WOMAN'S EMPLOYMENT. 483 



port, are out at sea without helm or anchor, there is perhaps a larger class 

 who, in marriage, fail to find safe harbor from self support. Through the 

 misfortune, shiftlessness, dissolute habits, sickness, death or desertion of their 

 husbands they find themselves compelled to earn the whole or a part of the 

 family living, in addition, perhaps, to the work of the home. Such instances 

 are not rare. Not one of us but can recall enough to make us sick at heart. 



It is not safe, then, to educate our daughters as though marriage were a 

 certain thing or a guarantee against the need of self-support. A thorough 

 knowledge of some business, trade, or profession which will make self-sup- 

 port possible is every girl's right and might, and whatever is chosen, there 

 are certain qualifications which should underlie the special preparation for 

 any work. 



Prominent among these is a knowledge of common business principles, one 

 of which is illustrated by the immortal Micawber: "Annual income, £20; 

 annual expenditures, £20 Os. 6d. — result, misery. Annual income, £20; 

 annual expenditures, £19 19s. 6d. — result, happiness." 



Our girls should have the discipline of actual experience in money matters 

 at an age as early as practicable — say ten years — twelve at most. Every girl 

 should have some mocey — her own — to provide for certain outgoes, and with 

 the beginning of expenditure should come a keeping of accounts. As she 

 grows older, having shown herself worthy of the trust already imposed, and 

 very happy, I dare say, in her new responsibility, new ones can be added, 

 until at sixteen any girl should have developed a business faculty equal to 

 the transaction of her own expenses, with the counsel of older experience, 

 which the business man himself is not loth to seek in the larger affairs of 

 life. The parent can estimate the amount necessary to provide for the year's 

 or season's wants. The amount can be given in monthly or semi-monthly 

 installments when possible, and then an excellent plan would be for her to 

 deposit the amount in a bank in her own name and pay all her bills by check 

 or draft. This will be the means of a good deal of business knowledge and 

 provide against the temptation to extravagance which might come of having 

 money in hand. 



Economic plans and estimates will begin to unfold themselves as soon as it 

 is known that so much is allowed for certain necessaries, and the balance can 

 go for some coveted treasure or, better still, for deposit in a savings bank, 

 which deposit may become a nucleus around which a competence will ulti- 

 mately accrue, and the foundation of a habit of economy as good as money 

 against a time of need. Parsimony need rarely be feared. The tendency of 

 the age is in the opposite direction. 



All this may seem like a good deal of trouble to a parent — it should be a 

 pleasure; but whether pleasure or trouble, it is one of the duties which 

 parents owe their children as much as they owe them food and clothing. 



The value of money can best be learned through the practical knowledge 

 of its purchasing power. Some fathers may think their daughters cannot be 

 trusted with money. It is not an unheard of circumstance for them to think 

 the same of their wives. It would not be strange if it were often true. 

 Wives and daughters are so accustomed to getting money only to meet the 

 absolute emergency of the moment, that it is no wonder if in many cases 

 "to have" comes to mean "to spend." Many an unconsciously extravagant 

 wife or daughter might be transformed to examples of prudence if they were 

 once given an opportunity to exercise judgment and economy. We doubt 



