ly lost
it--of regarding their wives as ladies. "She is not a lady, she is
only my wife," is a well-known joke, but some men take it not as a
jest. Some men think that before their wives they can be as slovenly
and unclean as they please. Give your husband to understand that
cleanliness and freshness is not a "sex-limited" attribute, and just
as a husband wants his wife to be clean and dainty and well-groomed,
so a wife may enjoy the same qualities in her husband. Some women are
very fastidious, and while they may say nothing to their husbands for
fear of irritating them, they may think a good deal.

=Carrying Life Insurance.= Every husband should carry some life
insurance--as much as he conveniently can. This should be the
husband's most pleasant duty, particularly so when the wife has no
profession of her own and there are small children to bring up. The
lack of consideration, the thoughtlessness--I would call it
dishonesty--on the part of many husbands who claim to love their wives
is simply heart-breaking. Who of us does not know of cases of refined
wives with children left absolutely penniless and forced into wage
slavery or even into menial service by the negligence of their
husbands? Such things happened even to wives whose husbands were
making from three to ten thousand a year. Thoughtlessness,
carelessness, procrastination--and then it was too late. There is not
a man who makes as little as twenty dollars a week who cannot carry
some insurance. I was once poor, very poor. And the terrifying
thought, What would happen to my wife and two children if I should be
taken off suddenly? gave me many a troubled and sleepless night. And
when I took out a thousand dollars insurance I felt some relief. But I
felt it was inadequate. I therefore made a supreme effort and soon
took an additional ten thousand dollars. And I assure you that the
annual premium of two hundred and eighty-six dollars was a terrible
burden on me. There were times when I felt as if I had to give it up.
But I deprived myself of many necessities (there was no question of
luxuries) and I paid my premiums regularly. But in compensation I had
restful nights. It was soothing to know that if I should be taken away
in my earliest youth my equally young wife and two little babies would
not be left penniless. I verily believe that an adequate life
insurance prolongs a person's life, because it removes the worry about
the future of the wife and children.

I