The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-08-29
THOUGHTS POR HUSBANDS.

Vienna Exposition, says "the houses oil
the city are almost all alike, being built
with solid front to the street, and
opening at the rear upon inner courts,
where gardens, the combined property
of the inmates, are highly cultivated.
Families rent rooms in these houses in
suites in the second, third or fourth
stories, and take their meals at restau-
rants, consequently the women do not
fade as they do in America, where the
labors of the household destroy tens of
thousands prematurely every year"
Other travellers tell of the strength and
endurance of the women who, in the
lower ranks, carry hods, dig wells, till
the fields, ETC.; and we all know Of the
superior strength Of foreign servant
girls over that Of Americas daughters,
whose lives are wholly spent indoors.
While high culture detraets from
physical endurance, to a great extent
uniting women from menial labor as
their minds outgrow its commonplace
burdens, they are expected in this
country to be both drudge and lady.
T. w. Higginson says 1--WE quote from
memory, that ''every woman must
have best parlor with hair cloth furni-
ture, and a Photographic book. She is
expected TO sew, mend, iron, wash,
bake, brew, fry, stew, mop, wash dishes,
take care of children, wait upon her
husband, and be lady withal in COM
pany. Her house must be in order
early in the forenoon, and she prepared
to 90 out and pay calls in black silk
dress and silver card case. In addition
to all this, she very often sits up after
midnight doing extra shop work to pay
for little Elias music lessons. All this
every capable American woman will
do or die. She does it and dies, and
then we wonder that her constitution
gives out sooner than that of an Hitter
ate Irishwoman, whose highest ideal is
to supply her young Patricks with ade-
quate potatoes" The great bane of the
American woman is housework. 1t re-
quires more brain, tact and skill to ac-
complish the multitudious tasks above
enumerated during lifetime than has
ever yet been called into requisition by
our National Executive. No Long
Branch summer retreats for her. No
prospects ahead, through adequate
remuneration or increase of pay" for
the laying up of a competence which
shall make her last days-should she
for a wonder, live to find them-inde-
pendent and comfortable, and no GER
tainty that her legal head will not some
day indorse for some speculating chum,
whose failure viii lift the hard-earned
roof from her head-provided it ever
was her husbands or her own, with al
their toll. OF course we are not allud-
ing to the fashionable woman, who
like the Magdaien, is an exception tC
the great army of self-sustaining WON.
ell. There are women, in the highes
and lowest stratas of society, who ar,
practically supported" by men, 'whC
toll not, neither do they spin, yet Solo
mon in all his glory, was not arrayeC
like one of these" Bat these womeI
constitute very small fraction of thl
great whole of feminine humanity, ant
it is much to be regretted that mani
idea of support for woman is con
ceived from this standpoint instead o
the great, practical one of self-sustaininl
wifehood and God-ordained mother
hood. 1t is not for woman's sake alon'
that we so seriously discuss this problem
of over-work among the "man-pro
tected'' laboring masses.
This matter of vitality affects pos
terity. 1t is no uncommon thing t
hear a husband say, 'NIy wife cam
endure half the work her mother did.
don't see why the women and childrel
Of this generation are so worthless"
Listen while we tell you why, goo
sir: Your wife's mother was a household
drudge. She spun, wove, cooked
washed, milked, churned-drawing from
the physical strength that was needle
to nourish your unborn wife, that she Il
her turn might endow her children wit
vigorous bodies, and that puny wife c
yours was born tired. Do you under
stand? Your wife, though accomplish
ing so little i'm comparison to what he
mother did before her, is now over-tax
ing, in her turn, what little there is G
vigor I'm her physical constitution, an
your children are puny, nervous, il
ritable, feverish and alarmingly dis
posed to speedy dissolution. No wonde
your wife is sick. The wonder is "a
greater that she manages, between he
worst attacks, to keep your house a
= well ordered as it is. You had better le
bachelor politicians manage Protectiv
anti-Chinamen Alliances, and hire
stout, willing, able Mongolian or two {
wash, iron, scrub, churn, split stow
wood and draw or pump water, was
dishes, gather garden vegetables, an
: make the preserves, and put down tn
pickles for winter. This will Civ
your wife time to take the air with he
children or to run the sewing machin
without that everlasting back ache
: which you wouldn't endure fiy
r minutes without going to bed, and cal
l ing her to stand over you and bathe III
D afflicted part with camphor. 1t wi
/ give her time to read the NEW NORTE
a WEST, and opportunity to utilize th
s many instructions it contains for pr,
D noting your comfort and her owl