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THE CONFESSIONS OF A WIFE
Chapter XCI.
I called on "Mrs. Selwin this after
noon. Mr. Selwin, who is the presi
dent" of Dick's firm, has done more
to make him think that a wife can
help her husband in his business, if
he will let her, than all the talking I
could do in a month, and I know Mr.
Selwin thinks this, because Mrs. Sel
win has proved herself such a fine
wife to hfm.
I presume Dick's father is more
to blame than his mother for both his
mother's utter incapability and the
children's knowledge of the fact. He
probably never allowed her to talk to
him about business when they were
first married, and, while he has grown
from contact with the world and the
people he has met in his business, life,
she has only gotten the idea of trying
to be something more than she is
with no knowledge of how to do it.
American men of the middle class
have, been called the best husbands
in the -world, because they work like
galley slaves to keep their wives in
luxury. It has become almost a dis
grace for a man to let his wife do any
work, either out of his home or in it,
and yet absolute idleness is the worst
possible thing that can be given to
any human being.
I told something of this kind to
Mrs. Selwin and she, dear, wise wo
man that she is, said: "Margaret, I
have always thought of Heaven as a
place where everybody understands.
"All the sorrow and sin of the
understanding of all is our misunder
standing, and the very greatest mis
understanding o fall is our misunder
standing of the value of work as one
of the greatest comforts of this world.
"Sometimes I have thought," and
as she said -this her old eyes took on
the look of a seer, "that one reason
why we look upon work as a punish
ment instead of a panacea is because
of. that edict that came down from
the Garden of Eden when the first
man and woman were driven, out: 'By
the sweat of your brow shall ye live.'
"Work, my dear, is the greatest
blessing in the woKd. By this I do not
mean work by which men, women
and even little children are driven,
like slaves, beyond their strength for
a mere pittance with which to keep
body and soul together, for if every
one, my dear, did his share of the
world's work, no one would have to
work beyond his strength. Indeed,
most of us have our service as wives
and mothers cut out for us, but ev
ery woman, my dear, must do some
thing worth whilo. If she be worthy
the name of woman, she must help
her husband and children to be some
thing better than they would be with
out her.
"I was sorry, dear, to hear that you
had gone to a fashionable hotel to
live. Most of the women about those
places are of no account They frit
ter away their lives on bridge whist
and pretty clothes, gossip and flirta
tion. "Because they have the sanction of
the church and state and are 'honor
ably' married, many women think
that they need do nothing in return
for their lodging and keep. I have no
respect for such women, Margie, and
I consider them as great a menace
to society, although, perhaps, in a
different way, as the poor women of
the streets from whom they would
draw away their skirts in scorn.
"Dear Mrs. Selwin," I said, "you
ought to say all "these things before
the women's clubs."
"No, my child," she answered, "it
would not do much good, for, you
see, they would not understand. The
"masses never Understand; it is only
the individual who learns and knows,
and that brings me back to our first
idea, and I want you, my dear when
you say your prayers, not to'forget
that the greatest and most all-embracing
petition is:
"'God grant me undei standing.'"
(Tq Be Continued Tomorrow.)
