Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Indiana) 1864-1865, 1865-08-17

Tier nu>DdnQ mas CHOSEN HIS HSiu
OF satisiactions and chosen II IN
dependently Of her. She will take
the position OF housekeeper and
IN iey spender, which Mr.. Jones
has assigned to her, and then choose
her field Of sat siactious and solaces
Independently of him. When this
state of things becomes established,
all true family lite is, OF course, at
On end. Husband aud vile enter
tain and maintain separate Interests.
Communion ceases. Ii they are
peaceable persons, they get along
reputably, and with a certain degree
OF comfort. Ii they are quarrel
some persons, they will quarrel.
Many cases are different from
this. There is class of employ
ments which make such great and
persistent drafts on physical strength
such exhaustive demands upon
the nervous forces, that the minds
OF those who are subjected to them
become dull and apathetic. In
these cases, love shares the poverty
oil all the affections. The man
who goes to sleep in church goes
to sleep in the chimney corner.
The man who finds no spirit OF
worship, no love OF God, no deli
cate appreciation of the beauty OF
nature, no JOY Of immortality, no
aspiration, no inspiration within
him, because the life has been work
ell out of bin, can hardly be ex-
pected to have much love for his
wife, or a very delicate appreciation
of her needs and her ministries.
Indeed, he readily learns to speak
of her as "the old woman" She
is so far from being the wife OF
his bosom, that she has become the
wife OF his back. She makes his
bed, cooks his pot luck, darns his
stockings, is his dairymald, house
maid, washerwoman, scullion and
what-not. To say nothing Of the
wives of daylaborers, what is the
condition OF affairs in innumerable
farmers homes scattered over the
land? How many caresSeS, how
manv kind, considerate, loving
words, how many demonstrations oil
warm and devoted affections, how
MANY tender and sympathetic atten-
tons, does the wife of hard work
ing farmer, ten years married, re
ceive in the course of a twelve
month? How much does he strive
to tighten or TO sweeten her bur-
denS? Ii she is a mighty smart
woman" and "does her own work, .
if she can do "more work than any
three men he can hire" he tells it
to his neighbors, perhaps, and,
sometimes, when she is looking at
her hard knuckles, or parting her
thin gray-growing hair, she hears
of his boast, and gets such comfort
out of 1t as she can.
Exactly where relief is to come
from in cases like these, is not
obvious. Hard physical toll is not
likely to cease, nor is it probable
that its natural effect is to be sus-
pended. Nothing but a rational
apprehension of the real difficulty
on the part OF men, and a better
comprehension of the nature OF
woman, would seem adequate to
the work of reform. The farmers
wife learns her lot early, and doubt
less makes the best OF it. Perhaps
her own toll helps her to a sort OF
Indifference, and brings her into har-
mony of feeling with her husband
beyond what would seem possible
to the observer. This is worse,
however, on the whole, than if she
were to retain her susceptibility to
suffering. If woman's sensibiIi-
ties must be spoiled before she can
become comfortable, if that which
made her attractive and lovable as
a maiden must be blotted out OF
the mistress, in order that life may
be tolerable TO her, she is certainly
bound to a sad alternative Of evils.
Hours at Home.