The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1856-12-31
Working Mems Wives.

ders, but it has pertinent and forcible applica-
ton to the condition of things among our
.seIyes-and not only to working mems help
mates, but to other classes:
What sort of wives to working men, what
sort Of mothers to families, are trained anR
produced by our schools?
This, If | am not greatly mistaken, is the
root to which we must trace much of that
bitter harvest Of depravity and brutality Of
which We daily see examples IN our newspa-
pers. ....-.71-.. .-s-
1t is now seven years ago that man of
singular intelligence, and Of the widest and
most intimate acquaintance with the working :
classes, foreman in an establishment in which
he presided over five or six hundred of the
best sort of artisans, uttered words which
struck me as giving the dreariest insight into
the condition and prospects of our working
classes. | was making some enquiry concern
ing wa res and learning how large these were, !
I Iexpressed the hope or rather the expectation
that these men laid by money and were we'll
off. Shocked at hearing that hardly one of
them was worth shilling, inquired the rea-
son-"was it vice. drunkenness? ?''-"No, those
were rare exceptions we could not employ
drunkards in our business. 1t is the manage
nent of the wives The money is mu1dled
away. To say the TRUTH" added he, 'tbere is
mo such thing n0lO as a poor mans rife" What
q sentence to pronounce on the homes of
England The admiration with which one
witnesses the energetic and intelligent labors
OF this noble race Of men is turned to pity
when one thinks that all their wondrous skill
and industry fails to secure to them the nat
ural object and merited reward of mans toll
"a comfortable home and decent provision
for old age. tsq1 .
Anybody who has looked nearly into the
iincomings and outgongs of the working class
es of England, and has had an opportunity of
comparing them with those OF France or
Germany, must be compelled to admit, that,
whatever be their superiority in other re-
speetS, as administrators of the money pro-
vided by the head Of the family, English wo-
men Of the lower class are immeasuraby be-
Hihind their neighbors Here, again. can do
no more than assert, unless I had space for
an expose Of all the details of household of
each country. | can only say that any one
&ho has examined into those details can en-
tertain no doubt that the same sum Of money
goes twice as far in the hands of a French as
in those of an English woman. 1t is mpos-
.sble to conceive the gGspHlage and improvi-
dence which reignS in the lowest English
households. The women buy improyidently
cook improvidently, and dress frhprovidently.
The consequences are, want, debt, disorder
less and irritating, take from him all hope OF
improvement in his condition, all regard for
so useless a partner, and drive him to the ale
house, .s . EsHE. ts~
.. was told the other day by benevolent
.6 and enlightened clergyman, intimately ac-
quanted with the habits and condition Of the
poor around him. that he knew but two good
managers among the laborers' wives in his
neighborhood. 1t is frightful to think how
al-s L.
creasing. And indeed, where are girls tC
learn the principles and arts of house wliery
Not of mothers who possess neither. Not al
schools where they learn to talk about thing,
a. which they cannot understand, and to heal
vaguely of duties which they are never taught
to practice. And when at length they go ou
to service, and might learn from the more
thrifty and careful class above them, the timC
is over. Habits of waste and negligence art
fixed, and the only effect of the attempt t.
correct these is to make them hate their EN-
ployers. Ask any mistress os family how
many maid servants she has had whom sh
10 could conscientously recommend as wives t.
working men. .-t1srsf
.s-.ss Viewed under this aspect, the defects in tn
-. education of girls assume a gravity and i'm
portance which it is impossible to exaggerate
It is clear from the domestic diScordS of whcl
b.. we see only the extreme cases and fiercest re
suits, that the women of the working elias
have, to an afllicting extent lost the respec
and affection of their husbands. And wha
lasting hold has woman of that class on tn
affection and respect of her husband saw
through her qualities as a useful helpmate
The graces and accomplishments which com
in aid of declining youth and beauty in tn
higher classes, have no existence for her.
The whole current Of modern society ap
pears to set in against the formation Of tha
conSummation of womanhood-the housewife
In domestic service, the negligence, profusior
and absence of vigilant supervision on tn
part of employers out Of it, the factory, an
the various ways in which girls are taught t
earn, rather than to distribute, or to sav
money; everywhere, the delusve and corrup
ing cheapness and the preposterouS style
dress, which affords every possible discourag
ment to neat and frugal habits Of conversatiC
and repair. All these influences, and man
more are directly hostile the formation
the domestic virtues and talents in the low
classes. In the higher, luxury, the affectiC
of superiority to domestic employments, ar
the preference of public over private and o
scure duties, which characterize our aye. a
no less fatal to the cultivation OF the home
but venerable accomplishments which dist
guished those ilustrious ladies of form
times, who governed their households wi
''- calm vigilance and intelligent authority T