Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1886-07-24
NO. As.
FARMERs'.WIVES.

time, some considerable service &c
the farmers, not only Of our OWL
country, but also of other nations
by the intelligence which we have
scattered abroad during a connec
ton Of fifty years or more with the
agricultural, or labor-saving machine
ry, of various varieties of seeds and
plants-in which labors we have
everbeen diligent, cautious and faith
full to our trust, as the aid and as
sistant, not to say guardian, of their
rights and interests. Yet all these
advantages have secured to the
masculines a far greater degree OIL
advantage than has fallen to the
lot of the fairer portion of creation
whose tolls and cares have in many
respects increased, instead of di,
minished, of late years; and but few
of the Improvements, except in a
secondary degree, have Injured to
the release of the housewife from
the burthens imposed upon them by
nature, custom and necessity. AS
remarked by another: Whatever
may be said of the labors of farmers
as compared with that Of other
classes, we believe it is true that nc
class of wives in America is so hard
worked as the average farmers wife
Her day of labor begins with her
husbands, and ends after he has
gone to bed, and for many of them
to take a incoming is a thing un.
thought-of. And when we compare
her labor-that which men are apt
to look on as trifling-it is ques-
ton if it does not actually require
more muscular exertion than does
that Of the farmer with his teams and
labor-saving machinery. House,
work has not been lessened by ma.
chinery, as has other work. Take q
sewing machine, for instance. While
it does the sewing much more rapid
ly, it has not made the work any
easier, and as fashions DEGREES have
made the seams longer, and added
flounces and fur bellows to dresses,
the sewing, if done at home, actually
demands more physical labor than
in former years. Then, consider fol-
moment the washing, ironing
cooking, scrubbing, sweeping and
making beds; it is all work that
calls for the outlay of about as much
muscular force as the average work
of the farmer if the most modern
machinery is used, and while the
man has to work, it may be, in the
hot sun he has the breezes Of heav.
en- to cool his brow, but the woman
has to work in the sweltering heat
of kitchen fire. Then, in addition
to the house work, she usually has
an infant in arms and two or three
toddlers about her feet, which alone,
as mother and nurse, should be
enough to take the most of her time
and care.
eff our farmers wives could be pro
noted from the position of domestic
and maid-of-all-work to that Of wife,
nurse and mother, there would be
fewer cherries farmers homes, and
fewer country boys and girls anx
ious to leave the farm. One of the
first duties, then, of the farmer is to
see that his wife is as well provided
with help as he is himselfn
So says the writer; but, unfortun
ately, what is the remedyf In most
quarters domestic help is almost i'm
possible to be obtained. The at
fractions of the cities and large
towns, the demand for the labor Of
females in canning houses and man
ufactories, the indisposition to en-
gage in domestic service because o.
the restraint Unnecessarily imposes OF
freedom of action-all make it diff
cult and frequently impossible to gel
such assistance. In ante-bellum
times, to u greater or less extent
the Southern women had the advan
tage of their servile labor, and it i:
no wonder that the dread of losing
this help had as much to do will
the greater bitterness of the womer
against the Yanks, whom they wer'
taught TO believe were making strif'
with the South, although the chains
of the slaves up to the firing upor
Fort Sumter were never more strong
ly rivetted than they were at tina
period.
But we are wandering from GU
purpose intended when we took pei
in hand, which was to call to the at
tention of our lady friends the grea
boon which they may find in th
comparatively recent introduction G
the coal oil stove for all the culinar
demands of the family. Especial
is this invention appreciated in th
summer season, when the ponderou
cooking stove, using either wood Q
coal, at heavy cost in money G