The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-10-18
The Kind of Man Ny Little Girl Intends
IN Marrv

to Marry.
To The Editor Of the Cincinnati Gazette:
An article appeared in HoIps Journal OF
Health, and is being extensively copied
into other papers, on the subject of
a list of what every girl should know to
make an efficient wife, and ''keep her
husband from the clubhouse, the gam
ing-table, and the wine-cup,n and as l
desire that my little girl should be eff
cient in every station in life in which
she may be placed, called her to me
and read the article. The following
sentences will serve as a specimen of its
excellence: -r---.-e
s'If the wife knows how to keep house,
IL she understands how to set table, If
she has learned how things ought to be
cooked, how beds should be made, how
carpets should be swept, how furniture
should be busted, how clothes should be
repaired, and turned and altered, and
renovated; If she knows how purchases
can be made to the best advantage, and
understands the laying in of provisions,
how to make them go furthest and
longest; if she appreciates the heimportance
of system, order, tidiness, and the quiet
management of children and servants,
then she knows how to make little
heaven of home, how to keep her hus-
band from the clubhouse, the gaming
table, and the wine-cup. Such family
will be trained to social respectability,
to business success, and to efficiency and
usefulness in whatever position may be
allotted to them.
sSTo bake loaf of bread, to purchase
roast, to dust painting, or to cut, and
| fit, and make her own dress, how much
the perfect knowledge of these things
bears upon the thrift, the comfort and
health OF families may be conjectured
| but not calculated by figures. 1t would
be of immeasurable advantage to make
n beginning by attaching a kitchen to
every girls school in the nation, and
have lessons given in the preparation of
all the ordinary articles of food and
drink for the table, and how to purchase
them in the market to the best adj
vantage, with the result of a large saw
ing OF money, an increase of comfort,
and higher health liz every family in the
land"
"Now, my dear" I said, AZ want you
to attend carefully to every little partic-
ular, for these are not things that YOU
may know or may not know, but should
you enter the marriage state they would
be expected Of you. If you did not come
up to this mark your husband would be
universally pitied-'Poor fellow, tied to
such an eXtraVagant wifenn
My little girl turned her head
thoughtfully first to one side and then
to the other.
"Well, my dear?"
al was Just thinking what | ought tC
expect in the man who requires so much
of me. count about eight trades il
what you have read-a long list from
that of cook and waitress, or up-stair:
girl, through seamstressing, dressmak'
ing, trading, etc, TO the higher depart
ments of executive ability and cOnsum
mate government
My darling is, you perceive, quite ;
woman, little girl, in fact, to none bu
me.
"The man / marry" she continued
"shall have been educated in n schoo
with workshop attached in which h
shall have learned enough of locksmith
ing to repair the locks when they ar
out of order; enough of plumbing t
remedy the aggravation of broken pipe
, and flooded floors; of masonry and caI
pentering sufficient to mix mortar an
, mend walls, or cut through a door o
T window; enough of saddlery to fix, o
. even to make, the harness required, an
r of blacksmithing to shoe the horses
enough of cabinet making to set legles
= chairs on their feet again, and repail
, and turn, and alter, and renovat
7 brOken-dOwn sofas, settees, etc. HOY
r much,r she proceeded to quote, with a
eloquent gesture" of her hand, "HoN
= much the perfect knowledge of thes
: things bears upon the thrift, the com
: fort, and the health of families may b
2 conjectured, but not calculated b.
! figures. And if the man / marry fail
, in making n little heaven of home
what can he expect but that / vii
l resort at once to the clubhouse, tn
2 gaming-table, and the wine-cup% i
5 fact, if L am not to hire an experience
: woman, whose business it is to max
dresses, who is i'm practice, and could d
. lin an hour what | would bother over
2 whole day, why, / should like to know
is he to employ tailor to make hi
clothes? Why not make them him
e self?r
'Come, come, ma chere," l laughed
! "a man who would attempt so muc
l would be jack Of all trades, but maste
! of nOne'"
'eThat is Just what most women are
And the few who do succeed in doin
: excellently a variety of things succee
e at the sacrifice of higher good, and take
t as n necessary accompaniment, a
= habitual weariness-mother of man,
! sins. These are the sins that max
2 home anything but little heaven
mo, the man marry will love to
] dearly TO allow him to return after la
1 days labors to the society of a worn-ou
e drudge, fretful, and nervous. And II
= will love me so much that in n plail
= aIDapca without fiounce or bow, than 4
! see me in the most befrilled attire, will
( fingers and patience worn to the las
point of endurance, and ruflie in m.
: temper for each rufiie on my dress.
: "How do you like my chOice?n o.