Chapter XXIV - Things To Remember Page 02
LET YOUR WIFE KNOW
It is usually wise for a woman, married or single, to keep her real estate and her money, if she have any, in her own name. So also with property bought with her money.
In these cases the woman should deal with her husband, or the members of her family, the same as she would with strangers with whom she is transacting business.
Some may say that this suggests a want of confidence and a lack of that affection that should exist between husband and wife or near kinsfolk. Such an objection is sheer sentimentality. Be as open handed and generous as you will with your loved ones, but when it comes to business, let the work be done in a strictly business way or not at all.
Many a good business has gone to ruin after the death of the owner and manager because he had kept his wife in blank ignorance of his affairs and the way in which he conducted them.
Many a business, that just dragged along till the death of the manager, has sprung into new life when the widow took charge. This must in part be credited to natural ability and inborn pluck and energy, but even these gifts could not have availed if the woman had been left in ignorance of business methods.
Women, like men, are awkward in new positions, not so much from a want of ability as a lack of experience.
Put the average man suddenly in charge of a house, and he will soon demonstrate his helplessness. The woman's deftness comes from her experience.
As far as it is possible, every husband should post his wife as to his methods of doing business.
He should not keep her ignorant of his financial affairs.
If he conceal from her the amount of his secure holdings, it may be that he hopes to surprise her at his death, or long before that event. But if he have any regard for his family, he should not hide from her the obligations which may spell ruin if the wife is not prepared in advance to meet them.
Whether the husband lives or dies, the wife must still care for the children and attend to her never-lessening household duties. Think of her as taking on the added burdens of a business of which she is ignorant.
There are many prosperous husbands to whom what has just been said will not apply, but if you should ask them the secret of their success they will not hesitate to tell you that when they married they took their wives into full partnership, business secrets and all.