The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1884-06-12
Men and Housewcrk.

| Apropos of my paper en- s.Boys and
Homework gentleman writes me as
| follows: 81 suppose you have not Wis
tied the 'sOil Regions or at least you
have not lived out in the ''new fields
and the woods, where it is very COM
mon thing for men to do their own
| homework. 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 woods 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, ielIies, Jams, ices, s'creams''-
cooks all kinds of meats to perfection,
does his washing with q jamestown
washer, which is simply perfect as
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
q man who is so absolutely stupid about
g house that he cannot even get 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,
is not at all understandable, and il
may be a comfort to men who do 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 go into her Kitchen
and prepare dish for the dinner. In
this country there are number of
"Clubs," or societies, formed only of
men of ariStoeraric position and connec-
tions, that give one or two dinners
year. when the entire bill of fare is pre-
pared by the members.
But it is not a matter of fashion that
| urge the domestic education of boys,
but as a 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-
pline. 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 woman
cooking evesy meal she eats in her own
house, her whole life long! However
mucI husbands and sons may relish
mothers 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
come of her incessant cooking. She
requires the change in food that another
cook 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 homo
Idleness is not rest necessarily, but the
best rest comes, as rule, from a change
of occupation. Would the world cease
to roll around ] wonder, if the men
who loaf and map on Sundays, should
get ready the Sunday dinner? Would
the day of rest be less day of rest or
interest, if the boys of the family regu-
larry 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
/ to do than women, for it sometimes
} happens that they have more to do; but
, solely on the ground ofutility,a as / have
J already said. / am sure that am not
the only woman who would rather har-
ness q horse, clean carriage, or milk
the cows occasionally than not to be
relieved at times of the everlasting get
! ting something to eati Neither. is it q
respectable state of affairs when wo-
man is i'll, that she should be obliged to
! GO 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
VI uhn"PPtiys HHOA oOA u0beLnulAou 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
J which lies nearest to us, and the man
J or woman who withholds his or her
hands from a needed task, because Of
( scruples in regard to the performance
of it from propriety standpoint, is
simply a coward. We are womanly,
! or manly, from nature or training and
nct from what we do. Although cook
, cry is one of the most important, if not
the most important of vocations, it is a
slavish, intoierable existence, if it has
no relief; ''world without end. !" as Mrs
. Carlyle used to say Mary WAGER Fish,
, er, ia Rural Ne,0 Yorker.