The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1862-07-05

| three hundred dollars will be paid on
farms estimated at five or six thousand
dollars and it is fact, that even now,
were this credit system abolished, the
prices of land would be little more than
they were 30 years ago.
The consequence of this is that great
many New Jersey farmers are deeply
burdened with debt. Others, whose
lands have been Inherited, and thus are
clear Of bonds and mortgages, arc nomi.
naily worth a great deal more than they
really are worth, Those only who sell
heir land and enjoy The interest of 8
price, can be said to derive an income
from their property corresponding to its
nominal value. In some places free
hold estate wor h four or five thousand
dollars would be quite fortune, and
relieve its possessor from the necessity
of daily toll. 1t is scarcely necessary
to say that in New Jersey this consum-
ma ion is rarely attained, so far as
females are concerned. Among this
class of farmers women are overworked :;
their husbands do not scruplc to make
them slaves or drudgcs, by placing them
in conditions where such a result is
unavoidable. Day after day, and year
after year, the daily duties of the kitchen
and nursery dcvolves upon the wife the
husband keeps his hired help, but no
help is provided her: she washes, cooks,
cleans, takes care of the children, and
in addition to this carries water, feeds
the hogs, picks up wood, runs af:er the
cows, milks, etc., etc. Some husbands
have generosity enough to admit that
| too much is exactcd of their wives !;
others, however, will assert, if she COM
plains, or asks for help, that there is
nothing to do, and nothing done. One
thing that forcibly strikes ranger is
the Ii tic advantage derived by the wife
from the husbands property, that is
among farmers. The wife of the hus-
bands hired man dresses and fares just
as we'll, and enjoys great deal more
leisure. Neither need woman think
that because she brought her husband
one, two, or even three thousand dollars
she will thereby be released from daily
kitchen drudgery, she will find that JUS
as much will be cxacted from her, in
thai respect, as if she had not been
worth a copper. Let her repnc, if she
likes. Her husband will quick y inform
her that he is mas or, and that she shall
" mind him." etc.
1t would be something to know in
what light Jersey farmers really regard
their wives; though one thing is certain,
it is not as partners in, or sharers of the
property, though perhaps, the wife
originally had more than the husband.
She docs more work than would be
expected of slave in Alabama or Vir-
glnia, without the slaves holiday. She
fills all the Offices of servant, without
the servants wages. The husband only
recognizes her right to board and cheap
clothing, and even the latter she not
unfrequcntly has to supply to herself,
by extra labor of some kind or another,
such as washing for some young man in
the neigborhood, taking sewing from the
shops, or doing anything else that she
can get wages for doing.
And wha. is the result of this system?
The farmers wife at thirty is really older
han she would lie at fifty under other
circumstances. Her countcnancc is
faded and sallow, her hair turning gray,
her teeth gone. Her hands we're nice
once, and they arc still small, but her
finger join are crooked and enlarged by
milking, and her palms are hard as horn
and almost as inscnsible, with sheer
hard work, scrubbing and washing about
he house. BY forty, she is bundle of
aching old bones, wi h only one hope,
that Of seeing her children grown, and
then finding that rest in the grave which
she has no. been permitted to enjoy on
ear h.
When there are daughters, they
divide the labors with lie mother; though
sometimes these wellto-do farmers will
refuse to provide clothing for the daugh-
tiers, in consequence of which they will
have to seek employment wherever they
can find it. You will! see girls of six
years old peeling potatoes, washing
dishes and grinding coffee with a skill
only acquired by practice. At eight or
ten they are expcc ed to wash, scrub and
make beds, besides doing all kinds of
lighter work.
think it may safely be concluded
that negro slavery is not the only kind
of scrvitude, and that the abolii ion of
one will almost certainly inaugurate the
o her.