The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-09-25
Why Farmers Wives Go Insane.

of farmers, their wives and families, as
the healthiest and sturdiest inhabitants
of country. that the statement aston
ished me. But l began to open my eyes
and look around, and one of the first
things | saw was a buxom, fresh lass,
full of life and vigor, transformed by
farmhouse work into a tired, nervous,
pale, weak girl, in a few months.
Are farmers wives cheerful? With the
question in mind make an investigation.
Some of them are cheerful. These are
who have farms successfully carried on
by careful husbands, who only. demand
of their wives supervision of the - help"
of which plenty is furnished. I'll,
But 90 through the country, observe
the farm-wife carefully, and you will see
generally tired women-tired women
with careworn faces and mechanical ac-
tions, going about their daily routine of
hard duties.
Is there any connection between this
tiresOme and unvarying drudgery and
the meaningless jabber of an insane
asylum? Perhaps there is closer con-
nection than farmers are aware of. Per-
haps there is prediSpOsing cause of in
sanity in the constant pressure of anxiety
and the vexatiOus care of an unvarying
round of drudge-like duties which hur-
ries farmers wives to the asylum.
Men may sheer at the idea of wOman's
work being so burdensome when they
remember their own labOrious tasks.
But sneering does not bring back the
lost wits of the wives to whom kitchen,
pantry, milk-room, dining-roOm, sug-
gest drudgery. The man has a constant
change of scene with all the excitement
incident thereto. He goes from break
fast to the pillow, the harrow, and the
constantly varying duties of the farm.
He comes in to dinner-if it isn't on the
table at the hour, he grOwls or looks
sour-and to supper prepared for him,
and after supper goes out to the barn or
the neighbours doOryard to smoke a
comfortable pipe and chat with the
neighbor about the crops.
The wife rises to kindle the fire, dress
the children, cook breakfast, wash the
dishes, send the children to school, get
the dinner, wash the dishes-and if
there is moment to spare between din
ner and supper, to spend it in sewing
get supper, wash the dishes, put the
children to bed-and if moment more
offers, to sew, besides taking care of the
morning and evening milk, gathering
eggs, churning and working butter, and
a hundred things that must be done
every day, in exactly the same way and
Order-and then, perhaps, meet the
sour or disappointed looks of the lord
of the manor if any thing is amiss
in all this endless detail of drudgery.
She does not attend any lodge or So
ciety meeting; she visits neighbor but
very seldom, she's so busy" she does
not walk out after tea to meet friend,
to drive away care by social converse;
her duties vex her till bedtime, when,
anxious and careworn, it's long ere she
can sleep, or if she can, the teething
baby or the sick child demands her
care; and she may spend half the night
in quoting it, to be reused from a trOu-
bled sleep all too soon, to get breakfast,
etc, etc.
l have known farmers to sneer at the
idea of indoor work being laborious and
hard, and even be bOOrish enough to
jeer the Woodworking wife for 90 making
a mountain of molehill.' But in point
of exaction and wear upon the body and
mind, the farmers work, though labOri-
Gus, is easily borne by the constant
shifting of the burden and change of
duty and neighborly chit-chat in COM
parison with the wearisome sameness
and petty drudgery of the farmers WIFE
Farm life ought to be the healthiest
and the happiest of all lives-and in the
story-books it is so. The books tell of
arduous, tiresome work interspersed
with recreation. A faithful portraiture
of one years weary routine on the farm
as it actually is in New England or the
Middle States, where the wife does all
the Homework and dairy work and the
man does all the farm work would hard
ly be a profitable book to the publisher.
But where Janet, the maid, does the
dairy work in a scrupulOusly neat dairy
and the housewife superintends all mat
tiers connected with the house; where
there are "harvest homes" and excur-
sions and visiting; where the dull rou-
tine of irksOme duties is broken up and
enlivened by recreation-there is a
charming and attractive picture. And
why should not this charming picture be
a reality?
The farmer who loves his wife and
cares for her welfare sees, with anxiety,
her cheeks losing their freshness and her
spirits their elasticity. He consults the
doctor, who recommends iron or quinine
or some drug; and the tonic seems for
a while to be the very thing needed, but
it soon loses its power and he begins to
think she is going into a decline, and
she feels it.
Happier and better advice than any
prescription of iron or bitters for the
Overtaxed woman would be: " Hitch up
the bay mare to the wagon and take
your wife for drive, not once nor twice,
but often. Make recreation for the tired
woman. Take her with you when you
90 to buy new horse or moving ma
chine. Take her to town. Break up
the monOtOny of her life indoors. Re-
lieve the constant pressure and you will
see the bloom return to her cheeks and
the freshness to her spirits" Endless
monOtOny will wear the fiber of any
mind and cause alteration or else react
on the body and create disease.
Recreation for the farmers wives
would not remove every cause of disease
or insanity; but if farmers would plan
recreation for their wives and families,
they would remove one cause of despOnd-
ency, gloom and sickness from their
houses The would do much to avert
the calamity of alteration of mind and
prostration of bodily vitality. They
would do very much also for their own
happiness and the recommendation of
the farmers life to their sons and daugh-
ters.-NeW York Observer.