The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1849-06-09
1.ErrER ro coLINrRY GIRLs.

LETTER TO COUNTRY GIRLS.
Mrs. Swisshelm, in a late number of the Sat
urday Visiter, has the following letter to coun-
try girls. She talks" right out" TO them:]
You know I said that l could quilt almost
as fast as two Of you. The reason is, l take
care of my hands. One half of you are too
proud to do this. You would not be caught
putting a glove on to sweep or hoe, or weed
in the garden, because you think it would look
as If you wanted to Be fine ladies'. II you see
any one taking care Of her hands or careful
to wear a sun-bonnet to preserve her com
~plexion, you say she is 4" proud and stuck up"
Butt & is you VINO are prOud-tOO proud to think
you require any care to look nice. You have
an idea you look well enough at any rate
So yOuIjustm make yourselves as rough and coarse
as ever you can, by way Of being independent.
Your hands grow as stiff and hard as if you
held a pillow and swung a sCythe, and when you
take a 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 pliable, and
they should be careful to keep them 80, in Or
der to make them useful. Every woman who
lives in the country should knit herself a pair
Of wooden gloves, with long fingers closed at
the tops-no mits, to let the fingers get hard
There should be a piece Of ribbed work 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 a skill
let, pot or kettle handle, take a cloth to keep
your hands from Delng scared and hardened -
When you wash clothes or dishes, do not have
the water so hot as to feel unpleasant. Many
girls scald their hands until they can put them
into water almost boiling. Such hands are
unfit to use needle or a pin. They are net
so good to hold a baby or dress a wound
Take care of your hands, and do not forget
your faces. have seen SO many country girls
who at sixteen had compilations like alabas-
ter, and at twenty six, their faces would look
like a rennet bag that had hung six sweeksiu
the chimney corner. One reason of this is
they don't wear a bonnet to protect them from
the sun. Another reason is, the habit they
have Of baking their faces before q wood fire
Ihave seen wOmenstand before a greatroasting
fire and COOK. until | thought their brains
were asSwell stewcd as the chickens; and they
would get so used to it they would make ne
attempt to shield thoir heads from the heat -
Nay, they would sit down in the evening ant
bake their faces by the hour; and this is on,
Of the reasons why American women grow
old, withered and wrinkled fifteen years befort
their time.
But another, and the greatest reason is you
diet. People in this country live too wei
and eat too much hot bread and meat. Coun
try people usually eat richer food than thos,
who live in the cities, and that is a reason
why, with all their fresh air, their average age
is little greater than that of city folks. Thou
sands ofbeautiful blooming country girls maxi
old, aallOw-faced women Of themselves before
. they are thirty, by drinking coffee, smoking
t tobacco, and eating hot bread. They short
t en- their lives by these practices about as mucl
as the city ladies with their fashionable fol
lies. / do not known what you think abou
q it, girls, but l think it is about as much
2 sin for a woman to get old, brown, and with
cred faces, by eating too much, as it is for mer
to get red noses by drinking too much. Yer
few people think tia disgrace to have a bill
a lious fever; but | would just as lief the doc
: tor would tell me that | was drunk a
that was bilious. The one would come fror
7 drinking too much, the other from eating to,
y much; and where is the difference? All THU
+ sa very serious matter, for it affects healt
and life; and the reason why l talk about you
complexion in speaking of it is, every bod
loves to look we'll whether they will acknowI
, edge it or not. Now people cannot look wei
unless they arc we'll, and no one can be W g
. very long who d, es not try to take care of bel
. self. The woman who roasts her head at tn
fire, disorders her blood, brings on headaches
" Injuries her health. and makes her face loo
: like a piece of leather, when she swallow
J hot coffee, hot bread, greasy ~victuals and stron
: pickles, she destroys her stomach, rots hi
teeth, shOrtens her life, and makes herself to
ugly for any use, except acaring the crows o
the corn. J. G.. S.