Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1874-11-21
ARE WON EN- DOLLS.

1 10 uSGtCoS W ASSET mat NOtDCB
are wha. they were one hundred
years ago, but is there need that
they should be ? Then, every man
was in some sense a pioneer Then
as much depended her eforts-of-
| ten upon her actual labor-as upon
his. Her hands must minister to
the comforts of her household, -
she must be both mistress and SER
gant. Not only did she prepare
| her dai v bread, but the linen for
the house, and the clothes worn
by every member of the family,
from the crude wool or fax to the
last stitch In them. She was eqal.
~ al home in the diary, the spin
ming AID weaving room, the parlor
the Kitchen, the garden, the iela.
You ask "Where are they ?o
Gone with the times in which
they lived, gone with the need for
them, gone as are the strong, stur-
dy, helpful, brave, whole souled,
honest men to whom they were
helpmeets.
1t may not be too much to say
that it is as surely folly and weak
ness to mourn for the people as for
the things of the past, or indeed,
for the past itse f. The day has
gone by when women can be, at
least here, what our grandmothers
were, and the day is but memo
ry when men required or wished
them 10 be that.
/ am not in favor Of Sinking
any blame which properly attaches
to useless, wasted, purposeless lives
that are burden 10 a husband.
a curse to children, and q disgrace
to woman, but l want to ask who
made them what they are I? Men
know as well as do that it is their
own work, and having done it,
why are they not satisfied?
If women are dolls, repeat who
made them SO, or what are men
doing to make them anything bet
ter ?So long as you show in every
possible way that you give all the
admiration you can spare from
yourself to the vain, pretty, sense
less "doll," rather than to more
quiet, sober, earnest women, why
should they not be dolls, and earn
the premium you offer for folly ?
So long as the belle of the ball
room and the nymph of the pave
are more attractive than the gen.
tie, modest woman who would
blush at a rude stare, why should
not all be attractive?
So long as art is considered fairer
than nature, and woman's beauty
depends upon her toilet, why
should she not make it study p?
So long as she sees the bold, fast
girl fthe period the universal fa-
vorite because she is bold and fast,
why should she not be bold and
| fast too:
/ have any amount of pretty
theories about these things, but
there is no use in talking, for so
far as she knows how, woman will
be the thing she believes you adj
mire and desire.
/ am far from denying or justify
ing fact, but there is nothing truer
under the heavens than that Wo-
men aim at being what they think
men wish them to be, and initiate
what men seem most TO Ii and
admire.
You ask what can be done
this: Help her to be something
better than she is now-take y ur
young wives out of hotels and
boarding houses, let them be the
honored mistress of a neat, plain
cottage home in which they can
| feel pride and interest, and which
will give them occupation for hand
and brains; give up your extrava-
CANT habits, your cigars, cards, bill
lizards, wine, and the numberiess
ways in which your Small change
goes, in ordea that you may pay
for your homes, and then you will
find her a willing. loving, gener-
Gus. patient helpmeet, ready to
sacrifice as much or more than
you, a jewel whose price is above
rubies. BE what your grandfather
was-that was good, onest, and
manly, and she will be what the
women OF her time were Garnet
B, Freeman.
An American, writing from
France, says cheap living in that
country is not to be found, and
those who come there must be pre-
pared to pay fully as much as at
home. Relatively speaking, he
udd- lixxircr l.. oh 90 Nor n fhn