Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-12-03

THE HOUSEHOLD.


IHE HOOSEHOLD.
what owe women" want.
Extract from Essay read at a meeting Of the JEFF
ferson Co. IN. W Pomona Grange, by Mrs. V. @.
sikes.l
Something else we women want We want
TO be appreciated Now laugh as you sup
pose mean we old maids and widows would
be appreciated. My meaning will become
apparent rs proceed. A man wonders that
his wife need ever be tired except ON washing
day thinks it strange that the house need be
in disorder, as there is nothing to do In keep
ing house but Just TO wipe few dishes Man
alive do you not know that a woman, TO be
an efficient housekeeper, must be master of
nine different trades and, though not in con-
slant practice of each, must be ready TO per
form with perfect precision whichever pre-
sents itself, firstly, secondly or thirdly First
she must be cook. Yes, young ladies, do
you know that the surest way into mans
heart is through his stomachY Well it is.
A laundress, of course, is indispensable.
Shirts with buttons on them, and table linen,
besides her own and the children's finery, are
to be attended to. A dairy maid must she be
without fail. A drcssmaker, FOR only Just tho
finest dresses are hired made. tailoress, for
all but the best coat and husband can hardly
see why she can't make that, rs she has a ma
chine and the tailor Just bastes and then sews
'nigger," to whitewash the ceilings and
black the stoves And, oftenest of all, doc
tor, ready to understand symptoms and meet
with sure cure anything less than r broken
neck or scarlet fever. Why, we know one
wife and mother who says she averages max
ing plaster or poulhce every day in the
year. The wife and mother must be q teach
or and governess, and then she must resolve
herself into a knitting machine, for all the
f.a n.uln l.t. "A md
at nightfall when her hands are 30 tired with
the ceaseless doing of little things that she
would fain have them held i'll stronger ones,
she must ply the needles and knit, knit, knit,
while he who does really love her sits silently
reading the paper and fixing a spittoon to help
along hernext mornings duties. Such things,
like straws in the wind, show that "man's
love is Of mans self part It's woman's
whole existence" No wonder some wit
wrote the conundrum "Why is mans
wife like a kernel of wheat Because ho new
er knows her worth till she is put under the
ground" The man who said of his three
wives, blessed be Pitchpatch and blessed be
Kendall, but Satan take Drawup," had Draw
up still uuburied, so that her defects were the
most prominent. Though the grave may be
very kind in burying every error, in covering
every defect, We would rather be appreciated
here, while we can comprehendit. We would
not if we could, avoid
Making beautiful memories
To sweeten our lives In another day
To be remembered in the years
Waiting for us in the far away
And we know
"There's never a day sunny
But a little cloud appears
There's never a life 30 happy
But has its time Of tears;
Yet the sun shines out the brighter
When the tempest clears.
-.pThere's never A rup 80 pleasaut
But has bitter with the sweet,
There's never path 70 rugged
That bears not the print Of feet,
Aud we want helper near us
For the trials we may meet"
We women do not want to be FREQ from
care we do not want to have soft white
hands and unsoled gowns, as if our pleasure
was simply to be billing and cooling to our
husbands and children, while servants do our
work or leave it undoue. You know Josiah
Aliens wife's advice to Betsey Bobbit was to
meet her husband, if she ever succeeded in
catching one, each evening for a week with
one of those sweetest smiles, and the next
week with good warm supper, and see which
| he liked best. That stomach business again,
| you see, girls But, sisters, with all our cares
and loye-labors, there is this one thing we are
ever to remember NO man ever loved
| woman for being his slave He will even
! come to not respect her for the same reason.
| L
| piled, he wants his wife to be his equal--to
walk beside him, US the Creator intended
| when he took the bone for her formation, not
| from mans head, lest she should rule over
him, and not from his feet, lest he trample
| upon her but from his side that she might
be his equal from under his arm, that he
might protect her from near his heart, that
| he might love and cherish her. Though we
often feel that our tasks are more than we can
hat ii
| taxed-let us keep our spirits bright, knowing
that "the brightest scarf that Heaven makes
is thrown over the shoulders of the storm :"
| There are some dark hues even in the ribbon
| of the rainbow we must have in life the blue
as well as the orange. Mingling all the colors
in the right proportion makes the pure white
light.
1t is true we have some Mrs. Caudles and
some Mrs. -, and we do not wonder that
the husbands of such wives backslide but,
with few inventions to teach to settle
family difficulties, to respect each other when
our views are widely different, to teach us
that even if our beliefs collide in serious mat
tiers we need not drift apart there will come
no insurmountable wall Of coldness between
us, of which no visible hand had laid the foun-
dation and none could tell who had builded
it. As general thing, woman inspires love
i'll accordance with her own character, and We
WANT 10 DE worthy 10 ClhlLl buCu appreciation
as Elizabeth Browning requires in her WON
ans Answer to Mans Question :"
Do you know you have asked for the eostlest thinI
Ever made by the Hand above
womans heart and a womaB's life,
And womaus wonderful love.
Do you know you have asked for this priceless thin.
As child might ask for toy?
d Demanding what others have died to win
With the reckless dash u boy.
You have written my lesson Of duty out,
Manlike you have questioned me;
Now stand at the bar Of wuman's soul
Until question thee.
You require that your mutton shall always be hot,
Your socks and your shirts be whole;
require your heart to be true AZ Gods stars,
Aud pure as heaven your soul.
You require q cook for your mutton and beef,
require far greater thing;
seaInstress you're wanting for socks and shirts,
Hook for man and king.
A king for the beautiful realm called home,
And man that the maker God
Shall look upon M He did on the first,
And say, at is very good"
1 am fair and young, but the will fade
From my soft young cheek one day
viii you love me then, mid the falling leaves,
As you did in the bloom of May?
Is your heart an ocean so strong and deep
may launch my all on its tide7
loving woman finds heaven or hell
on the day she is made q bride.
/ require all things that are grand and true,
All things that a man should be;
| II you give this all, would stake my life
To be all you demand Of me.
II you cannot be this, a lAundress and cook
You can hire and little to pay;
But womans heart and a wOman'sfe