Richmond palladium., 1849-05-02


I Letter 90 Country Girls.
! TMrs Swisshelm. in a late number Of
the Saturday Nisiter. has the following
letter to country girls. She talks fright
out'' TO them:l
] You know | said that could quilt al.
most as fast as two of you. The reason
is, take care of my hands. One half
of you are too proud TO do this. You
would not be caught putting glove on to
sweep, or hoe. or weed in the garden. be-
cause YOU think i, would look as if you
wanted TO be fine ladies'. If YOU see any
one taking care OF her hands or careful tO
wear sun-bonnet to preserve her COM
pleNion. you say she is ''Proud and stuck
up" But il is you who arc proud-too
proud To think you require any care to
look nice. You have an idea YOU look
well enough at eny rate. So just make
yourself as rough and coarse as ever you
can. by way Of being independent. Your
hand grows as stiff aud hard as il volt
held plow and swung a scythe, aud when
you take needle you can scarcely feel it
in your fingers. This is wrong. There
are many things which women ought to
DO. which require their hands to be soft
and pliablc. and they should be careful to
keep them 50. in order to make them use
full. Every woman who lives in the coun-
try should knit herself pair Of WOODEN
gloves. with long fingers closed at the tops
no mts, to let the fingers get hard
There should be piece Of ribbed worh
at the wrist TO make them stay on.
! When you use your hoe. rake or broom
put on your gloves--when you take hold
+ of skillet. pot or kettle handle, take
cloth to keep your hands from being scar
ed and hardened. When you wasI,
clothes or dishes, do not have water
hot as to feel unpleasant. Many girls
scald their hands until they can put :hcm
into water almost boiling. Such hands
are unfit 10 use a needle or pin. They
are not SO good to hold baby or dress
wound. Take care of your hands. and
do not forget your faces. have seen $"
many country girls who, at sixteen, had
compilations like alabaster, and at twenty
| six their faces would look like runnet
bag that had hung six weeks in the cl,m.
nev corner One reason Of this is, they
do not wear bonnet to protect them
from the sun. Another reason IS.
the habit they have Of baking their
faces before wood fire. have seen
women Stdtu DeIOTc SVeW VOdSt!IIn ire
and cook, until thought their brains
they would get SO used 10 it they would
make no attempt to shield their heads
from the heat. Nay. they would sit down
in the evening and bake their faces by the
hour; and this is one Of the reasons why
American women grow old. wthercd and
wrinkled, fifteen years before their time.
! DE- a. cv,l Ht,o q.
your diet. People in this country live
too well, and eat too much hot bread and
meat Country people usually eat rich
and that is a reason why with all their
fresh AIR. their average age is little great
er than that Of city folks. Thousands Of
beautiful blooming country girls make
old, salowtaced women Of themselves
before they are thirty. by drinking coffee.
smoking tobacco, and eating hot bread.
They shorten their lives by these prac,i-
ces about as much as city ladies with
their fashionable folles. do not know
what you think about il, girls. but think
get old, brown. withcred faces, by eating
; by drinking too much. Very few people
tIlIlk IL UISSFdCc " nave u utIIOOSs scSCI.
but | would Just as leave the doctor would
tell me tina, was drunk as that was
bilious The one would come from drink
ing too much, the other from eating too
much; and where is the difference! All
this is a very serious matter, for it affects
health and life; and the reason why
talk about your complexion in speaking
of it, is, that every body loves to look
,la4 sglo
or not. Now people cannot look we'll un-
less they are well; and no one can be
well very long who does not try 10 take
care of herself The woman who roasts
her head at the fire, disorders her blood.
brings on headaches. Injuries her health.
and makes her face look like q piece Of
leather; when she swallows hot coffee.
hot bread, greasy victuals and strong
pickles, she destroys her stomach, rots
her teeth. shortens her life, and makes her
self too ugly for any use, except soaring
the crows off the corn. J.G.S.