The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-08-26
Work Indoors and Out.

/ that women perform the hardest part of
| it-that their work is more perpleXing
and more annoying, and of longer dura
/ ton than that of men. There are GER
! tain things which must be done daily,
over and over again, no matter whether
they are sick or well, and they must be
/ performed at a given time. Truth to
/ tell, their work is never done, for rs
soon as one meal is finished, prepara-
/ tions must be made for another, and the
same endless routine continues from
morn to eve. The old couplet is very
/ true:
Mans work is from sun to sun,
But woman's work is never done.
At night, when the field work is over,
cows MIXED and hogs fed, the man of
/ the house has respite from his labors,
and can sit on the shady porch and
smoke his pipe, and take his ease, and
as his eyes gaze upon his waving fields
of corn, and wheat ripening for the
sickle, he takes great pride in his sur
roundings, and delights to behold the
/ fruits, of his labor.
But there is little enjoyment of ease
/ for his wife. There are dishes to be
washed in hot weather, milk-pans to be
! scalded, floor to be swept, table to be
/ laid for breakfast, bread to be sponged,
! potatoes to be washed for breakfast,
and the sun has gone to rest long before
the tired housewife sees an end of her
! labors. The children must also receive
much of her time and attention; and
/ perhaps when she is able to seek her
couch, a teething baby will worry all
night, and prevent her from obtaining
the rest she stands in need of so sorely.
/ 1t is no wonder that the farmers
/ daughter often declares that she will
never marry a farmer, for she knows
! too well what life of drudgery her
mother has lived, and how toil-worn
and weary have been her days. Men
have their moving and reaping ma
chimes and horSe-rakes, and all the
other needed implements to tighten
their daily labors; but women have no
patent dish-washers and wipers, nor
/ baking machines which will turn out
loaves of bread and cake and pies ready
! for the oven.
Women are plenty; they outnumber
the men in many States in the Union,
and wives are easily to be obtained. To
be sure, it is rather costly to have sick
ness in the house; death is an ever-to-be-
dreaded guest, and funerals are always
to be avoided; vet women daily break
down from OverwOrk-complete eXhaus-
ton of body and soul-and doctors
purses are filed by their sufferings.
81 can get forty women to marry
me, within fifty miles of this village, a."
said man to me the other day; 'but |
can't find woman anywhere who will
come and help my wife, and she is
breaking down every day" Yes, break
ing down! Can any one look in her
ashy white face, and not read the story,
written there, of hard work, in season
and out Of season? She has four little
girls-the eldest six years, the youngest
three months Her husband keeps six
COWS, and cultivates a farm of a hun
dred acres, employing two hired men to
aid him. Three meals must be cooked
daily for family of seven, not count
mo the baby; four children dressed and
cared for: the milk of six COWS attended
to, and butter made, while the weekly
washing and ironing must be accom-
plished in some way. From O'Clock
/
II at night, one pair of hands and one
pair of feet perform this labor, and now
the tired body rebels and says: 'ThiS
cannot be endured OF course extra
aid is not to be obtained easily in mid
summer, but it might have been pro
cured early in the spring; it doubtless
would have been found had it been
needed to assist in mans work. But
woman's work is quite another thing,
and there are thousands of men who
| have no idea of the amount of labor
women do perform.
! Let me tell YOU Of another case which
| has come under my observation lately,
and which is probably a record that
many of your readers viii recognize as
a sample of their daily lives from April
to November.
The farmer and his wife have three
children, all under eight years. He
/ EMPLOYS two hired men, boarding them,
and Keeps eleven cows. A woman
comes in to do the washing and ironing,
/ but that is all the assistance the wife re-
ceives, excepting the few steps her chill
dren can save her She must rise at /
O'Clock and prepare breakfast, SO that
| her husband and the ''hands' can be
in the moving field by ). Every other
! dav. however, one of the hired men re-
mains to do the churning for her: but
/ this favor was not allowed her until she
/ had threatened to call in the doctor, to
/ declare to her husband her inability to
do such hard work. Then it was re-
luctantly conceded, although two forty
] 4s,.1-, = 1,,4t nl-nH
down each week; for our farmer prideS
himself upon his herd of cOws-pure-
! blood Aldernevs-and sells his butter at
the highest rates, carefully depositing
| its proceeds in the bank, and rarely
| giving his wife so much as a five-dollar
bill of it. His last injunction to the
''hand' as he departs to the field is:
John, come Just as quick as you can.
/ Don't let Mrs. NJ. keep you for any
/ thing else. Hay can 'twait for women's
work. - There are dishes to wash, milk
/ to skim, pans to scald, beds to make,
/ children to dress, baby to nurse, rooms
TO sweep and dinner to cook over the
! boiling hot stove-and one woman to
do it all t.t'.t...
1t is pitiful to think of the broken
/
hard work; how the man, in ignorance
let us hope, abuses his wife, putting
upon her shoulders burdens which his
own could not possibly endure, and yet
expecting her to accomplish them all
without a murmur or complaint, and
wear a smiling face. Is it to be Won
dered at that sometimes the wearied
body reacts upon the brain, and the
poor victim of overwork finds rest in
lunacy2 ~ $685.
Ihave not drawnupOn my imagination
for these histories. They exist in our
midst; samples of which every farming
1 district can furnish. And | write this
article to open the eyes of farmers to
their shortcomings concerning their
wives, and to beg of them to give them
all the aid in their power, and to light
en- their labors in every possible way by
/ letting the ''hands'' help them in many
little things; and if extra aid cannot be
obtained in the house, to put out the
washing and ironing, and to hire wo-
men by the day TO bake and cook when
J Il E9g1-