The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-05-17

HouSeWorK gentleman writes me as
follows: 81 suppose YOU have not Wis
4 tied the ''Oil Regions" or at least Won
have not lived out in the new fields''
and the woods, where it is a very com
mon thing for men to do their own
housework. Many of the men are
single, OF course, but many married
men leave their families in towns, while
they are temporarily at work at the
wells. Some men quite excel as house
keepers, and do not neglect their out
side work either. | have one man in
mind who has lived in the woo,ls here
for ten or twelve years-his wife and
children stay with him through the
summer-and he has become very ex-
pert IN cooking, not only plain dishes,
but fancy dishes. He makes very fine
butter, jellies, jams, ices, "creams'-
cooks all kinds OF meats to perfection,
does his washing with q jamestown
washer, which is simply perfect as a
washing machine, does his work on the
wells or on his farm, and stands as high
IN the community as any one. This is
only one case. have no sympathy for
man who is so absolutely stupid about
a house that he cannot even oct himself
something to east if required"
| How the feeling, or opinion among
certain classes that there is something
unmanly in man knowing how to do
the work usually performed by women,
!!s-not at all understandable, and it
4 EEs2Syss1yE-ss a comfort to men who 40 know
how to cook and to sew button on q
shirt well, that it is fashionable among
noblemen in Europe to know how to
prepare certain fine dishes very skill
fully During my residence in Paris
several years ago, | was invited regu-
larly once week to dine with Greek
lady OF distinction, and the occasion
was rare when some one of her gentle
men guests did not 90 into her kitchen
| and prepare adish for the dinner. In
this country there are number of
CLUBS, or societies, formed only of
men OF aristocratic position and connec-
| lions, that give one or two dinners a
year. when the entire bill of fare is pre-
pared by the members.
But 1t is not a matter of fashion that
urge the domestic education of bows,
but as matter of utility. A mother
who allows her boys to grow up igno-
rant of wholesome cookery and the fine
arts of sewing, fails in her duty. Henry
Ward Beecher's mother taught him, at
az early age, to sew; and for lads full
of activity, who cannot be kept quiet,
sewing is an excellent pastime or disci-
pine. If boys sewed more and romped
less, and girls sewed less and romped
| more, the gain would be mutual Then.
too, if every member of the family
knows how to prepare a meal, the re-
lief to the mother or wife is almost i'm
measurable. Only think of u woman
cooking every meal she eats in her own
house, her whole life long! However
much husbands and sons may relish
smother s cookery, the mother her
self does not, and that much of the
time she has no appetite for breakfast
and little for dinner is the natural out
tcome of her incessant cooking. She
Requires the change in food that another
hcook would give to it, and unless she
goes often from home and so insures
this change, the men of her family
should volunteer to relieve her at home.
Likeness is not rest necessarily, but the
'beSt rest comes, as rule, from a change
bf occupation. Would the world cease
ito roll around | wonder, if the men
| who loaf and map" on Sundays, should
1 get ready the Sunday dinner? Would
the day Of rest be less day of rest or
interest, if the boys of the family regu-
larly prepared the dinner and washed
the dishes? Would it not give zest to
the day, and flavor the whole week
with new interest? At ali events, it
would undoubtedly, at the outset at
least, furnish much innocent merri-
ment, and it ought to lead to very
wholesome result.
am not advocating homework for
boys on the ground that men have less
10 do than women, for it sometimes
happens that they have more to do; bat
solely on the ground Ofutility,as have
already said. | am sure that am not
the only woman who would rather har-
ness a horse, clean a carriage, or milk
the cows occasionally than not to be
relieved at times of the everlasting get
ting something to eat! Neither is it q
respectable state of affairs when a wo-
man is i'll, that she should be obliged to
90 about for the sole purpose of doing
what the man, or men, of the house
ought to be able to do without difficulty.
The time has gone by, whether happily
Or unhappily, when sex determined oc
cupation. Men are milliners and cooks,
and women are doctors, lawyers. preach
ers, telegraphers and even farmers.
Emerson says our highest duty is that
which lies nearest to us, and the man
or woman who withholds his or her
hands from q needed task, because of
scruples in regard to the performance
of it from q propriety standpoint, is
simply coward. We are womanly,
or manly, from nature or training and
not from what we do. Although cook
cry is one Of the most important, if not
the most important of vocations, it is
slavish, intolerable existence, if it has
no relief; "world without end" as Mrs.
Carlyle used to say Mary WAGER Fish
er, IN RUr05 Ne1O Yorker.
LabOring Under HalluciatiOn.