The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-04-11
Gables Department.
Good Reading.

Folks Agricultural Report. Every
farmers wife in North Carolina oaGht
to read it and think about it. / call 1t
good reading for Us all. married or sin
gle.
There are ninety-four counties in Y
State and here are reports from nine
ty of them. Now there are Just about
so many women in North Carolina as
there are men, and they have quite as
much interest in the welfare and gem
eral progress Of the ninety counties as
the men have. 1t is as much their
State as it is the mems. They are not
mere boarders, or dependents; they
are the housekeepers, partners IN thu
firm to whom the Outgoes and incomes
are of as vital importance as to any
others, and are, or ought TO be as o n
trollable by them as by the head OF
the firm. The women may be the 81
lent partners, but their influence and
weight in one way and another, are
Just half. | wish they felt it more.
SOl. Olh > questions ~ AC
turists were not addressed to women,
o are they or their work referred to
in any way. Yet indirectly there IS
not a question of importance among
the twenty-seven, the answers to which
are not very much in the hands OF the
women for / take it to be one of the
great facts of the age that a farmer Is
very much what his wife chooses him
to be. If he is shrewd, honest, indus
trious, thrifty, enterprislng, success
full, half the cred it Is hers. And the
reverse is also true.
What can a man do who has at home
n partner who is ~unambitiOus for him
and his good name, and does nothing
to help him to rise: Who is stingy
and narrow-minded and disc0urageS
every new idea for fear it shall cost
money, throws cold water upon pub
lie spirit, objects to improvements,
decides enterprise: or what can he do
with a wife who spends faster than
he can make, who thinks money
wasted that does not go for pleasure,
and would much prefer fifty dollars
put in a new silk dress than in imprOv-
ing the breed of COWS, or of hogs, or
in some new agricultural implement
On the farm? Or what "a he do with
a wife who is indolent and Will not
carry her end of the log: or who IS
sickly and cannot, who Is nhterate
and scolds him for wasting money on
agricultural papers, magazines and
books, who is ill-tempered and vicious,
slatternly, and with everything at
loose ends about the house, so that the
Door man has no comfort at his own
fireside and goes out to his work of a
morning unrefreshed and respondent,
and careless, and ready to take drink
with the first man who asks him, just
to get rid of his low spirits and
of failure. Will men under such 0 n
ditions feel like reporting "a general
spirit of improvement a good tinan-
cial condition" "a growing interest in
home supplies" new crops" i'm
proved machinery and the likei
l see that in ~forty-one counties far
mers are reported as free from debt
and improving. | take it then that in
~forty-one counties the farmers wives
are awake and doing what they can.
In forty-five counties they are
much depressed, and | fear the wo-
men are not doing their full share-or
are not allowed to do it.
/ wish the men themselves realized
more fully the value and Importance
of woman's aid in their work. They
would select their wives more care
fully and give them oftheir con-
fidence. Gov. Swain used to be fond
of repeating the old saw: He that
would thrive, must ask his wife"
Men ought to marry, not because the
girl dances we'll or has a fine color. or
a bright eye, or a merry laugh. Let
no one suspect me of undertaking.
these things since they are the main
attraction after all, Gin the first place.
always have been, and always Will be.
l give it up. Let the men marry
the bright eyes and sweet smiles, and
fine figures, nobody objects, but for
PHYS sake, my friends, have some
thing more in view. Marry a friend,
a counsellor. Marry a warm AMI gem
erous heart who will be willing to see
in your nature the full completion of
her own, and who has some traits that
you have not, and so may be able to
supplement your failures. Marry a
slender foot and ankle if you will. but
one that treads the straight and nar-
row path firmly; a white little hand if
you like it, but that is not ashamed to
hold the churn-dasher, that can write
a good I'm sinaSS LETTER that q dar,, j.,