The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1878-03-27
womAR's WORK.

are sorry that our space does not al
low us to give it complete, as all was
too good TO cut out.
"Ars est Tonga; rita est breris, =
.sArt is long; life is short Back we
90 to our early days in Latin gram
mar, when, with a sanguine feeling
that we should soon be rs ready IN the
Latin tongue as the "noblest old ko-
man of them all" we translated this
simple sentence. Anglicized to suit
our theme tonight, it might read (:
$50 much to do, SO little time to do il
in" Look at the cares of the average
housekeeper. The house to be kept
clean and in order from garnet to eel
lar from varied motives of health, COM
fort and responsibility, that is, be-
cause the laws Of our being have made
dirt and disease almost synonymous
terms, because a disorderly home can
not be thoroughly happy one and
because Mrs. Grundy will make re-
marks about us unless we keep in APP
pile pie order. Then there is the fam
ily cooking, the meals a day to be
planned, prepared and cleared up af-
ter, and to avoid Living from hand to
mouth" and have something ready for
unexpected guests, she will see thai
the bread-bOx is never empty, that
doughnuts and cookies, pies, cakes
and ginger snaps are in ready supply.
If she is a farmers wife, there is the
milk and cream, butter and cheese to
be attended to, more or less hired men
to cook and wash for, spinning to do,
poultry to tend and numerous other
cares which only farmers wife can
appreciate. Perhaps she makes and
weeds the garden, if she is one of the
smart women. Wiseacres declaim
against the unhealthfulness Of women
staying so much within doors and adj
wise that they work more in the open
air, but ho,C we are to do it when we
must work all the while indoors, they
neglect to tell us. The whole family
sewing is under her supervision and
be there two or ten to provide for ev-
cry member must be furnished with
suitable clothing ''for mill and meet
ing" which clothing must be kept
clean and mended and sometimes,
for cconomy's sake, be made over, and
there are always buttons to sew on and
rips to sew up. There is all the bed
ding, toweling and table linen for fam
lily use to be prepared, kept clean and
whole and replenished when necessa-
~, not to mention making chair tides
and rugs and perhaps rag carpets.
There is the semi-annual hOuse-clean-
ing, the pet aversion Of all easeloving
men, who pretend to think that wo-
men go into the business from pure
love Of dabbling in soap suds, while
their wives are prone to think that 4
they can endure it the man ought to.
There is fruit to can, jellies to make,
marmalade, ketchup, piccalilli, cider
apple sauce, sweet pickles. Don't
forget to make new yeast when neces-
sary, look after the sailed cucumbers,
pack down the surplus eggs occasion
ally, run the candles, keep brine over
the sailed meats, fill up the vinegar
kegs, etc, ETC., al jntinitum. No al
lowancc is made in all this for the ex-
ira cares which come more or less to
us all, company and alters, out side
business, sickness in the family and
perhaps, through it all baby to tie
ones hands.
Have | enumerated enough for one
woman to attend to in one brief year
Yet the list might be indefinitely
heightened, as many Of us well know
There are never any convenient days
when practical housewife may lounge
around and take her ease, never time
when the work is really done. Oh
for one brief hour of the blissful feel
ing with which, when child, skipped
away after doing my ''stint" Of knit
ting or patchwork, nothing more to do
blue sky, gentle breezes, sunny earth
bounding life. 1t was easier to III!
than to walk, then. l begin to sus
pect | am growing old because l nov
prefer sitting still to doing either.
But perhaps the hardest Of anything
for some Of us to endure is that thi
ceaseless round of work and care leave
us no opportunity for mental cultur
and literary improvement that tn
grand and beautiful ideas which com
unbidden into the hidden chambers o
our brain, must remain there uneX
pressed till their freshness is gone
their beauty departed. Steamed owe
the wash-tub and dish-pan, roaste,
over the ironing table, and rattle,
about in the here-and-there-and-every
where of housework, is it any wonde
that they lose their identity! Whe
at last you find chance to snatch
few moments for jotting down wha
seemed SO bright and fair in it's frs
conception, what is it you write out
Thoughts that breathe" clothed i
words that burn?" No, words, empt
words, as unlike the first sparkle an
glow, as were the cold ashes in tn
stove this morning unlike the CLOWN
bed of Goals you saw there last NIGH
your ideas have simply burned then
selves out. / am sure l speak
some who understand the full meanin
Of this branch Of my subject, but |,
us take heart, Responding sisters. III
comforting old maxim, "no great los
without some small gain" applies eve
here. The world will never kno
what we might have done had we ha
an Opnort1nitv an6 marianne +hax, o;x