Women and Bargains.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXV, Issue 2, 15 July 1905, Page 59

Women and Bargains.

It is an unquestionable fact that the majority of women have a perfect mania for bargain-hunting, and that far too few will realise that an article which is not required is dear at any price, no matter how low the price may be. A victimised husband has been writing to a contemporary, giving some of his experiences of his wife’s mania for "auct ionitis” and bargain-hunting. “My house,” he says, "is like a broker's shop,” and is stuffed with incongruities. Every drawer is filled with cloth to be ’made up' and wearing apparel to be “made down,’ while hats which never have been, and never will be, worn can be reckoned by the dozens. The whole family wear boots either too small or too large, while the children may be wearing furs in summer or muslins in winter, as the ’bargains’ happen to come in. “This weakness in women may afford an excellent subject for a joke,” he continues, "but it has another and serious side. There is an appalling amount of

I subterfuge and duplicity practised by wives tu keep their husbands in ignur ance of how their money is spent, and 'the wrong does not end there, for the ■ money is diverted from its proper use, and even necessities cannot at tunes be had in consequence of giving way to this silly passion for buying.” O O O Ct Ct A great victory has been scored by women in France, for a committee <»f grave and reverend signors have been revising the marriage code in France. They have decided to leave out the word "obey” in the words of the • ervice for the woman, and to insert the word “love” for both. As a lady writer remarks, it is quite time the same thing were done with our own matrimonial service, for some women omit the word "obey,” some mumble it over, and the rest habitually disregard it in practice; and the husband is lucky if he is regarded as an equal, for in many cases he is much the inferior.