Worcester daily spy., 1859-04-28
THE QUALIFIED HOUsEWIFE,

Many parents expect their daughters to
marry, and thus be provided for the daugh-
ters themselves expect it. But it may be well
for both parent and child to consider the chanc-
es against the provision Marriage may come,
and life Of pecuniary adversely, or a widow.
hood of penury may follow or marriage may
not come at all. As civilization (so called)
goes on, multiplying wants, and converting
luxuries into necessities, the number Of single
women teartully increases, and is in greatest
proportion where there is most refinement,
whereby women are least qualified to take care
of themselves.
In the simple lives of our ancestors, men
were not deferred from marriage by the diff
Guilty of meeting the expenses of their fami-
lies. Their wives were helpmates If they
could not earn bread they could make it. If
they did not comprehend the rights of wo-
men, they practced her duties If they did
not study political economy and algebra they
know the calculation by which "the penny
saved is the penny gained" Instead of wait
ing to be served by costly and wasteful Miles
ians, they 'they looked well to the ways of
their household, and ate not the bread Of idle
ness" The Puritan wife did not ask her hus-
band to be decked in French gaude, but was
truly
"The gentle wife who decks his board,
And makes the day to have no night.n
In giving the reasons that restrain men
from marrying at the present day, and there
by diminish the chances Of this absolute pro-
vision for women, we beg not to be misunder-
stood. We would not restrict women to the
humble offices of maternal existence. The
best instructed and most thoroughly accom-
plshed women we have ever known, have best
understood and practced the saving arts Of do
mestic life.
If parents, from pride, or prejudice, or hon
est judgment, refuse to provide their daugb-
tiers with profession or trade, by which their
independence may be secured if they persist
in throwing them on one chance if daughters
themselves persevere in trusting to this meek
or-nothing" fate, then let them be qualified in
that act and craftin which their grandmothers,
and which is now, more than at any preceding
time the necessary and bounden duty of eve
ry American wife, whatever be her condition
Never by women in any civilization was
this art so needed, for never, we believe were
there such distractions to prosperity and COM
fort as exist in our domestic service. And
how are the young women Of the luxurious
classes prepared to meet them How are the
women Of the middle classes fitted to overcome
them And how are the poorer class trained
to rejoice in their exemption from them?
If a parent look forward to provision by
marriage for his daughter, he should, at least,
QudllIy ner IOr tlal COHulllOI, anu De dSHdInCu
to give her to her husband unless she is able
to manage her house, to educate her children,
to nurse her sick, and to train her servants
the inevitable destiny of American housewives.
If she can do all this well, she is a productive
partner, and, as Madame Bodichou says, does
as much for the support of her household as
her husband
1t may or may not be the duty of mother
to educate her children in the technical sense,
But if her husband is straining every nerve to
support his family, it would be both relief and
help if she could save him the immense eX-
pense of our first-rate schools, or the cost of a
governess. If she be skilled in the art of
nursing, she may stave off the fearful bill of a
physician.
If she know the cost and necessary con-
sumption of provision, the keeping of ac-
counts, and, in short, the whole art and mys-
terry of domestic economy, she will not only
preserve her husband from an immense
amount of harrassing care, but secure to him
the safety blessing, and honor Of living within
his means.
If she be a qualified housewife, the great
burden, perplexity, and misery of housekeep-
ing from the rising to the setting sun, from our
Canadian frontier to far South of Mason and
Dixon's line, will be--we will not say over
come, but most certainly greatly diminished
Catherine W. .SedqtOick