The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1856-03-06
Women at Home.

htted woman for household cares, tha,
she is never truly and healthy happy with.
out them; but if it be fancy, tits one
which much observation has confirmed. -
We commend these words to serious
consideration. The general bad health ol
females in what are called the respectable
classes, is subject that we have often re-
ferred to; tor 1t Is one that effects not the
happiness of families merely, but the veal
OF the whole community, not the present
generation only, but future ones also
Physicians tell US that not one lady in
ten, in great city, enjoys robust health.
Mrs. Kirkland, we suspect, has explained
The cause. 1t is certain that women gen
orally. who are not compelled to labor for
a livelihood directly, neglect exercise al
most entirely, and hence bring on them
selves dyspepsia, nervous disorders, and
other diseases. To perform house work is
too frequently considered degrading
Even where the mother, in obedience to
the traditions of her youth, condescends
occasionally to labor, the daughters are
brought up in perfect idleness, take no
Dodiiy exercise except that of walking in
hne weather or riding in cushioned car
rlages, or dancing at party Those, in
short, who can afford servants. cannot
demean themselves. as they think. by do
mestlc labors. To make up bed is re-
garded often as exhaustIng beyond dis
cf'puon; sweep carpet is viewed as
worse than field work in acane field; while
to scrub-alas! modern feminine lanpuage
tcoplous as tits, has no words to charac-
terize this inhuman and cruel task. The
result IS, that all such fine ladies los.
what little health they started life with.
becoming feeble in exact proporti on as
they become fashionable.
In this neglect of household cares A.
merlcan females stand alone. A German
lady, no matter how lofty her rank, never
for8ets that domestic labors conduce to
The health ot body and mind alike. An
English lady, whether she be a gentle
mans wife or dukes does not despise
''er hou ehoid, and even though she has
hou >ekeeper, devotes portion of her
''me TO thIs'her true, her happiest sphere.
1t is reserved 70, our re publican fine ladies
to be more choice than even their mon
archal and aristocratic sisters. The re
suit is lassitude mind often as fatal to
health as the neglect of bodily exercise
The wife who leaves her household cares
to her servant pays the penalty which has
been affixed to idleness since the founda-
ton of the world, and either willis away
from sheer ennui, or is driven into all
sorts of fashionable folies to find employ
men: for her mind. If she does not lounge
on the sofa, reading novels all day, and
growing paler and more nervous every
year; if she does not weaken her chest.
and injure her eyes by STOPPING over
crotchetwork, or embroidery; she drives
about shopping, or visits for the purpose
OF gossip, or sleeps till noon to recover
from the fatigues of the last nights ball;
in word in one way or another, she in
jures her health most fatally.
Men find occupation in business, in lit
erature, or in a profession; and an idle
man is proverbially considered in peril OF
soul and body. How is it that women
act SO universally as if they were exemp,
ted from the evils Of incidence? Want of
! occupation rarely leads them into great
vice, and therefore they fancy it does not
lnJure them tall. But alas! there are
small vices into which too many fine la
dies fall, such as backbiting, enviousness,
and gossipping generally, which, if they
are not as gross as the sins of idle men.
are bad enough. lfhousehold cares were
more generally attented to, we should see
but little oflhese evils, aud women in good
society would be much happier, and
much more truly lovabe. This is plain
speaking; but the truth must out. 1t is
not the fashionable gad about, who lives
on false excitement, that wins or retains
the love of a man of real worth. A thou
sand times arer is she who. like the wife
Wordsworth has immort lized, does not
consider domestic cares beneath her:
81 saw her, on a nearer view,
spirit yet woman too,
~ Her household motions light and free,
And steps of Virgin liberty
We fear, however that it will take more
than this, or than all the journals of the
nation, to remove this cancer of social
life. Butt Press can, at least, do some
thing, While ST. many of the evils under
which the sex suffers and other f minnie
assemblies, here is one that woman has
brought on herself, and to which we call
her attention. a
EFTh' Woman's Advocate, published
! at st. Louis, says:
! I'VE always liked the Wings, and are
sorry for their downfall Thev wore such