The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-03-19
Do farmers Wives Pays

A lady correspondent of the Country
Gentleman discusses the question as toll
luws:
We are not in the habit of writing for
the papers, and have some fears lest you
should think this once too many times
for us to aspire to such honor as your
nutice, but, there has been considerable
discussion of late as to whether farming
pays" and the question occurs TO us,
DO Farmers Wives Pay 7" A man can
estimate with some degree of accuracy,
the cot and value of his lands, stock,
labor, &C., Tut who can estimate the
worth of his wife?
Now we wish to leave out of sight all
estimate-all reference to the little com.
forts and felicities that go TO make up
the sum of domestic happiness, aud come
right to the practical question. Does q
young woman, who comes to her husband
with little or no dowry, but with willing
heart and hands, and fair share OF in
telligence, who takes care of him, his
house and of his family as it increases,
without hired help, really earn anything
more than her food and cluthing?
No man will say but what that good
wife is treasure. Certainly, her care
and labor secure him many comforts,
but how much would he consider them
worth in dollars and cents2 1t isa great
comfort to him TO have his three meals a
day properly cooked and prepared at
hours that suit his convenience.
He can swallow dinner in. twenty
or thirty minutes that she has been all
the forenoon preparing. He may think
it very good dinner, but how high an
estimate, think you, he would put upnn
it ifrequired to state its worth in money
With what establishment and disgust
would he look upon his table set out with
dishes that had not been washed since
they were last used, but how high a
money value would he put upon this one
romantic item of washing the dishes.
which, nevertheless, takes SO large share
of won,an's time9
With what satisfaction be puts on the
clean, smooth ly -ironed shirt, and the
socks nicely darned! They do not look
much like the ones he pulled off last
week and threw down with the wash !?
Some one had to rub pretty smartly to
get the dirt all out-some one spent al
hour or 20 in darning the unsightly holes
in the heels of those stockings. And
this is done, not this week only, bn, every
week as surely as it comes round. Now
be DOES appreciate cleanliness, notwitll-
standing his protestations against wash :.
ing days aud house cleaning. But is it
really worth anything ia money!
Then there il. the care of the milk and
the butter making. Every day must the
milk be taken care of, the cream must be
churned at the proper time, and the but
ter properly worked and salted. He is
proud TO have her make goud butter-is
quite happy when his neighbor says, 81
want to engage my butter of you this
season, for think your wife makes the
best butter of any around" But then
are not the COWS bis? Does he not fur
nish the feed and do the milking7 Il
her work slight, compared with his? Is
it really worth anything in dollars and
cents to do her part?
Then there is the care Of the children /;
early and late are ber energies taxed to
take care Of them. She is interested
there, of course; but then she don't pre-.
lend 10 own but half, though some men
w,,u'd fain make it the larger halt. Is it
really worth nothing to soothe. amute,
teach, feed aud spank his half, to make
and make over, and mend the clothes for
his half? That is real wnrkI Where is
the man who will say it does not require
all woman's wit, this care fur their
children, but if asked to place a money
estimate upon it, to what figure think
you it would fall9
A farmers wife that really does her
own work has no easy task, as can be
proved By thousands of our country
women; but we would not ask f"r her
more than is justly due. If there is any
tandard by which the value Of her ser.
vices can be rightly estimated, We would
ike To know it. We wish to know
whether there may be any surplus in her
lavorl Whether, when she asks for u
lew dollars for the purpose of something
not strictly necessary-a book perhaps
she ought to feel that she is asking for
his hardly earned means, or whether she
has right to feel it is her due. IT the
value Of her labor does not ordinarily
equal her expenses, we would like to
know how much she il to credit to her
husbands generosity. Can any one
an,w.r7 Young men should popder
these questions, and let maidens beware
,f no satisfactory. answer can be given,
for farmers wife has a life of too
much toll to make it desirable, If, with
all her labor, she is still considered a
beggar.