before all other women? Why will
he permit a niggardly impulse, be-
queathed doubtless by some un-
worthy ancestor, to triumph over
his better nature, his wife's affec-
tion, the very foundation of his
home? Why does the little power
derived from holding the purse
strings compare with what he loses
in the way of loyalty, love and faith?
If a man of this type would only
pick out a riotous spendthrift of a
woman, fate could no longer be- call
cd blind. 1t would be triumph of
the law of averages, master stroke
of circumstances. But, alas, too
often ii is the other way round. The
miser gets a thrifty manager and
the woman spendthrift gets an in
dulgent and generous husband.