The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-21
Dorothy Dix Tails
The Misery Husband-2

Yet these women all work in their
homes They cook, and clean and
scrub, and sew, patch, and darn, and
hunt bargains, and raise families, and
perform services SO varied and great,
that it would cost man hundreds of
dollars a month to have done by sub
stitutes. 1t doesn't take long to run
up a bill for household labor these
days when competent cooks get from
$20 week up, and wash-ladies de-
| mand $3.50 day, and trained nurses
| and baby specialists are worth their
weight in gold, and seamstresses are
tpearls of price.
This makes all the more unjust the
attitude of the man who in common
parlance, holds out on his wife, and
| refuses to give her the money that she
| has earned in his own kitchen and
| nursery, to say nothing of the higher
| obligations he has towards her as her
husband.
| But, as Mr.. Cleveland airily OBJ
| served, 1T is the condition and not
| the theory that confronts u.s." Here
| is the misery husband, and here is
his defrauded wife, and she wants to
| know how she can go about collecting
what is owed her.
| The best way to deal with a tight
| wad husband is not to marry him at
| all. In picking out a husband, one
of the things a girl should be surest
| about is to see that she isn't getting
| a stinSy one. observe how a young
man reacts towards money.
| If he carries his pennies in a change
fpurse; if he haggleS over every cent
on a bill; if he lets you pay your car
| fare when he meets you on the street
| car; if he is always SO slow in getting
out his pocketbook that he lets some
| body else in the crowd pay; if he car
ries a little book and puts down in 1t
! 70 MS him II
| He will make one of the kind of nus
| bands you have to chloroform before
you part him from the price of a hat
| Then, a girl is a fool who deserves
all she gets, if she does not have a
| definite money understanding with the
man she marries before she marries
him. Don't ask a man if he is sure
| he will always love you and il he will
never marry If you die. Ask him how
| much of his salary he thinks man
should give his wife Ito keep house
| on, and what are his views in regard
to a wife's having her own individual
purse.
But many a man who is a lavish
spender during his courtship, is a
misery husband. Many man makes
his wife pay in pinching economies
| after marriage. for the gifts and good
| times he gave her. before marriage
| How is such a woman to deal with heI
close-fisted spouse?
| Generally, such a mans pride is his
| weak spot. He trusts to his wife's
being ashamed to let other people
know how niggardly he is, and nine
times out of ten his wife could make
him come across beautifully by assur-
ing him that she would go out and get
a job, even if she had to cook in
| somebody elses kitchen, rather thar
| haggle with him over every penny
Instead of getting appropriate clothes
at~the price of her husbands abuse
let her shame him by her shabbiness
and tell their friends that he refuses
to give her any dress money, and he
will save his face by handing over q
decent allowance. for no man wants
to endure the whitening contempt we
all feel for the stingy.
If these tactics fail, woman i:
justified in leaving a tight-wad hus-
band, and going to work for those
who will reward her services with {
pay envelope. She has everything t.
gain, and nothing to lose by SO doing
for the hardest work. and the wors
paid in the world, is working a tight
| wad husband.