disgust and hatred. If both man and wife are quick-tempered
and unable to avoid a heated discussion, they should leave off at once;
they should even separate and go, he to light a cigar in his library or
in the garden, she to touch her piano or take up a novel, until both
have forgotten all about it.

* * *

A mistake made by a great many married couples is to avoid speaking of
money matters. But the most loving couples cannot altogether live on
love and the air of the atmosphere; it is not given to all of them--in
fact, it is given to only very few of them--to spend without having to
count. A man and a wife are two friends, two partners, who should
constantly hold pleasant little committee meetings of two in order to
discuss all matters of pecuniary interest and balance their budget of
receipts and expenditure. Once a week at least, they should employ an
hour in this way, hand in hand, like the best of friends. Thus it is
that by mutual confidence each will encourage the other to think of the
future, and little by little both will soon find themselves possessing
the nucleus of a small fortune, in which they will take more and more
interest, and which one day, to their surprise, will be found quite snug
and bearing an interest that will add considerably to their annual
revenue.

A married woman should never consent to receive so much a week for
household expenses, so much a month for her dress, and to be treated, so
to speak, as a dependent person. It should be left to her to decide
whether, considering what the financial situation is, she can afford two
new hats or one only. The suggestion, much less the order, should not
come from her husband, but from herself.

I like the French system, where a man consults his wife in all important
matters of financial interest, such as the investment of savings, etc.;
but from the day she is married, the French wife begins to be taught by
her husband the details of his profession or business, and the best and
safest investments of the day, and she immediately and invariably is
appointed by him secretary of the treasury--among the masses of the
people, anyway--and that is why I have not the least hesitation is
asserting the fortune of France is so stable and steady. It is because,
thanks to the influence of the wife, French families have their money
invested in the safest Government securities. So long as they can work,
they are satisfied with a very small interest for