Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1875-11-08

OyERwoRKEp wOMEN.

Although American slavery Is ABOLISH
ed. and serfdom IN most despotic coun-
tries is either doomed or dying out there
is a relic Of something. IN some degree
resembling one or the other, still remain |
ing in too many places. 1t would sound
harsh and sweeping-in fact it would be
untrue-to say that all farmers wives
are overworked, for there is diversity in
this, as IN most conditions. But it is
true that large number are and, tho
some Of them know it, and some from
long custom have got habituated to their
daily hardship. the fact of life Of pit
iless drudgery, in too many cases, only
needs examining to be seen. The con-
ditiou Of hardship of which we speak
has been brought about. it would seem,
by a species of unequal, or, to speak sci
entifcally, of ARRESTED" growth.
For it is a curious circumstance that
while almost every year for fifty years
past the prolific genius of invention has
had something TO offer to make the far
mer's life more cary, more productive
and more agreeable, the lot of his wife
remains unchanged. IL is essentially
what it was two generations ago, omit.
ting such exceptions, of course, as we
have already made allowance for. I'm
proved machinery has pretty thoroughly
revolutionized the out door work of the
farm 1t reaps and mows and binds; it
loads and unloads and slows away; it
sows the field and hoes it; it saws wood
and thrashes. There is little in fact.
that is done by hand that is not easier
done because Of invention or Of improv-
ed implements. 1t is not too much to
say that on some large farms where many
hands are employed, the farmer, though
busy-aud, if thrifty, full of care
leads such life as neither his father or
his grandfather ever heard or dreampt
CT. lie puts another man in the harness
Of muscular toll where it is demanded,
but be himself is as a general thing in
the tent He looks over the field he
gives directions and supplies wants, but
he may never know what it is to stand
in the furrow or really turn the swath
Franklin's motto, which tells us that,
He who By the pillow would thrive
Himself must either hold or drive.
is now practically quite reversed. anC
might we'll enough read,
He who Is a farmer WISE
Need do no workout supervise.
"But all this evolution toward an i'm
proved condition-and that it is an i'm
proved condition we cheerfully and Joy
fully admit-has only helped the farmer
1t has hardly touched his wife. Their
Is no royal way as yet to cook, to bake
to sweep or to make beds. You canno
wash the children's faces, or dust tn
rooms, or clean house, or put up tn
years preserves, or patch and mend, q
do any Of the multitudinous minuti;
that constitutes the housekeeper's cul
riculum by any machine that has yet e:
capped the Patent Office. And as I
washing dishes, that is the same pathe
ic, perennial perfunctery nuisance tn;
it was Ii is a business that an
man who should have it to follow for
week only, would call calculated for I'll
promotion of idiocy. If there is an
thankless task-any work utterly stall
sitting and idealess-it is this. IT'S
enervating and monotonous as buildiI
up cob houses in one particular way Of
hour, and then kicking them down Il
next merely to facilitate repetition
the double process, but not half so It'd
If Sisyphus had been relieved from h
overriding stone, and been set to was
ing dishes in its stead for a year,
would have gone back to the old ia
with an alacrity and joy unspeakab
For he, at least, had scenery and atm,
phere of some sort, but the soul. benum
ing dish-water suggests nothing that g
higher than the mechanical round Of
galley-slave. And it is peremptory a
unacceptable so long as people eat.
No broom has been invented yet Il
takes away toll, and every attempt
make one to supersede the simple bro
corn, with its familiar handle, has b,
failure. 1t was thought when era
ehurns came in fashion that someth
had really been gained but after thi
years Of attempted improvement of tn
it remains true that they do not din
ish the labor, and are not so we'll Ii
as the primitive one for achievement
The old dash churn is still the best,
SPlNS VI d scVIe Vi 1ankee mOuelS.
are aware there are some highiy.pra
washing machines, but they come
from making the Mondays work of m
essential difference, and they are
quently not procured. by reason of
pense, where the farm itself is not al
ed to suffer for the lack of any new
desirable implement, no matter ,
may be the cost We do not wish t
understood as disparaging them we
merely trying to say that they ca
accomplish impossibilities.
To sum up what we have but
more than cursOrily glanced at