The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1868-04-21
Wives and Housewives.

o "oAittH question, says the CnIcaSo lfl-
pune, has OF late risen to very great Importance
In the public mlnd Of England and America 1t
besleges our colleges, knocks loudly at the doors
OF our schools OF medicine and theology breaks
u ct d,ne.s into Constitutional Conventions, Con-
gress, and Parliament, and in every walk Of So
eiety gets itself dinned into our ears 1t is we
freely confess, great question, the better half
OF ali the questions possible to be stated-judg-
lnS at least from the noise made about it by GER
tain shrl sisters OF both sexes but scolding apart
the question OF woman, her nature. position, is
one OF the very first on which the sage or the
saint can mediate, one which challenges in every
true man the Wisest reflection and the tenderest
consideration. So
Looking at life as an honest business, rather
than scene Of seli-indulgence, as the mass OF
men must look at it, nothing is more plain than
that work tor young welded couple naturally
divides itself into keeping the shop, or farm, or
whatever may be the means of earning bread IN
the world, and keeping the home. Usually, the
one must take the work outside the house. the
other the inside. 1he two spheres cannot be
mingled; and every dictate of consderate feeling
gives the wife the keeping of the home. Nature
would rebuke an outrage the sending her
rather than her husband to do the bread-winning,
while keeping him at home to do the bread
making.
Ii we follow the man to his store his work
shop, we know that success in bread winning
cannot come unless he takes hold Of the work
himself AS farmer, merchant, artisan, physl-
clan, lawyer, editor, he must do a mans work
himself or go under. If he attempt to hire sub
ordlnates to do the whole, he puts his money up
the spout, and that is the end OF it. Your great
merchant has worked his way from the lowest to
the highest place in his business, and has been
the hardest worked man, for time at least, in
his establishment. If he at length lays eff some
care, it is only when he has built upa house"
which includes trained subordinates. If he fail
TO secure these, he puts his own shoulders to the
wheel every day, early and late. You don't
catch HIM munchlng peanuts in private Office,
on carving Il steanl-englne with his jack-kniie,
or even improving his mind with the last novel
while any body he can hire is in the store and
counting-roon blundering along with his busi-
ness. ii "a man falls heir to great business, and
his ruin is not far off There is no chance for
amateurs in man S sphere 1t is by work alone,
personally done, and we'll done, that the man can
make his way.
Ought We not to expect it to be equally true
that the can never succeed unless she
docs her own work 2" She may have any num-
Der of subordinatcs, and delegate any number Of
duties, but she must put her own hands Iii, and
herself take the first and the largest share OF the
work, If what is law for the man is law also for
her. Mere druid gerry she need not necessarily
do, but every part of house keeping which re-
qulres intelligence she must have done herself,
and must not be at any time incapable Of doing
upon necessity. The daily control and manage
nlent of her servants, aud attention to every
critical operation in the household, she cannot
neglect except at her peril. If she is able to
leave to others all the delicate operations OF the
housekeeping, it is only because she has herself
trained with special care and success those to
whom she thus entrusts her work. Even then
she will be fortunate if she does not find that no
servant can quite fulfil her housewi1ely duties.
That our women, who have houses to keep,
pretend to heed this ineXorable law Of success,
no one nowadays will pretend. As a rule, they
have not learned housekeeping by actual practice,
the young man learns his business, nor do they
attempt to put their own hands to their work
They are, as tar as their first duty is concerned
both ignorant and idle, while their house affairs
get on as they can in the hands Of hirelngs, or
do not get on at ALL and, worst Of all many Of
them take pride in their objectionable ignorance
and ldleness. 1 hey trick themselves out in
lady hood which puts housewitery out of the ques
ton, and indulge the silly fancy that this guise
IS to charm us all our days, while we eat sour
bread and such remnants of beef as the kitchen
tyrants spare. The young husband finds
that the menIas cost than master and mis-
tress, because his wife thinks it beneath her to
be housewife. Instead Of making home for
her husband, the wife makes bower for him,
with an indifferent restaurant attached; and not
only is the comfort CT the scheme dismal. but
the harm of it to the wife is very great. Both
mind and body need the active occupation Of
housekeeping. Dawding is wretchcd for both
body and soul. Lady-like employment with the
needle involves the serious injury of sitting too
much. AS things have been going on for fifty
years, even our choicest classes of women Will
lose stamina until wedlock will mean not
bOudoir aud a restaurant but hospital and
rcstaurant--the latter closed good part of the
time, and husbands extremely well known at the
intelligence Offices.
There is but one remedy for this growing and
even now almost ntolerabe evil. The wife must,
as thoroughly as the man, do her own work.
Every pat of hOusewifery duty she must be
trained in. so that she can intelligently rect
servants, and skillfully train them, and can upon
any necessity secure the success Of her house
keeping by her own hands. The art Of cooking,
and that Of making things tidy and attractive,
should have in the wife, from first t. last, an ac-
tive professor She may delegate any amount OF
labor, but she cannot leave her work wholly to
others, least Of all put it away unworthy OF her.
Coffee, Tea and Sugar.
- - SACKS PRIME RIO COFFEE,