The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1852-07-21
From he Cultiyator for June.
THE. FARMERS NIFE.

yidI fst skg Z rom Inc Culuvhtor 1or June.. VI
pse THE FARMERS NlEE.. 4 %
So much has been said and sung in
praise Of .s farmers life, that, apparent-
ly, no time or space has been spared to
speak Of the.li led by his shelter half."'
Our country is blessed with an abundan,
monthly harvest ofleaves, containing val
uable Information in regard to the culture
Of almost all kinds of fruits and plants,
and the appliances and means best adapt
ed Ito the improvement and growth of the
domestic animals but these 'slords of the
soil" seem siudiously to have forgotten
that their houses as well as their barns
and pastures, contain iipe stock. to which
part Of their attention should be given.
The farmers wite should be an nde-
pendent, healthy, happy, and cultivated
wornan--one on whose culture. both phys
ical and mental. the agriculturalist has be-
slowed at least as much thought as he has
upon that of his swine or his turnips--but
is il sol
When q young farmer arrives at an age
that he wishes 70 choose for himself fit
ting wife, he naturally desires one whose
intellect and taste has been enlarged and
educated to an equal degree with his own,
and generally he prefers one who has eth
er been reared upon farm, or has be
come personally acquainted with rural
pursuits; and his wishes are readily graft
fed, for girls who have been carefully
trained and well educated. are happily. at
this day, far from being rare, or difficult
to find. A genuine love Of good books,
skill, and taste in music, and the arts.
combined with depth and strength ofintel.
lect, are possessed by many of the young
girls who have enjoyed the privilege Of
country birth and residence.
Such person, not unfrequently unites
her fate with that Of farmer, thinking no
doubt, from what she has read in agricul-
tural periodicals, that thus she can more
certainly CRAFTY her taste for horticulture
and the Establishment of her home, and at
the same time fulfil more exhalted des-
tiny than she could expect to, il she was
to become part Of the fashionable circle
ofthe city or village. Yet she is ambitious
T,
who has for years been engaged in house,
hold labor. and therefore assumes the du-
ties of housewife, and maid-of-all work,
and her husband, who has been accustom-
ed to see his neighbors' wives toiling from
morning until night, in the cook or dairy
room, thinks it all fight, with as little re-
Election as the peasant of Europe bestows
upon the coupling his wife and mule to-
gether at the plow or cart; and thus from
mere custom, and want Of thought. he al
lows the woman of his love 10 become his
most devoted slave.
From this time forth, the life ofthe farm
er's wife is one of confinement and unre-
mtting toll. From early dawn until late
at night, it is nothing but mend and botch,
cook and bake, wash and sweep. churn
and make cheese, wait upon her husband
and his band of laborers, bear children
and nurse them. No time for relaxation
or enjoyment, or the improvement Of her
mental or social faculties is found. As the
means of the farmer and his family in
crease, the husband becomes more noticed,
and his circle Of acquaintance and friends
enlarges; he daily meets his associates
and mingles with the world, but his wife
tolls on in the old dull routine, with moth.
ing to break in upon the monotony Of ex-
istence, except perhaps the advent of ano-
ther child, or the death of one TO whom
her heart is bound in the strongest ties.
The husband, it may be, is engaged in
some public business. or drives frequently
to town for market or for pleasure, but
he never thinks Of his martyr wife, and.
the necessity there is in her nature, that
she should share with him his pleasures
and relaxations. Her labors are never
ended, her cares never cease, until pre-
mature old age has come upon her, and
with blanched and bowed form, she sinks
into an early grave, leaving the children
of her love, and the property she had
saved and earned, TO the care of more
youthful successor, who not very seldom
avenges these wrongs by tyrannizing over
the husband and abusing the children.
This is no fancy picture, or delineaiion
of what was in by.gone days, but unfor-
tunafely Inc orlglhai can De louhd IN al
most every neighborhood, and even among
those who are called model farmers
Neither is it confined to the cultivators OF
the soil. All classes and occupations Of
men include too many in their ranks, who
practically scout the idea that their wives
and daughters are human beings. with
souls in some way connected with their
bodies. and that they are "endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienable rights
and privileges" among which are life and
the rights to enjoy the pure air Of heaven,
uncontaminated with the odors of II
ketchen or the steam Of the wash-tub-
that their social and intellectual nature is
an essential part Of them-and that to
live, in the sense of the word, is TO enjoy
and increase. the ability Of enjoying these
higher attributes, by free and varied in
tercourse with the pure and the gifted of
their own and the opposite sex.