ate head
is best qualified to govern a family, or manage an estate in which both
have a common interest, and therefore ought to have an equal voice. What
one lacks, the other may have. The man may be overconfident, the woman
too cautious; by counseling together, a proper and safe medium is
arrived at.

One-half of the property in the matrimonial firm should always be
regarded as belonging to the wife. And if a man and his wife fail to
agree as to the advantage, or even safety, of a proposed scheme, and he
is still determined to act upon his own judgment, contrary to that of
his wife, he should never, in such case, risk more than one-half of the
property.

What right has a man, except that "might makes right," to hazard all he
has in wild speculations, or by indorsing for some friend or boon
companion, despite his wife's expostulations, or without her knowledge?
Yet it is done every day, and all lost; and if women who see their
children and themselves thus reduced to poverty, complain, they are
stigmatized as fretful, unwomanly grumblers. Their husbands, says the
world, had a right to do as they pleased with the property in their
possession. What if the wife had earned or inherited half, or even the
whole, of it! what should women know about business?

In indorsing, especially, a man should be restrained by law, under pains
and penalties, from indorsing to amounts exceeding one-half of his
property; and no indorsement in excess of that amount should be allowed
to constitute a legal claim.

But is it really right to indorse for any one, under any circumstances?
Why should a third party encumber his estate, and run the risk of
ruining himself and his family, to secure the payment of a debt in which
he has no personal interest, simply to make a capitalist secure in the
investing of his funds, or in the profitable disposal of his property on
credit? If the lender can not trust the party who deals directly with
him, let there be no credit. It is manifestly a departure from the line
of duty for a man to jeopard the means of maintenance for his family,
without any prospect of advantage to himself or them. It is as much a
great moral wrong for a man to rob his wife and children as it is to rob
strangers, although commercial usage and the laws of mankind may declare
the reverse. "He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and
he that hateth suretyship is sure." (Proverbs xi, 15.)

It may be said that to refuse to