The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-11-20
RECREATION FoRTHE MOTHERS.
Amuse ments and Holidays for the Mid

RECREATION FOR THE MOTHERS
AmusemeMts and Holidays for the Mid
- "a dIe-Ageti. x - p.
Now tast tie Tres are beginning t,
burn on library and parlor hearths il
the evenings, and the curtains tol bt
drawn close, and the most devout. lovel
OF nature gives up the stroll in shady
lanes, or the row on the moon III
river, and e9mes ind sors for the winter
it is worth while to consider what is
| to be done indoors. The work is
ready for everybody who chooses to .de
it; but the relaxation, the rest, the
stIuulant, which is to fit US for the
work-what is that to be? For fashion.
| able classes this matter of amusement
is ruled in almost as inhexible grooves
as drudgery for the poor; for men or
young people, too, it adjusts itself
naturally. The father'of g family has
or church meeting, or sat least,
his quiet newspaper, cigar and
slippers, at homez-precisely the drowsy
reaction hs needs after the Friction of
the busy day. The boys and girls have
their concerts, their lecEutes, the thou
sand devices of sssosiables, 'fthe &c atcci-
dentals," etc, by which they contrive
to flock together, to chirp Ike young
birds in May, and, perhaps, to mate
like thetn, But the wives and the
mothers, the great aggregate of women,
no longer. young-What is to be their
tonic? They certainly need tonic.
The American mother cf q family is the
real maid of all work in it, and the
more faithful and Intelligent she is the
more she usually tries to- deserve the
same. She may work with her hands
or not Gin the large majority of cases
she does work with her hands), but il
is she who in any case oversees and
gives life to dozen different interests.
Her. husbands business, the boys edu-
cation, the girls standing in society,
the baby''s teething, the sewing ana
housework for them all, ate all pro-
cesses which she urges on and which
rasp and ffet daily ard hourly on her
brain-a very dull unskilled brain, too
often, but almost always quite willing
to wear itself out for those she loves.
Whether it would be nobler or more
polite in her to shirk this work-htts-
band, babes and hOme-and develop
her latent talents as physician, artist or
saleswOman, is not the question with us
just now. A few women have done
this. In the cities, too, money can re-
move much of the responsibility from
the mistress of household; but the
aggregate of wives and mothers in this
country are domestic women who ask
nothing better of fate than that what
c.t~ &In~ hoo cF
mind shall be drained for their hus-
martyrdom is very good thing-when
it is necessary. For our part, we can
see no necessity for it here. We are
told that the wOmen's wards in the in
sane asylums in New England are filed
with middle-aged wives, mothers driven
there by overwork and anxiety through
the rest of the country the particular
type of the woman of forty is neither
fat nor fair, but q sallow, anxious eyed
creature, with teeth and hair furnished
by the shops, and liver and nerves
which long ago took her work, temper.
and, we had almest said, religion out of
her control. This rapid decay of our
women may be owing partly to climatic
but it is much more due to
the wear and tear of their motherhood,
and axiety to push their children for
ward, added to the incessant petty
rasping of inefficient Domestic service.
A mans work man be heavier, but it
is single, it wears on him on ore side
only he has his hours sacred to bust
ness, to give to his brief, his sermon,
his shop; there is no drain on the rest
of his faculties or time. His wife has
no hour sacred to this or to that he
brings his trouble to her and it is her
duty to comprehend and aid him, while
her brain is devising how to keep her
boy Tom away from the companions
who brought him home drunk last night; !
how to give Jennie another year of
music lessons how to contrive cloak
for the baby out of her old merino the |
burning meat in the kitchen all the |
while "setting her nerves in a quiver."
She has not a power of mind, a skill of
body which her daily life does not draw
upon. Her husband comes and goes o !
his office; the outdoor air, the stir, the |
change of ideas, the passing word for |
this man or that, unconsciously refresh |
and lift him from the cankering care of |
5he work. She has the parlor, the din
the kitchen, to shut her into |
It, day after day, year after year. Wo-
men, without single actual grief in |
he world, grow morbid and ill-tem- |
oered, simply from living indoors, and !
resort to prayer to conquer their cross
1ess, when they only need walk of
couple of miles, or some wholesome |
1t is natural craving
or this necessity-amusem |
tboT0 N tho Zoo roartJno oT1H
ng. circles which men ridicule as absurd |
md tedious.
There is no reason why our women,
Who are notably rational and shrewd in
he conduct of the working part of life,
hOuld cut themselves off thus irration-
lily from the necessary relaxation, or
make it either costly or tedious. Let
very mother of family resolve not to
out off her holidays until old age, but
o take them all along the way, and to
,ring a good share of them into this
winter. Let her give no ball, no mUsi-
al evenings, no hot, perspiring tea-par-
les, but manage to have her table al
Ways prettily served and comfortably
and her welcome ready for
my friend who may come to it; let her
et apart an evening, if possible, when
Ter rooms shall be open to any pleasant
riend who will visit her the refresh
nent to be of the simplest kind and,
Lbove all, if the table chance not to be
yell served, or the friends are not
l. her take the mishap as
est, and meet all difficulties with an
,asy good humor. It is not necessary
o take every bull of trouble by the
lorns; if we welcome and nod to them
IS cheerful acquaintances they will usu-
lily trot on by the other side of the
Dad.
Let her take our prescription for the
winter, and our word for it the spring
will find fresher roses in her cheeks and
ever wrinkles in her husbands fore
ead.-Scr&bner'S SAP
The Story of Few Strikes.
Hon. Albert S. BoIIes, in his just
published " Chapters on Political Econ
my" quotes from Thornton's Labor"
nd Wards "Workmen and Wages"
he figures of the cost of some famous
trikes to the strikers. We reproduce