The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-07-23

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THE TRIALS or HUssAsDs. i.
1to~ He,p.v. H.skly. ..ss==4
A husband ii the United States POI.
forms : larger portion Of tho purely do.
mestie function than the nsst subordi-
nate Benedict Of any European houas.
hold. If any masler Of the house 10
England o. France should venture "a
usurp some Of those privileges Of the
mistress which are here not snly yield.
ed willingly, bat thrust upon him, be
would be soon sent adrift With ! dish
cloth hanging Is Bis cot tail Il sa&s:,s
Isis not surprising tbat 10 American
wife should have IS much time to. dress,
to gad about shopping and visiting, to
spend the night At balls and parties,
and to doze away the morning and
still complain Of ennui, when her obe-
dent husband does so much of the
work which ought to be done BY her
self. He goes to market and begins
each day with testing the tenderness Of
OF tenderloin, scrutinizing the age Of
fowl, and discussing with a market
man the comparative meaIiness Of mer-
GERS and piukeyes. His next visit is
probably to the grocer, where he has to
.replenish the waning domestic stock Of
teas, coffees and sugar, and be careful
not to forget the pickles, and slice of
eitrcn to garnish the pudding. Again,
hardly . day passes without : call upon
the hardware, erockery and other shops
for there Is sure to be either new
carver to bo bought, some broken do
mestic vessel.t to be replaced, worn ont
butter boat to be re6tted, or . decrepit
tea kettle to be set on its legp again.
His vicarious duties are not yot all
performed. There Is = new girl want
ed, for Bridget has given notice to quit,
because the work Is too hard for her, ~
the mistress leaves al Of the indoor h.
Dor to her domestic drudge, as she does
the outdoor TO her marital one, Who
probably envies his fellow servant the
privilege Of leaving 1t will. The intel
ligence Office Is then to be visited by
the hard worked husband, where out Of
thropg Of half civilized Irish and Ger
man peasant women he is, according to
order, to pick out 4 nice, willing, in
dustrious, capable and respectable scr.
want. With the natural weakness of
masculine human nature, he probably
chooses the best looking, and Of course,
failing to satisfy the mistress Of the
household, who wants no such trollops,
has to renew the attempt again and
again.
, To these almost daily services may
be added the less frequent but periodi-
cal ones Of getting Bobby's and bis
brothers hair cut, fitting the boys at
the tailor's with new suits Of clothes,
aud otherwise keeping them decent.
The waking half the night with
squalling baby, and turning out Of a
warm bed in mid-winter to turn the
key Of the pantry down stairs, or to
run after the doctor = mile away, are,
of course, but the common duties of hu.
manity, and are no doubt 80 willingly
self.&ssumed that they are Cot to be set
down among hbors unjustly imposed
by the wife upon the husband. They
however, should be taken into the e.
innate when calculating his proportion
Of domestic servios.
Alter an enumeration of the labol4
the woman shifts from herself to her
partner, it would be difficult to specify
any work that is left for her to do be.
yond what nature has provided 60 ex-
clusively for her own share, that 1t il
impossible to be done vicariously by
the most willing husband. 1t would be
we'll for our danes to resume those du-
ties now performed by men, but which
evidently belong to their sphere. They
would be executed by them not only
with more grace, but with more effect
iveness. Woman, too, thus fully oceu-
pied with tho details of domestic lite,
would have less reason to feel that en-
UNI which seeks relief in socisl dissipa-
ton. Husbands, also, We cannot but
believe, would rise to more elevated
height in the appreciation Of the wives,
if free from those household cares which
belittlo Is well Is harrass the man, while
they are performed with dignity aud
facility by woman.