Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-03-20

4 S'(nSulne IeellH8 llaL we SnOuiu soon Ut
us ready in the Latin tongue as the mo
blest old Romau of them all, we translat
ed this simple sentence. Anglicized tc
suit our theme tonight, it might read
- SO much TO do, so little time to do it in.
So much to don Oh! weary wive:
and mothers, bear me witness to the trul
of this. From the cradle to the grave our
life runs on in the ceaseless strain, g.
Hurry, hurry,
Worry, worry.
See how busy that little child is all day
long. Doing nothing to any purpose. only
making:work for weary hands, but busy
busy. Nghtfall finds her still hard at play
and the summons to bed is met with pro
testations and appeals for little Will,
longer Just to build one more block house
to make one more picture, or to finish thi
play. Happy for her if she willingly yield.
to higher authority, so there is no necessl
ty for recourse to the medicine which til,
wise man of old prescribed for rebellion,
children. Happy for us all if we woul,
readily learn life's hard lessons, submit
ting to them rs accepted facts and no
wear ourselves out in frutless struggles
against tHe Inevitable.
A few years later, and the busy studen
is before you. The schoolgirl will tell YOU
that she is hurried all the while; so mucl
studying, so many recitations, those horril
compositions to write, maps to draw, sen
fences to paraphrase, poetry to learn fol-
recitation-oh. such an overworked life II!
II school girl leads! There are grea
many days when she descent find time t,
call on any of the other girls, or even tc
walk out for exercise, and us to writing
letters home, she never cd1 find time, un
less she has TO send for mon"y. She is toe
tired at night to put her hair in crimps
and she has no timo to frlzz it, SO she jus
bangs it in the front and brads it il
the back and lets it 90 SO.
We have passed through AL such gra,Ia-
tions and now find ourselves busy heads OF
families and buster by far than anything
we ever dreamed Of in former years. Oh
else there lies glamour, II golden has
about those earlier times which makes u,
look longingly, regretfully back to them
rs days of unailoyed pleasure and hope OF
freedom from care and OF pure lioht heart.
edness, 81 would were II boy again
sang somebody and he might have easily
made II more foolish wish, thong not a
more impossible one. We take no back
tracks in this world-we do not even stand
still. Willing or unwilling, we march on
through life and according to the manner
in which we bear our burdens will our path
be estimated by those who follow us.
Bat those burdens Look ut the eases OF
the average hous ekeepcr. The house to be
Kept clean and in order from garnet to eel
lar from varied motives of health, comfort
and responsibility, that is, because the
laws of our being have made dirt and dis
ease almost synonymous terms, because
a disorderly home cannot be thoroughly
happy one and because Mrs Grumpy will
make remarks about us unless we keep in
apple pie order. Then there is the fam.
lily cooking, the three meals day TO
be planned, prepared and cleared up af
ter, and TO avoid Giving from hand to
mouth" ard have something ready for
unexpected guests, she will See that the
bread box is never empty, that dough-
nuts and cookies, pies, cakes and ginger
snaps are in ready supply
If she is Il farmers wife, there is the
attended tomore or less hired men to cook
and wash for, spinning to do, poultry to
tend and numerous other cures which only
- farmers wife can appreciate. Perhaps
she makes and weeds the garden, if she is
one of the smart women. Wiseacres de-
claim against the unhealthfulness OF
women staying so much within doors and
advise that they work more in the open
air, but hon we are TO do it when we mus,
work all the while indoors, they neglect
to tell us. The whole family sewing is
under her supervision and be there two OF
ten to provide for every member must be
furnished with suitable clothing for mil
and for meeting" which clothing must be
kept clean and mended and sometimes, fol
economy's sake, be made over, and there
are always buttons to sew on and rips tc
sew up. There is all the bedding, towel
ing and table linen for family use to be
prepared, kept clean and whole and re
plenlshed when necessary. not to mention
making chair Tides and rugs and perhap,
rag carpets. There is the semi-ann,ln
house cleaning. the pet aversion of all eas,
loving men, who pretend to think tha
women go into the business from pure low,
of dabbing in soap suds, while their wive.
are prone to think that if they can endur,
it the man ought to. There is fruit to can
jellcs to make, marmalade, ketchup, picca
lilli, cider apple sauce, sweet pickles. Dom
forget to make new yeast when necessary
look after The sailed cucumbers. pack dow
the surplus eggs occasionally, run the can
dies, keep brine over The sailed meats, fill nj
the vinegar kegs, etc, ETC., ad infinitum
No allowance is made in all this for TIN
extra cares which come more or less to II
all, company and callers out side business
sickness in the family and perhaps through
1t all a baby to tie ones hands.
Have l enumerated enough for on
woman to attend to in one brief vearP Ye
the list might be indefinitely lenprbencd
as many of us well know. There are neye
any convenient days when practic,
housewife may lounge around and fax
her ease, never II time when the work
really done. Oh for one brief hour of Ih
hlisstul feeling with which, when a child
skipped away after doing my stint ~ G
knitting or patchwork, nothing more +
do. blue sky, gentle breezes, sunny earth
bounding life. 1t was easier to run THAI
to walk, then. l begin TO suspect | AN
growing old because now prefer siltin
still TO doing either
{" So little time in which to do it NIL
We fairly grudge the hours we must spel
In sleep it seems such waste of lime
when time is more than money to us. Yo
get so discouraged sometimes in the dali
warfare you wage with dust and dirt, thu
you feel as if you could hardly keep YOU
house in order if you spent your Who'll
time ut it. You steal few minutes t.
look over the last fashion magazine i'm
you feel your own wardrobe to be s.
thoroughly antiquated that nothing shor
OF a months steady stitching would sullic
to make it presentable. At the same tim
you are the last one of the family to b.
sewed for usually, and really, when you
stop to think it over, the whole famil,
wardrobe appears to be giving out yer,
much after the manner of the deacon
one boss shay" which has well nigh be
come classical.