Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-07-10
Farmers Wives.

YOUNG WIFE, if you would make home
happy, strive also to make it beautiful.
There is grave mistake made, in this re-
spect, oftener in "the country" than else
where, but quite as censurable as the idle,
frivolous habits so often and so justly re-
proved in our city and village girls of the
present time. / would speak of this other
extreme, which has caused many house
hold in few years time to be governed
solely by spirit of avarice, and love
of gain to the exclusion of all that was
ennobling or elevating to the mind or prin-
ciples. Habits of industry and economy
are very necessary, and a thorough
knowledge of housekeeping should be in
dispensable to every woman. No matter
what position she intends to fill, she should
be capable of managing her own house
hold well and properly at all times.
Many Of our young farmers wives, from
the day of their marriage, devote them
selves so entirely and exclusively to the
all-absorbing idea of housekeeping, that
they soon know very little Of what is
taking place in the world outside the
"kitchen and dairy" No matter how
good an education they may have acquired
in their girlhood, or how many accom-
plishments, they are all alike forgotten in
the thousand and one cares they qoiW take
upon themselves, however competent or
faithful their domestics may be. They
soiW insist upon "baking, brewing, pick
ling and preserving" year in and year out,
until with their physical strength nearly
exhausted they become sour, fretful, faded
women. Aside from being good "house-
keepers" they of course desire to be
good wives and mothers;" and in one
sense they are, for bountiful table is
usually provided by their own hands; but
while in the performance of those duties
the children must be 0ery careful not to
get in their way, neither must they trouble
"mamma" with questions when she is
busy and tired
Now, being farmers wife myself, /
know from experience that it is not neces-
sary for the class spoken of to become
"kitchera maids" and nothing else, unless
they do it purely from choice. A woman
of refined, cultivated tastes, may, if she
will, devote portion of each day, how
ever short, to the enjoyment of these
tastes, no matter how much butter is to
be made or how many cheeses there are to
turn. Farmers, as a general rule, under
stand how to keep the purse pretty well
filled, without any anxiety, or extra exer-
tions on the part of their wives, save what
they may do by careful economy and good
Judgment
So, weary wives and mothers, stop and
rest, and-cOmsider. Stay less in your
kitchens, and devote more of your time to
adjoining and identifying your homes.
Cultivate flowers, if only feao j: and if
you understand music, and have an in
strument, because you are married do not
close it and pile away your music with
the mistaken idea that you will have no
more time to practice. Take time for your
music, and your reading also. Above all,
do not entirely neglect your personal ap-
pearance IN your great eagerness to &C
compllsh just such an amount of labor.
Ii you do, it will be nothing strange if
your husband sometimes compares the un-
tidy woman he sees every morning, noon
and night in his house, to the neat, taste
fully dressed, cheerful girl that always
greeted him in the days of courtship; and
the comparison will surely cost him q
sigh.
Then there are children: they should
never be neglected for anything Besides
being parent and teacher to them, be also
companion, and even sometimes play
mate, thereby gaining their confidence,
and making them understand that they
have your sympathy as well as love.
Combine as much as possible the beautiful
with the useful. Bring all the refining
influence you can into your homes, that
they may make lasting impression on
the tender minds and hearts of your off
spring while yet they are young, and that
your husband may realize at last that there
is something else to live for, some other
"end and aim " in life than merely to "get
rich" Make an effort to fill your homes
more with music, books, pictures, flowers
and cheerfulness, and you will see ere
long that the lessons they teach of purity
and contentment will be felt, all through
your household. Truly, there is vast
amount of labor for " farmers wives and
all others; yet not more than one-third
of it should be done Gin the Kitchen
RaraI Neao Yorker.