Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-11-13
HOLIDAYS FOR MIDDLE AGE.

Now that the fires are beginning to
burn on library and parlor hearths in the
evenings, and the curtain to be drawn
close, and the most devout lover of ma
ture gives up the stroll in shady lanes,
or the row on the moonlit river, and
com ss in doors Gor the winter, it is worth
while to consider what is to be done in
doors. The work is ready for everybody
who chooses to do it; but the relaxation,
the rest, the stimulant, which is to fit us
| for the work-what is that to be? For
fashionable classes, this matter OF
amusement is ruled in almost as inhexi-
! BILE grooves as drudgery for the poor; for
men or young people, too, it adjusts itself
naturally. The father OF family has
his clubs, his share in the political or
church meeting, or, at least, his quiet
newspaper, cigar and slippers at home
precisely the drowsy reaction he needs
after the friction of the busy day. The
boys and girls have their concerts, their
| lectures, the thousand devices of socia'
blss," aocidentals, etc, by which they
contrive to flock together, to chirp like
Young birds in May, and, perhaps, to
mate like them. But the wives and
mothers, the great aggregate of women,
no longer young--what is to be the
tonic2 They certainly need a tonic.
The American mother of family is the
real maid of all work in it, and the more
faithful aud intelligent she is, the more
she usually tries to deserve the name.
She may work with her hands or not lin
the large majority of cases she does work
with her hands,, but it is she who, in any
case, oversees and gives life to dozen
different interests, Her husband
business, the boys education, the girls
standing in society, the baDys teething,
the sewing and housework for them all,
are all processes which she urges on and
which rasp and fret daily and hourly on
her brain-a very dull unskilled brain
200 often, but almost always quite Will
inc 10 wear itself out for those she loves.
Whether it would be nobler or more pol
tito in her to shirk this woFk-husband,
babies. and house-and develop her
latent talents, as physician, artist or
saleswoman, is not the question with US
inst now. A few women have done this.
In the cities, too, money can remove
much of the responsibility from the mis-
tress of a household; but the great ag-
gregate of wives and mothers in this
country are domestic women, who ask
nothing better of fate than that whatever
/ strength they have of body and mind
shall be drained for their husbands and
children. Nov, this spirit of martyr
dom is a very good thing-vhen it ls ne
cessary. For our part, we can see no
necessity for it here. We are told that
the women's wards in the insane asy-
lums, in New England, are filled with
middle-sged wives, mothers driven there
by over-work and anxiety, through the
rest of the country the popular type ol
the woman of forty is neither fat nor
fair. but a sallow, anxieus-eyed creature,
With teeth and hair furnished by the
shops, and liver and nerves which long
ago took her work, temper and, we had
almost said, religion out Of her control.
This rapid decay Of our women may be
owing partly to climatic influence, but il
il mneh more due to the wear and tear
Of their motherhood and anxiety to push
their children forward, added to the in
cessant petty rasping OF inefficient do
nestle service.
A mans work may be heavier, but is
single, it wears on him on one side only.
He has his hours sacred TO business to
give to his brief, his sermon, hls shop
there is no drain on the rest Of his tecul'
ties 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 com
prehend and aid him, while her brain Is
devising hov 10 keep her boy Tom away
from the companions who brought him
home drunk last night; how 70 give Jenny
another year of music lessons; how C
centrive a cloak for the baby out of hel
old merino; the burning meat in tho
kitchen all the while setting her nerve:
in a culver" She has not a power o
mind, a skill of body which Der daily
life does not draw upon. Her husband
comes and goes to MS Office; the out
door air, the stir, the change Of ideas