The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-02-23
OUTDOOR VS.. INDOOR WORK.
BY MRS. CARRIE F. YOUNG.


To the healthfulness of outdoor work,
whether in the garden or field, we can
bear testimony.
Once in our farm life field hand
grumbled at the hard work and intense
heat. He said we chad cool, easy
place in the kitchen" Myself and the
little children were doing the cooking
and washing dishes for sixteen in the
family.
every well, Frank, suppose we change
work n week."
"All right. Glad of the chance"
''But remember, sir, ten loayes of
bread to mold and bake every morning,
besides ever so much other cooking;
wood to bring; water to pump; tables to
set; Knives and forks and spoons to
seour; dishes to wash; floors to sweep
and scrub; windows to polish; callers to
wait on; chickens to feed; eggs to gather;
ashes to take up; lamps to fill; cows to
milk; churning to do; butter to work;
pans to scald; vegetables to clean; dish
towels and cloths to scald after every
meal; coffee to grind; washing and iron
ing to do; and, with head and back
aching, if you have half an hour to sit
down, there is the basket of socks to
mend, and a pile of shirts waiting for
buttons! 1 tell you, sir housekeeper, it
will not do to neglect socks and buttons
when women (poor fellows y work so
hard in the harvest field! The man
housekeeper who negleets buttons and
socks must not expect to have the love
or respect of his wife or hired hands very
longr'
He laughed at it, and congratulated
himself OH the cool, pleasant kitchen.
From the dinner table we gathered
dishes? No, not much We gayly re-
paired to hay NOW on the north side
of the house, and-the first time in
mouths-had t,oO hours rest (the rule OF
the farm. We dreamily watched the
shadows on the mountains, bathed in
the misty haze of high summer time;
we saw the swoop of the hawk from
high, far-sweeping circles, as he discov-
cred an unguarCied chicken; we watched
the slOw-sailing fish hawk, dropping
like shot, and swiftly rising; bearing
in his talons the struggling fish. o, how
blessed to lie still and listen to the songs
; of the birds i'm the grapery, and the
: black-birds' chatter in the cOrn-field
"The teams are coming! Come, my
daughter :"
: And in loose, neat American costume
-high-topped, easy boots, gauntlet IAN
telOpe skim gloves (every field hand
wore them, and broad-brimmed straw
hats-rake and barley fork in hand,
t0e rode out to the field.
Poor Frank! How we pitied him,
securing knives and washing dishes;
cake to bake; potatoes to prepare for
yeast, and supper to get for ten white
men and six Indians!
One of us raked after the load, and the
other tossed the bearded grain. True,
we did not lift as much as the men, but
we were twice as spry-that made it
even. We raked rs clean and as fast as
any hands in the field. Building the
stack had to be learned, but there was
just as much pleasure in doing it as
there was in scrubbing a fioor-and not
half the liability to take coldl
While the first half of the afternoon
! and the last half of the forenoon were
hot, causing the perspiratiOn to roll off
our faces and arms, we were breathing
! free air-free from the smell of soap-suds
and kitchen odors. Our faces were
a brown, but not scorehed as they had
e been every day for weeks over the hot
/ cooking-stove. Our hands were hard,
\ but not blistered and red and swollen, as
f they often were with doing the weeks
7 ironing.
From the barley field all hands went
5 to the bottom land, to work with sharp
} hoes in the cabbage field. Only three
acres and a half to be put in order Day
o after day we kept our rows even with
e the men. The same was true in the
S onion field and among the Strawberries.
t, Again and again we measured strength
;, in the work of irrigation, with long
'f handled, round shOyels. 1t was not Sc
e exhaustive or taxing to mind, body oil
$ nerves to work all day and half the
;, night by the irrigating bitches as il
g was to do the washing for family of ten
d The men who got three dollars in the
:, harvest field never worked so hard as
d did the woman cooking the dinner in
n the kitchen. We do not mean to say
e that therefore men must work in the
Ie kitchen and women in the field; but We
$ do mean to encourage any woman who
is has piece Of land, and natural love o.
g farm life, TO hold on to it and learn tC
IL cultivate it. If by the labor of her hand:
l. she can produce a bushel of wheat, il
ID will bring in the markets of the worlt
r the same price given for the wheat
y grown by man. Wedo mean to encour
age men who think house-work $50
easy" to change work week or montl
with their wives, and try it
The third day, poor Frank proposes
&c to swap back He believed he haG
" enough of kitchen work. Do not fiatte
y. yourself that we allowed him t,
OF do SOL mol no! we were too wei
9d pleased with our bargain! But we df,
volunteer to provide an extra hand-al
IndianTtO wash and scOur, gather an
r clean vegetables, scrub floors, etc. Afte
e, that Frank managed to keep the table
~ .l.ss Il ~ n