San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-01
in the two statements.
A Form Of Cheating.

in the two statements.
A Form Of Cheating.
The worst effect of habitual debts
is mental.
Debt is a form Of cheating, a form
Of stealing.
Many a woman who considers her
self honest will move away from town
persuading herself that she will send
the money back TO the doctor and the
plumber, Just as soon as she can.
Many a woman removes Der trade
from some decent dealer, just be-
cause she is ashamed to face him with
the consciousness of her unpaid
bill.
Thousands of marriages so on the
rocks because of bills.
And hundreds of little lives arc in
exorably crushed out OF the world be-
cause women hesitate to face new
Responsibilities while the old are still
so heavy a burden.
Women are, TO me at least. the in
teresting. the growing, and the most
promising sex. But the blame for do
nestle debts is largely due to wom-
en-. and in no avenue have the newly
enfranchised citizens shown such re-
dictionary tendencies, such stupidity,
as here.
Perhaps this is our heritage from
hundred generations of financially
irresponsible grandmothers and great
grandmothers.
1.-THE Good Old Days"
Women never had money. or bust
ness responsibilities, in the middle
ages.
Even a hundred years ago. it was
the man of the house who bought the
silks and mousselines, and the paint
ed cups from China, and the "Injy"
shawls and teas, when a ship was in
Boston or New York harbor.
1t was the husband who stopped at
the market, on his way downtown.
and sent home the joints and the
vegetables to his obediently waiting
wife. And the wife made, or super
intended the making of. the puddings
and the syllabus exactly as he liked
them.
And when I was a child it was
customary for a wife to ask for house.
hold money at the breakfast table /:
III need some money today, dear. I"
Certain advanced husbands were in
structing their wives in the use of
the check book; many wives did not
like the change. There were many
little jokes in those days about
wife" coaxing hubby" for extrava-
gances and about the utter untrust-
worthiness OF the average woman
when hats and new gowns were con-
cerned.
To Woman's Shame.
To our shame, many of us women
still keep that old standard. We
are as ignorant as children Of the
value of money. And worse. there is
no feminine conscience in the matter,
no honest facing Of the ugly truth
that we are savages still where beads
and feathers are concerned.
For the woman who is never quite
abreast Of her homework we have lit
tie sympathy. But We never think of
condemning, for moral slovenliness in
finitely more contemplate than the
mere physical laxness, the woman
whose affairs arc all in disorder.
! remember a household / used to
visit years ago.
The kitchen was a filthy muddle.
the dining room table always wore n
spottth tiolu, tue CudlIs stoou At hi
angles, the carpet actually smelled Of
dust: and in the parlor cracked gas
globes. dust as thick as plush. drift
ing magazines and papers. spotted
sofa pillows. torn curtains. and chairs
disgorging their stuffing disputed the
limited space with a sewing machine
upon which work was usually in
progress.
Visible Failure.
The two elderly women who occu-
pied this. house were usually dressed
TO match their environment and were
never without apologies when one
went In.
Imagine your finding ms this
way." they would cry, catching to-
gether the folds of dirty kimonos. and
raising hands to their curl-papered
hair.
We're just scrambling through
everything today, but next week we're
going 10 give the whole place n
thorough overhauling. We've really
been running behind since last sum-
mer---
Need say that their ultimate
hopes were. first, n becorye success
full dressmakers, and second, to rent