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Farmers' Wives

Farmers' Wives image
Parent Issue
Day
28
Month
July
Year
1871
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Thi; i! i linsj of essays by the ladies is one of the exercises which gire lite and interest to the nieetfhgs of the Springfield, Vt., Farmers1 Club. From ono ot' the essays by Mr?. Daniel Rice, published in the Verinont Farmer , we copy sheföllowing paragraph : Di'l y m cvi!. thiiik of the amount of thought required to plan three moals a day lor 3ü5 days in succession ? ïo i pare enough and not too mach, and ibr thoso living at a distancu trom the village, to remembar that the stock of flour, sugar, tea, etc., is rcpljnished in due time i Do you ever (hink of the multitude of her cares and dutics ? She must rise early to prepare breakfast or overseo it. Perhapsthere arechildren to wash, dross and feed, or to get roady for school with their dinners. Thero is baking, swucping, dusting, raaking beds, lunch for the men, niay be- dinner, supper to bc made ready at the proper timo - the washing, starching folding and ironing of clothes - the care of milk, including the niaking of buttcr and cheese - and the inevitable washing of dishes. In autumn thero is an additional work of pickling, preserving, canning of fruit, drying ot' apples, boiling eider, making apple sauce, with the still more unpleasant task which falls to her lot in butchfring time. Then there is haying, hnrvesting, shcep-shearing, etc, when more help is needed, bringing an iiicrease of her labors. Twice a year comes house cleaning. By the wuy, of all the foes a housekeeper ha3 to contend with, dirt is the greatest. She may gain a complete victory, and think to repose upon her laurelsftorhersemi-annual engagemunts - but it is only temporary, - The enemy soon re! mus, ;tnii even daily skirmishing does nut keep it at b;iy. There is the mending, too. Sewing machines are great blemngft but they can't set in a patch or dam the stockings. I don 't jnention these thingsby way of complaiujng of womaa's lot in general, or asking for her any rights which she does not posgess. I don't know as thero is any reme dy in the present state of the world. It seems to be one of the evils of life which must be borne as we bear other ills - but what I do ask is a duo appreciation of the iinpor ant pait whioh woman act, and a roncession that her labors, mental and physical, are as gre it, nü things considered, as those of the othcr sex. omen are not so childisli that a little sympathy now and then, or acknowledgmont of their efforts and sacrifices makes them j imagine their case worse than it is. I teil you, men aud hi.sbanis, "It doeth good like a medicine," and many a poor, crushed, broken-rdawn wife and mother is dying for want oí it.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus