Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1870-03-18

1 ~
EDITORS GAZETTE We hav,
long since said that the best wives
In the world are made from farmers
girls. We believe it true. Not but
many mechanics, merchants ant
bankers girls make good wives and
excellent women. But the rule /,
that farmers girls are healthier
fresher, fairer, more useful and sens
IDLE than any other class of young
women. What is a girl good TO,
that has no health, no vigor of body
whose waist is like wasp's, whose
lungs are cramped into half their
proper size, whose spine Is crook ed
and diseased, whose nerves are a.
weak AZ splceny old woman's
whose physical organism is so weak
and unstrung, that every wind gives
her n cold, every change i'm the
weather IN neuralgia attack, every
accident a hysteric fit, aud every
spider that sets foot in her pathway
n frantic terror. What is a girl good
tor that has no useful information
whose hands can serve no useful
turn eau, neither make bread noI
butter. nor clothes, nor wash, MOI
nurse. nor mend. Wives live to
some purpose, or ought to. Their. Is
great mission. They have field
to occupy. They have noble service
to humanity to do. They have to
preside over the interests of the
thousand homes that dot our coun.
try. The dress the comfort, the
taste, tile health, the happiness, the
intelligence, the virtue of our homes
are nota little in their keeping. All
the interests that cluster around the
fireside are con fided TO them.
Not the politicians ut Washington
not the professors i'm our colleges, not
our men If commerce in our seaports
not the bankers in our city, not the
men of our Professions, not even the
ministers of the Gospel, have com
mitted to them srander or holier
charge, or have i'm their keeping, in
terests of greater Importance than
the wives of our country. Our civil
izalion, our virtue, our progress i'm
all shat is great and good depend as
much upon on our wives as any other
class of community.
They should, then, he healthy.
strong and useful. They should
know how to how TO do something
that will be of service to their fami
lies. To cook. TO wash make, ia
mend. to pickle, to preserves, to
cure, to nurse. to instruct, to please,
to bless, to entertain, 10 serve, to en-
courage, to cut, to knit and sew, are
some of the offices devolving upon Il
wife. If she knows not all of these
things she must fail in some of her
duties. If she cannot put hsr own
hands to these services, she cannot
| fulfill her mission. To do these
things she must be well stocked with
common sense and useful infornIa.
ton. To embroider. TO fiuger "a mu-
cal instrument, TO paint, to draw
to read French aud nurse flower pots
and lap dogs, is no part of a wife's
mission. TO go into Mysteries over
the last novel, to weep over a news
paper doggerel, to study the fashion
plate. to feast on the Lady's Book as
though il was solid food, to snuff,
over love stories and be delighted
with coxcomb literature, are accom-
plishmeuts of very questionable
character in a wife. A half grain
of common sense sprinkled into
few hours of useful occupation II
worth more than all of them. AnC
because farmers daughters are freei
from these fOoleries, are sOunder hi
health. and are trained to mole Use
full emplOyments, Is the reason why
as u general rule, they make better
wives. All true accomplishment;
are to he priced; but the rirst and
best and ever to- be esteemed accom-
plishment.is TO he useful. This al
ways makes one agreeable, always
makes one honored. When useful
ness is Joined with intelligence, vlr'
tue and graceful manners, IL consum-
mates the elements of Il good wife.
A. FARMER.