The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1864-03-01
MAKING HOME COMFORTA-
RLE


tu bad 10 keep three men waitin' an hour 70
their grub" ~
"You've got to wait ill the brush is cook
ed With which to cook your dinner" sal,
Aunt Polly, snappishIy. "You know, Jak
. Frink, that you never bad second cord O
wood at your door any time since have livee
with you, and that ia going on seve ,-and. .thir
ty years. All that time green brush has Leer
th, chief article of kudling. One nigh
think your whole farm was brush pastur,
teei o.ally. should liko to have you try cook
ing with green wood little while and Sc.
how you would like it,"
"Wrll, Polly, hurry up, any way," sale
Jake, I" for we are all mighty hungry. and
corn wants hocing BADLY. You see brush j,
economical, apd what | can't sell l can use al
home"
Pretty economy II is, to keep your wife
In stew all the while, and hired men a wait
ing hours every day, because green wood
wont burn. IL s smoke, siss ard fizz'e from
morning to night, and no sooner get blaze
a.ong, than have TO put on more green
wood, and then there is another sputter.
never sec such house ms this is" said Aunt
Folly, with great emphasis. and with face as
red as beet.
Jake is great sinner, although be thinks
he is SO good that he does not need 10 GO to
meeting aud hear Mr.. Spooner preach. He
would try tho temper of much more sanity
woman than aunt Polly, and keep her on the
rack. He might just as well put red pepper
IN her eyes, as TO keap her kitchen always
smoked up with green brush. Ths draft of
the chimney is none Of the bes:, but that
would be remedied with well seasoned wood
ow you see that man don't caro- more for his
wife than dumb animal guess he would
iit sheep out Of tho ditch, especially in
these times when wool is a dollar a pound.
But he keeps bis wife 10 the ditch about all
the while, and never suspects that she is a bit
uncomfortable.
II does seem as il some men took less care
OF their wives than Of the dumb cattle in their
fields. Ii tho rooms in their houses had been
thrown together BY chance. they coull not
have been moro inconvenient. A good ar.
rangement of the rooms saves one half the Ia.
Dor. Sometimes the sleeping room is on the
second floor, and there is many Journey up
and down stairs during the day for The woman
already oveiburtened with care, Sometimes
the 8 ore.room is in the gnret, and other
journeys have to be made daily, for supplies
for the table. Everything she needs for her
work should be upon tho first floor and close
at hand. There is no unnecessary waste of
strength then in filing her place as house
Keeper, cook, dairy maid, lanndress, wife and
m9th'r, Tor many a farmers wife is expected
to I'LL all these offices, and to DO always cheer
iu' and happy, waiting the coming offer liepe
lord, as If she had nothing else to do but be
wife.
The lot of farmers wife, as it generally
runs is rather hard one, and is made hard
very often from the want of attention to little
things. liza man needs twenty cordsof wood
for the year, il costs no more 10 get il in the
winter, in a tirnc Of leisure, and to have il
chopped, split and undcr cover, than to get
it, load at time, and have the torment of
a slow fire all the while. This not only makes
more labo', but it frets and worries, which is
good deal worse than work. Dry wood is one
OF the secrets Of comfortable wife. That ia
what makes Mrs. Bunker so hale end hand !
some past sixty. She wouldn't know how to
keep house without dry wood. I guess she
wouldn't, for she has never had a,y thing
else.
Deacon Smith is good man, and means
well, but he does not know how to use wife.
His well has hard water, that wont wash. and
all the water on washing day has to be brought
from tue brook, more than forty rods from the
house. To be sure he keeps servant, but il
makes world Of work for servant and house.
keeper. lie might have cistern that would
ent cost twenty dollars, and il would save moro
than that value Of labor every year. He has
roofing enough TO keep ii supplied with water
all the while. And tn N the deacon carries on
a large farm, and keeps halfdczan hired
men, and boards and lodges them all in bis
own house. Now what burden this brings
upon woman, when they might be much
better accommodated in small farm houses of |
their own 1t isquite as easy 10 hire a part \
Of the labor needed on the farm from those
as from those who have no homes Of
their own. M
Then guess man has 10 do something 10
himself as we'll as TO bis house, to make every
thing 60 smooth with his wife. She bargain.
ed for man when she got married. I know
Of some farmers who rarely go anywhere but
10 meeting and to market They feel thew
cannot afford the time to dress up and 90 and
see their friends, and dine or tako cup of
tea. They have so slid out of society that
their friends rarely come to see them. Thev
are so hurried with work that they do not
make friends very welcome. They seem 10
have no appreciation of life, but as as cppor.
lunity TO maks money. They prize work for
this end, and time that isn't turned into mon.
ey is lost 10 them. Their muscles not only
become harl, but their hearts grow bard and
unsympathizi' They lose their taste for
reading, il they have ever bad il, and very
soon fal! asleep il they attempt to read or
hear reading. II they are active 10 the field
they arestupil and dull in the house. like
tired animals in their stalls. There is no
mental growth, no development, and manhood
10 their lives. This discovery, l think, makes
y woman more uncomfortable than green wood
and smoky fires. She married a man-a
creature OF intelligence and affectious-and
she has the right to The coppr nionship of a
man while she remains faithful wifc. No
man has right to prostitute himself 10 nero
money getting, no matter how honestly, or 10
turn all the energies of bis being to muscular
pxertion. Manhood is the most precious pro.
duct Of bis farm. and Whatever else suffers.
hat ought to be kept strong and vigorous.