d almost breaks his young wife's fond heart by an
alteration in his manner, which she cannot but detect, but from
ignorance of the cause very probably attributes to a wrong motive;
while he, poor fellow, all the while out of pure tenderness, is
endeavouring to conceal from her tidings--which must come out at
last--of ruined hopes or failure in speculation; whereas, had she but
known the danger beforehand, she would have alleviated his fears on
her account, and by cheerful resignation have taken out half the sting
of his disappointment. Let no man think lightly of the opinion of his
wife in times of difficulty. Women have generally more acuteness of
perception than men; and in moments of peril, or in circumstances
that involve a crisis or turning-point in life, they have usually more
resolution and greater instinctive judgment.

We recommend that every husband from the first should make his wife an
allowance for ordinary household expenses--which he should pay weekly
or monthly--and for the expenditure of which he should not, unless
for some urgent reason, call her to account. A tolerably sure guide
in estimating the amount of this item, which does not include rent,
taxes, servants' wages, coals, or candles, &c., is to remember that in
a small middle-class family, not exceeding _four_, the expense of each
person for ordinary food amounts to fifteen shillings weekly; beyond
that number, to ten shillings weekly for each extra person, servant or
otherwise. This estimate does not, of course, provide for wine or food
of a luxurious kind. The largest establishment, indeed, may be safely
calculated on the same scale.

A wife should also receive a stated allowance for dress, within
which limit she ought always to restrict her expenses. Any excess of
expenditure under this head should be left to the considerate kindness
of her husband to concede. Nothing is more contemptible than for
a woman to have perpetually to ask her husband for small sums for
housekeeping expenses--nothing more annoying and humiliating than to
have to apply to him always for money for her own private use--nothing
more disgusting than to see a man "mollycoddling" about marketing, and
rummaging about for cheap articles of all kinds.

Let the husband beware, when things go wrong with him in business
affairs, of venting his bitter feelings of disappointment and despair
in the presence of his wife and family,--feelings which, while
abroad, he finds it practic