"This is pleasant!" exclaimed a young husband, taking his seat in the
rocking-chair as the supper things were removed. The fire glowing in
the grate, revealed a pretty and neatly furnished sitting-room, with
all the appliances of comfort. The fatiguing business of the day was
over, and he sat enjoying what he had all day been anticipating, the
delights of his own fireside. His pretty wife, Esther, took her work
and sat down by the table.
"It is pleasant to have a home of one's own," he again said, taking a
satisfactory survey of his little quarters. The cold rain beat against
the windows, and he thought he felt really grateful for all his
present comforts.
"Now if we only had a piano!" exclaimed the wife.
"Give me the music of your own sweet voice before all the pianos in
creation," he observed, complimentarily; but he felt a certain secret
disappointment that his wife's thankfulness did not happily chime with
his own.
"Well, we want one for our friends," said Esther.
"Let our friends come to see _us_, and not to hear a piano," exclaimed
the husband.
"But, George, everybody has a piano now-a-days--we don't go anywhere
without seeing a piano," persisted the wife.
"And yet I don't know what we want one for--you will have no time to
play on one, and I don't want to hear it."
"Why, they are so fashionable--I think our room looks nearly naked
without one."
"I think it looks just right."
"I think it looks very naked--we want a piano shockingly," protested
Esther emphatically.
The husband rocked violently.
"Your lamp smokes, my dear," said he, after a long pause.
"When are you going to get a camphene lamp? I have told you a dozen
times how much we need one," said Esther pettishly.
"These are very pretty lamps--I never can see by a camphene lamp,"
said her husband. "These lamps are the prettiest of the kind I ever
saw."
"But, George, I do not think our room is complete without a camphene
lamp," said Esther sharply. "They are so fashionable! Why, the
Morgans, and Millers, and many others I might mention, all have them;
I am sure we ought to."
"We ought not to take pattern by other people's expenses, and I don't
see any reason in that."
The husband moved uneasily in his chair.
"We want to live as well as others," said Esther.
"We want to live within our means, Esther," exclaimed George.
"I am sure we can afford it as well as the Morgans, and Millers, and
Thorns; we do not wish to appear mean."
George's cheek crimsoned.
"Mean! I am not mean!" he cried angrily.
"Then we do not wish to appear so," said the wife. "To complete this
room, and make it look like other people's we want a piano and
camphene lamps."
"We want--we want!" muttered the husband, "there's no satisfying
woman's wants, do what you may," and he abruptly left the room.
How many husbands are in a similar dilemma? How many houses and
husbands are rendered uncomfortable by the constant dissatisfaction of
a wife with present comforts and present provisions! How many bright
prospects for business have ended in bankruptcy and ruin in order to
satisfy this secret hankering after fashionable superfluities! Could
the real cause of many failures be known, it would be found to result
from useless expenditures at home--expenses to answer the demands of
fashion and "what will people think?"
"My wife has made my fortune," said a gentleman of great possessions,
"by her thrift, and prudence, and cheerfulness, when I was just
beginning."
"And mine has lost my fortune," answered his companion, "by useless
extravagance and repining when I was doing well."
What a world does this open to the influence which a wife possesses
over the future prosperity of her family! Let the wife know her
influence, and try to use it wisely and well.
Be satisfied to commence on a small scale. It is too common for young
housekeepers to begin where their mothers ended. Buy all that is
necessary to work skilfully with; adorn your house with all that will
render it comfortable. Do not look at richer homes, and covet their
costly furniture. If secret dissatisfaction is ready to spring up, go
a step further and visit the homes of the suffering poor; behold dark,
cheerless apartments, insufficient clothing, and absence of all the
comforts and refinements of social life, and then turn to your own
with a joyful spirit. You will then be prepared to meet your husband
with a grateful heart, and be ready to appreciate the toil of
self-denial which he has endured in the business world to surround you
with the delights of home; and you will be ready to co-operate
cheerfully with him in so arranging your expenses, that his mind will
not be constantly harassed with fears lest his family expenses may
encroach upon public payments. Be independent; a young housekeeper
never needed greater moral courage than she does now to resist the
arrogance of fashion. Do not let the A.'s and B.'s decide what you
must have, neither let them hold the strings of your purse. You know
best what you can and ought to afford. It matters but little what
people think, provided you are true to yourself and family.