The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-04-19
SHE HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING.

She might have been great woman
She might have made a mark in the world,
| but she's been married all her grown life,
| and has six children, and so has never done
anything, poor dear" And my friend went
her way to write an article on political
economy.
| sat and thought of the woman who had
never done anything. l knew all about her.
She had six children-four boys and two
girls, exactly two years apart, One of the
boys was a clergyman, one a surgeon, one a
| rising artist. l had heard those men say,
| that when they We're at school their mother
supervised all their lessons, and that they
always repeated them to her before break
fast every morning.
The artist had told me that she gave him
his first lesson in drawing The author, that
she revised his compositions: suggested SUBJ
jects, and encouraged him to presevere until
| he made his first trembling entrance into
the literary world. The surgeon asserted
| that to her excellent care he owed the steady
nerves without which surgeon, whatever
his capacity, is useless.
Lie gu ID are IclIlcE I)TuutS nor TlrtS.
They respect themselves, and teach men to
respect womanhood. All that it was right
that they should know of life they learned
from their mother. She is their contidante.
1t is impossible that they should ever be
anything but a credit to themselves and
their future husbands One PLAYS marnifi
| Gently; her mother taught her the rudi-
| ments OF music. One recites with great
| feeling; she never had any instructor but
her mother.
Meanwhile, this woman who had never
done anything kept one servant, did all her
own marketing, and all her own sewing
until the girls were old enough to help her.
She cut their dresses and taught them to
make their own in time. She nursed six
babies as nature meant they should he
nursed. Her husband never found Ills home
untidy or his dinner bad. Every one said
that her house was beautifully furnished,
but few knew how much of its adornment
was the work of her own hands-chairs
covered, carpets laid, rugs woven, home
made flower stands filled with the product
of Il few shillings' worth of seeds, which
rivaled the costly production of the fash
able florist
Meanwhile, no sanitarian ever had stricter
laws to bathing, exercise, and proper Ii wing
Health bloomed on every cheek No one
| was ever bilious in that house. Nor were
| there comfortable rooms reserved for the
calls of strangers while the household crowd
ed into small quarters, Home has always
been home in that woman's house, In the
| evenings, and without making any fuss about
she lplnal her In, Shon1 inv, l.,
keeping his books, and there has never been
time when she was too busy to visit sick
friend, or take an interest in the current
topics of the day, on each of which she
holds decided opinions, pinning her faith to
no man. sleeve.
g Never did anything. Poor DEAR
looked after Mrs. Miggs, who could not
make herself a decent cup of tea who has
never had any children, whose husband is a
forlorn little man, with rumpled shirt
bosoms and no collar buttons. Mrs Miggs,
who has lived utterly for herself for all the
many wears of her life aud whose sole ac-
complishment is that of speaking flueHtiy
on momentous subjects of which we under
stand nothing and ! thought. Oh. Mrs.
NIiggs; would that you-yes, and half the
speaker, writers, painters, politicians and
celebrated people generally of this world
had done half so much good in it as this
one quiet woman, of whom you say:
Poor dear She has done nothing"
For what is it to write the host book in
the world in comparison With writing upor
the throbbing hearts maxims of trn.' :;
purity Is not living for" ,,,, Of i hea ath
and beauty, more 0x"" - l"li Vi health
of marblor Isle 'hih any statue
child And should not she whose
-.un have no blemish of mind or body
be prouder than any sculptor Cannot
ones home be as beautiful an {. interior" as
any hung in the gallery Of art? And is not
the economy of the household part of
political economy?
that this woman has done, or to whom
God has not given such a field of labor. Let
them take own speciality thankfully and
do their best but when it is done, the good
wife and mother has done more and let
them not seek to rob her of her need of
praise and honor.