"I think it looks very naked--we want a piano shockingly," protested Esther emphatically. The husband rocked violently. "Your lamp smokes, my dear," said he, after a long pause. "When are you going to get a camphene lamp? I have told you a dozen times how much we need one," said Esther pettishly. "These are very pretty lamps--I never can see by a camphene lamp," said her husband. "These lamps are the prettiest of the kind I ever saw." "But, George, I do not think our room is complete without a camphene lamp," said Esther sharply. "They are so fashionable! Why, the Morgans, and Millers, and many others I might mention, all have them; I am sure we ought to." "We ought not to take pattern by other people's expenses, and I don't see any reason in that." The husband moved uneasily in his chair. "We want to live as well as others," said Esther. "We want to live within our means, Esther," exclaimed George. "I am sure we can afford it as well as the Morgans, and Millers, and Thorns; we do not wish to appear mean." George's cheek crimsoned. "Mean! I am not mean!" he cried angrily. "Then we do not wish to appear so," said the wife. "To complete this room, and make it look like other people's we want a piano and camphene lamps." "We want--we want!" muttered the husband, "there's no satisfying woman's wants, do what you may," and he abruptly left the room. How many husbands are in a similar dilemma? How many houses and husbands are rendered uncomfortable by the constant dissatisfaction of a wife with present comforts and present provisions! How many bright prospects for business have ended in bankruptcy and ruin in order to satisfy this secret hankering after fashionable superfluities! Could the real cause of many failures be known, it would be found to result from useless expenditures at home--expenses to answer the demands of fashion and "what will people think?" "My wife has made my fortune," said a gentleman of great possessions, "by her thrift, and prudence, and cheerfulness, when I was just beginning." "And mine has lost my fortune," answered his companion, "by useless extravagance and repining when I was doing well." What a world does this open to the influence which a wife possesses over the future prosperity of her family! Let the wife know her influence, and try to use it wisely and well.