Sharp County record., 1880-09-16
Farmers Wives.

Col. T. w. Higginson writes to the
Woman'S Journal from the mountains:
Walking by a comfortable farm house
the other day, was attracted by re-
markable fine lily, of a species new to
me, which grew in wooden urn on the
doorstep. On closer inspection Improved
SO beautiful that my companion and
made bold to ring at the door and ask
for further information. We were at
once cordially greeted by a CHEEKY
woman of middle age, who received
with delight our praises Of the lily,
showed us geraneum and fuchsla
which riyaled it in her affections, and
insisted on our going into her old
fashioned parlor, where a magnificent
ivy literally encircled the four sides OF
the room from single root in the cor
ner She had come to us from the wash
tub, but she looked perfectly neat and
was as ready to talk as we to listen.
She had lived all her life in the house
where we saw her; it had been occupied
by three generations of her own family
before her; relics of their old-faShioned
furniture were there, stoutly retained
against the Establishments of furniture
hunters such as ourselves. Especially
curious was quaint old mirror, with
heavy guilt frame, and an odd little
clock at the top. Here our hostess had
been married, here she had borne six
children, several of whom had died; she
had lived for year or two in Boston,
"hub of the universe" but she liked
the old homestead better. She did all
her own work-the children at home
being still young-and she apologized
profusely for the untidy appearance of
a room in which we could nowhere de-
tect speck of dust. In her manners
and language she would have appeared
to advantage anywhere.
She lived, to be sure, near the village;
but am constantly receiving the same
sort of impression from the women
whom one meets at the doors of lonely
houses far up on the mountain side.
Driving a long distance, one day, IN
search of lost Spyglass, was directed
at last up a by-road leading from by
road and ending at length in a solitary
mountain gorge, where there was but
single house. | could not imagine what
had brought settler there, until | noted
a fine "sugar orchard" " of maple trees,
the finest to be seen in that whole re-
gion. On my knocking at the farm
house door it was opened by an old
lady-Iuse the term advisedly-so neat,
80 kind, so agreeable in expression and
manners that a city visitor would have
felt justified in engaging months
board at once, on the. face Of appear.
ances alone. For twenty-five years she
had lived up that lonely glen, going out
of it only to attend meeting" on Sun
day, or to make rare purchases at the
little village store; she did not seem to
have thought of it as distant or solitary
until all of her children had left the
farm to seek their fortune elsewhere;
but now she confessed to a wish to
leave it, not because it was in itself
lonely, but because it was far from
them. Consequently she now hoped
that "he" would buy farm nearer to
other folks.
1t is possible that both these types
may represent something above the
average of farmers wives, in this mount
ain region. But the summer visitor
who in his walks and drives so often
notices this class in passing
through the windows at work or seen at
the door with the little groups of chill
dren, so rarely absent-cannot help
feeling encouraged, and yet sometimes
saddened, by the thought of these pa
tient and silent lives. How much
"home" means to them! How every
thing is concentrated on the home!
There is scarcely distraction or holi-
day in their whole experience; they live
almost wholly on the resources within
their own doors. If peace and love
prevail there, the women's lives, though
iaborious and restricted, are simple,
healthful and protected. If on the other
hand there is any tragedy within those
walls, how infinitely more wearing it
must be than in cities, where there are
at least neighbors and other interests
to relieve the terrible monotony of en-
i