Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Women and Men

[189] his estate, but it left nothing; his own property and his wife's were almost wholly gone, mostly wasted in worthless investments. he died poor, and left her dependent on charity, although both had been supposed to be rich. The moral is that no woman's property is safe, even in the hands of a saint, unless he is also careful and prudent; and no woman can ever form an opinion as to a man's care and prudence unless she herself cultivates common-sense, and takes pains to know something about business affairs.

This is needful for a woman of large property, and still more for one who has but a trifle. If it lies in real estate, she should learn something about the values of real estate and its laws. If it lies in stocks of any kind, she should know what they represent, and watch for herself their rise and fall. It is not necessary that she should manage her property in person, any more than it is necessary that a man should build his own house; but as the wise man visits his house frequently while building, and does not leave all to even his treasure of a master-carpenter, so a woman at least needs to know how the house of her own fortunes is to be built and kept in order. Most fathers now recognize this after a fashion in the case of their own daughters; but when the daughter actually asks a question, it is much easier to reply, hurriedly, “Don't trouble your little head about that, dear,” than to spare a