Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1856-03-12
WlNiN At HOME.

1T may bc only fancy at ours, nays Mrs
Kirkland, in one Of her admirable essays, that
! Providence has so decidedly fitted woman fa!
household cares that she is never truly and
heallhiIy happy without them; but If it be q
fancy, it is one which much observation has con-
/ firmed."
w. commend these words t. serious consid.
eralou. The general bad health of females, in
what are called the respectable classes, is y sub.
iect that We have often referred to- for it is ono
that affects not the happiness Of families merely,
i 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 a
great city, enjoys robust health. Mrs. Kirkland,
we suspect, has explained the cause. II is Ger.
tain that women generally, who arc not COMPEL
ed to labor for livelihood directly, neg ect ex.
ercise almost entirely, and hence bring on them
selves dyspepsia, nervous disorders, and other
diseases. To perform house-work is too FIRE.
quentIy 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 bodily exercise except that OF walking
in fine weather, or riding in cushioned carriages,
or dancing at i party. Those, in short, who can
afford servants, cannot bemean themselves, as
they think, by domestic labor. To make up Il
bed is regarded often as exhansting beyond de.
! scription; TO sweep a carpet is viewed as worse
than field work in cane field; while TO scrub
-alas modern feminine language, coplous az
il is, has no words 10 characterize this inhuman
and cruel task. The result is, that all such fine
! ladies' lose what little health they started life
with, becoming feeble in exact proportion as
; they become fashionable.
In this neglect of household cares, American
females stand alone. A German lady, no matter
how lofty her rank, never furgets that domestic
labors condnce to the health of body and mind
alike. An English lady, whether she be gen.
,Ieman's wife or a dukes does not dcspise her
household. and even though she has house.
kceper, dcvotes portion OF hor iu,a to this. he
true, her lappicst sphere. 1t il reserved for our
republican fine ladies TO be more choice than
even their monarchical and aristocratic sisters.
The result il Iassitude of mind often as fatal
TO health as tho neglect Of bodily exercise. The
wife who leaves her household cares 10 her SER
wants pays the penalty which has been affixed to
ideres. since the foundation Of the world, and
either willis away from sheer ennni, or is driven
into all sorts of fashionable fullies 10 find en,-
pIovment 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
sloopipr over crolchet work or embroidery; she
drives about shopping, or visits for the purpose
of gossip, or sleeps till noon to recover from tne
fa,iSucs of the last nights ball; in word, in
one way or another, she Injuries her heal'h most
fatally.
Men find occupation in business, in literature,
ii 4 tn m Iu
ally considered in peril Of soul and body: How
il it that women act so universally AZ u iney
were exempted from the evils OF indoIrnre
Want of occupation rarely leads them into great
vices, and therefore they fancy 1t does not inlnre
them at all. But alas there are small vices into
which too many fine ladies fall such as back
biting, enviousness, and gossppng generally,
which, if they are not as gross as the sins OF oe
men, are bad enough. If household cares were
more generally attended to, We should see but
little Of these evils, and women in good society
would be much happier and much more truly
loyable. This is plain speaking, but the truth
must out. 1t is not the fashionable gad-about,
who lives on false excitement, that wins or re-
tains the love Of man of real worth. "A thou.
sand times dcarer is she who. like The "lte
Wordsworth has immorazed, does not ronsld-
er domestic cares beneath her:
81 saw her, on nearer view,
A spirit, yet woman too;
Her household motions light and Tree,
And steps of Virgin Liberty"
We fear, however, that it will take more than
this or than all the JOURNALS of the nation, to re-
move this cancer of social life. But the press
cun, at least, do something. While so many OF
the evils under which the sex suffers aud other
feminine assemblies, here is one that woman has
brought on herself, and to which We call her
attention.
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