The Osceola times., 1877-02-03
SOUTHERN HOMES.
tnteiiiscncr, Rene, o,cncc and Industr,
of southern Women Home. la the
south G1preicntious but Pretty.

of southern Women Home. ia the |
south u"pr.isn,ions bu, Pretty.
In reply 70 very hard criticism upon
southern homes and women, a correspond |
ent writes in the New York Times:
One of the dwellers in a southern home
would like to say few words to her
northern neighbors IN reply to the strict |
ures of your correspondent on "South-
ern Homes" She must begin by stating
that circumstances and opportunity have
enabled her 10 see a good deal of the
world-of social life at home, north and
south, and abroad, of social life in its
highest conditions, as well as in its
healthier, happier, middle state. With
northern homes she is intimately ac-
quainted, and has for many years enjoyed
the greater privilege of intimacy in En-
glish homes; in France, Switzerland and
Holland she had like privileges, to a less
extent, to study the habits of the people,
particularly of the women Perhaps
these opportunities may Justify dwelcr
in southern home OF expressing her
opinion of these homes and the women
who make them, the class with which
the Times correspondent seems so well
acquainted.
Planters in ante-bellum times, Git is
useless to speak of plantation homes since
the war, because they have virtually
ceased to exist, had almost always two
homes, necessity as well as luxury, on
account of the general unhealthiness in
summer of that part of the country best
adapted for the growth Of rice and cot
ton. The plantation houses, as a rule,
in Georgia, were large and rambling,
without modern Improvements, and with
no pretensIon TO architectural beauty,
and without fine furniture; there was,
however, good, often elegant, table APP
pointments, and great deal of old-fash-
ioned plate. a large portion was seen in
the north soon after the war; the remain
der saved has been sold piece by piece as
necessity compelled There was also
plenty Of stable room and every facility
fora large hearted hospitality; for in those
days people visited their friends, with
children, servants, and horses; this WAS
the custom of tn country. The summer
homes were always more or less pretty,
withou. pretension, and never without
| flowers, which all southern women love
well enough to cultivate with their own
hands, and who understand it thoroughly,
many sending annually to various
! florists in the north for additions TO
| their greenhouses instead of sending to
| France Tor fine dresses and bsnnets. The
summer homes were rarely carpeted, and
the floors, "dry rubbed daily, were 80
polished as to require care and habit 10
/ al hn
| scrupulously secured; the bed-lincn
washed in pure spring water, of which
there is so great an abundance, smelling
sweet of old fashioned lavender, the "a
vOrite perfume OF the linen press. Now
these lazy, dirty women,h had, with
the care and management of their two
homes, great deal TO do, besides; they
bought, cut and arranged all the cloth
ing for the plantation "hands," taught
their seamstress, trained their cooks--no
easy chance of good cook by offering
| high wages. These careless mothers had
TO teach their daughters before they were
wives, The writer being without these
domestic accomplishments when first
called to manage her own home, having
been educated at the north, was stimu-
lated to competition by tempting deli
cacies sent her in a time Of sickness,
made by the hands of her kind neighbors
and friends. These "lazy, selfish"
southern women are sngularly active
and devoted to the sick and suffering.
Southern h mes, like English, are per-
manent, descending from father to son
| they are loved and lived in or rather
were before the war and poverty wrenct
| ed them away. The love of iow~s Is
universal the writer has triG;" now
| three-score and ten, who, at 40 hour Oh
| the day. is ever seen witl1dt her dainty |
| little hoouet of hei0tUpc, scarlet gera-
Mum. and the like IN the bosom of her
dress glowing o.nid It's deep black, like
the hone % heaven from out her deep
sorrow: snis lady is exceptional, not in
her tsstcs, but the means left her to in
dp{ge them. In short, the dwoller in
southern home for the greater part of
her life can testify by knowledge, by
comparison, to the intelligence, active
beneyolence, and industry of southern
women. Reduced by sudden over
whelming blow from ailluence TO power
ty, they perform the mcnial ollicvs ne
cessary TO the comfort of their families
with cheerful lortitudc which should
command the respect and admiration OF
all generous minds. This is the tcst-
many OF one without pre- udce and with
out favor, who I, els capable o. Judging
and who aro feels impellel to lit up
her voice against the ignorance which |
stigmatlzes southern women as "igno-
rant" lazy" and Selfish" living in
homes OF 'squalor, untidine-s and power
ty." To the last charge, in many, very
many instances, they plead guilty.