The Cecil Whig., 1881-01-29

best, may be their first habitation, ant
even when houses are built they art
small, inconvenient, and finished onl,
by degrees. The women's work in then
is perculiarly trying. mo one only
familiar with the comfortable homestead.
OF the East, can form any conception O
what farming is to the Western woman
The fuel is not under cover, the water j.
hard to draw. When the land is bought
and not homesteaded, there are the pay
ments to be met: and until the land i.
clear the farmer feels that nothing mus,
be expended for comforts in the house. >
Debt and poverty rest over these
homes, overwork breaks down the wo
men, who may rebel against the hard
ships of their lives, and seek to change
them by escaping from the bonds Of
matrimony. divorces are frightrull,
common among the farmers of the
West Mrs. Colby tells us. And ever
when the farmers wife sees her husband
gaining in prosperity she finds no lessen.
ing of her arduous labors. They NAV
rather increase. "More stock, more
grain and fruit, more help to the farmer
all these mean more work to the woman
She can seldom procure help, for such
as there is naturally seeks the town. -
Besides taking care of the house and
the children. she must look after the
poultry, and, her husband having nc
time to potter" in the garden, she must
plant. hoe, and gather such vegetables
as she needs for the table. She is cook,
nurse. washmaid. chore boy, gardener,
all in one. She loses regard for her per.
sonal appearance, and perhaps becomes
an untidy drudge, careless of beauty in
herself or her surroundings. Anything
will do at home. or is good enough for
the family. They live, as they tell you,
dogs life of it, but without a thought
that they are in any way responsible for
their wretchedness."
They do not even have the diversion
and excitement of buying their own
clothes. ''AS rule, the husband makes
the purchases, even to procuring his
wife's dresses, while she rarely or never
has control of a dollar. The wife re-
mains child in finance, and if she is
ever intrusted with the shopping, she
does it awkwardly and unwisely." She
may get to town twice year; her
nearest neighbor may be miles away; the
| loneliness of the farm life drives the
daughters to town to work, and leaves
the mother to still greater loneliness at
home. lin which, perhaps, the spirit
chaies until it breaks the bounds of rea-
son."
An early marriage has prevented her
| getting sufficient schooling, and she is
lamentably deficient in intellectual re-
sources. She knows nothing of hygiene
and only a stout constitution can resist
the hard usage to which she subjects her
health with indigestible food and impure
air. What little social intercourse she
has may serve to add to her labors rather
than to relieve them; for when she en-
tertains, she is overcome with the work
of providing profusion of food for her
company, and 1.-The extra fuss necessi-
tates extra stintng afterward."
This is a gloomy picture certainly,
and the life it holds up to us is one de-
void of all those graces and beauties
which make existence tolerable to a per-
son of refinement or of social tastes
And yet, that it truthfully represents
the circumstances of the lives of many
thousand farmers wives there can be 10
question. Their hard lot and the dreary
monotony and coarse toll of their exist
ence are told in their hasgard faces and
dull eyes.
But what is the remedy9 Mrs. Colby
advocates the establishment of agricul-
tural colleges i'll every State, with free
tuition for both men and women, for by
the census of 1870 there We're over TO-
900 women in the United States engaged
in agricultural pursuits, besides five mil
lion farmers wives. She would also
have colleges of domestic economy for
girls, where the proper preparation of
food, care of the health and dwelling.
and household thrift should be taught.
The educated woman will manage more
economically. govern more wisely, and
work more advantageously, besides hav-
ing better time in doing it." She
should also be stimulated to interest her
self in the county agricultural society,
and these societies should become a guild
looking after the welfare of their indi-
vidual members, men and women both.
"The grange might have been such a
guild had it not undertaken to manage
the politics and finances of the nation;
yet even this has been a great educator
to women in districts where it has been
successfully established"
There is no class in the country whose
moral and intellectual improvement needs
more care than these farmers wives, and
none whose social wants are so i'll sup
piled.