Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1878-06-06

oned in another, and sometimes the best
friend Of his master" Those who think
al good women belong to past ages, are
like the boy that went 10 mill on horse.
back, carrying grist i'm one end of the bac
and stone in the other When rcproyed
by the miller and told TO divide the grist,
be replied that his father and grandfather
had carried it that way, he wasn't any bet
ter than they, so he should do the same
Similar, or equally absurd. are the reasons
accounted as sufficient by these fault-find-
ers to warrant them in asserting that the
women of the present day have ceased TO
practice many an art of their grandmoth-
ers and this, too, to their own detriment.
'.Ye see our state with theirs compared
y An shudder at the infer;
But cast moments fair regard
What makes the mighty differ
They do not take into consideration the
fact that as times change the people also
change. That without change there can
be no progress. The first characteristic
of life everywhere is change, growth, and
adaptation to modifying circumstances and
events. The great women of our grand
mothers days were the best spinners and
weavers; this best women of our day are
the bold thinkers and doers. The sur
rounding circumstances of our time do
not require the same occupation for wom-
eG as those of our grandmother's days.
Womans sphere is not now limited to
household duties. The opinions and Gus
toms OF society are Changing in regard to
the occupations proper for women. More
employments are open to her, and the
price paid for her labors is increasing
Schools are being founded for her special
benefit, the best colleges in the land are
opening their doors to her, and women
take their place in the ranks among the
most successful lawyers, doctors and lee
turers of the present time. Water and
steam now accomplish what could once
be done only by human strength.
There is less demand for muscle, more de-
mand FOR mind.
There is no doubt that the healthful,
honest increase of physical necessities,
comforts, luxuries and refinements, with
the opportunities they bring for mental
improvement and moral culture, with the
Safeguards they force upon So
cial order and personal rights
there is no doubt these are de-
sirable. Perhaps. if we look into this mat
ter,we shall find that these lost arts, being
lost to us, are rather gain than loss
On examination we shall find that those
who have gone before were thrifty, frugal.
careful in the sense that Martha was and
believed in the maxim that "many little
makes mickle," and "a penny saved is
two pence clear" But theirs was a day
of small things, and the solicitude they
showed for articles ofslittle intrinsic value
show that their possessions were compos-
ell largely Of such. A paper of pins, a
delft bowl, private dish or platter was a
prime necessity not easily replaced, the
want of which we can not duly estimate in
our day of lavish expenditure and cheap
comforts and cOnveniences.
We shall find characteristic love of CAV colors
and delicate fabrics in the varied apparel of our
grandames- Our investigation shows assort-
ment fairly bewildering, and not even in one of
The so-caled ~Saratogas- of belle of the present
day, viii you find its equal. Caps and aprons, in
definite in number, OF finest game linens; hats
bonnets and hoods of beaver, satin and bright col
ored silks and vevets; cloaks of gay-coored silks
or fine purple and black and blue velvets dresses
In endless variety of style and material of bed and
table linen indefinite quantities. and all of the finest
spun linen, and yet, these grandmothers Of ours
were not devoted TO fashion CD II the women of
the present day are puny, fragile. degenerate are
they not the grandchildren of their grandmother
bearing such constitutions as their grandmothers
could transmit? "A sturdy should leave
sturdy race Ii was far moe their duty to give TO
their children vigorous minds, stalwart bodies
healthy nerves, and fine principles, than to spin
and weave all day? We should have got along
Just as well with less linen laid up in lavender and
II our grandmothers could have waited, we would
have woven them more cloth, in one day, than
their hand-ooms would turn ont in Lifetime.
Nothing less costly than human life, goes into the
construction OF human life We should have more
reason To be thankful to our ancestors, il they
would have given up superfuous industries; called
frppa ahof.
more OF their strength and soul dow lesurely in to
build up the strength and soul of the generations
that were to come after them. One would not will
lInsy quarrel with their grandmothers. We have
passed In review their comforts, their elegancies
and Injuries; their patient endurance their thrift.
frugality, simplicity and rectitude have arrested
attention, and extorted our admiration. In all the
qualities which contribute 70 genuine woomanhood
they were rich beyond precedent, all agree in award
ing them praise for heroic qualities. They fought a
good nght-peria the best they could under their
overlook all in their lives, that was defective and
fastcn our eyes only ON that which was noble But
when their fault is distinctly pointed out as our
virtue when their necessity is exalted into our ex-
ample, when their narrowness is held up as our
ambition, must say that II was fault aud need
and narrowness. Indeed, those excellent gentle
women, no doubt, long before this, have seen the
error OF their ways and, II they could find their
voices, would be the first to that they did set
too great store by chests of Sheets and bureaus
blankets, and pillow-cases, ofstockngs, and stocks
OF provisions; and that If il given them 10 live
life over again, they would endeayor rather TO lay
up treasures in the bodies and brains and hearts of
their children, where moth and mildew do not cor
rupt, which time does not dissipate, nor age de-
stroyee aud whereof stand In sOrer need than of
purple or scarlet, or fine linen. While they would,
as we think, readily allow all this we would be
no less magnanimous in our treatment of them.
Looking upon them in the light of history, all the
beauty of their lives shines clearly FORTH Burying
their faults in the grave of the past we would pray
that their virtues be so exemplehed, in eur lives
that our judges shall no longer, be able to number
integrity, purity, sincerity of purpose and heroic
effort among the lost arts of our grandmother.