Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1852-10-13
INTERESTING TO LADIES.


who is now residing in Maine, draws picture
of the ladies of that State, which is, in all of
its features but one, most pleasing We glance
first at the bright side of the picture. "You go"
says Mrs. Stowe, into plain farmhouse,
where the furniture and all the appurtenances
retain the most primitive simplicity-but be
not surprised if you see Latin, Greek, and Ger
man books lying on the table, You look inqui-
ringly, and are told, perhaps, of a certain Mary
Ann, or Maria, who is keeping school up at Um-
bagog, or some other impossible t-of-the-way
place, whose books these are. She hos long
done using them-she got them when she first
begun; now she has left them for Cynthia, or
Louisa, or some other fair successor in the fam
lily line, who is equally hardy and energetic in
her attacks upon the tree of knowledge. Ten
to one, you get glimpse of said Cynthia, who
proves slender, blue-eyed GIRL trinity dressed,
with pair of very pretty earrings in her ears,
and an air of quiet composure and saroir- -taire,
which shows you that she is a princess of the
blood in her own regions You talk with her,
~ y
keen, as one of the quartz crystals among her
own mountains She has been to the academy
in the neighboring town. She has fancy for
drawing, and may be shows you a crayon head
or landscape, which you did not expect to see
just then-she wishes she could get somewhere
where she could learn more about it--she bas
a cousin who paints in oils-she thinks, perhaps,
after she has taught quarter or two, she will
save money enough to get to Portland and take
lessons Of master. One is struck with the in
tellectual activity Of the Maine women, where
ever he travels among them. A friend of mine
told me the other day that in one of the towns
where he was visiting, in the clergyman's fami-
ly, he was surprised to find the walls decorated
with oil paintings which he thought it quite be-
yond the means Of his friend to have purchased.
f" Where did you get these paintngs!" he asked.
" Oh, these my wife painted them" was the
reply. The same gentleman relates, that at an
other time, when Hospitality entertained in an
obscure settlement, far out in the woods of
Maine, being struck with the domestic talents
and agreeable manners of his hostess, he enter
ed into some conversation with her. Knowing
that he was connected with the collegiate insti-
tuition in Brunswick, she inquired with great in
terest after Il young gentleman there, adding,
as an apology for her inquisitiveness, 81 feel
interested in that young man, for fitted him
for college," My friend, of course, thought she
alluded to some such fitting as knitting his
stockings, making his shirts-and made a re-
mark to that effect. "Oh no." said the lady,
{" ] mean that taught him Greek
and Latin, and so on, and of course / should
wish to hear that he was doing WELL" 1t SEEM
ed to be quite an of course affair to her, MOTH
ing to what she could do. can assure you, by
the by, that these women are yeoman house,
keepers, and that you will never taste the Latin
and Greek in sour bread or bad butter, or see
the drawing and painting looking out of holes
in dresses. The fact is, that sterile soil and
harsh climate, though not good for growing any
thing else, are frst-rate for raising men and 100
men and men and women, in the full, emphatic
sense of the word, are the staple produce of
Maine" So far it is delightful portraiture.
" But" continues Mrs. Stowe, 81 must add to
what | said about the Maine women and girls,
one drawback-one is impressed with it even
in the most mountainous districts-the want of
an appearance of robust health. The young
girls are fair sparkling and ntellectual-looking,
but they are wanting in the physique. They
look like forest fowers-very fair, but as if
breath might wither them. The mind seems
altogether to have got the start of the body. |
The long winters may have something to do
with this. For more than half the year the fe-
male sex in this climate are very much confined
indoors, in stoveheated rooms, generally very
partially ventilated, as rooms in cold weather.
often only in seighs, with fathers or brothers
10 drive them and the sleigh is vechle that
gives no sort of exercise. Can we not see in
his fact the reason for that predisposition to
diseases of the lungs which is constantly the
terror of every parent in New England, and
which seals evory year hundreds of her farcst
FOR the grave? Think of the contrast between
he stovc-heated room, where one is kept al
most at the point of perspiration, and the lungs
constantly inhaling warm air, and the sharp,
keen, cutting air that is breathed without
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