The South western news., 1888-04-04
REDRESS FOR THE FAR
MFRS WIFE.
Southern Cultivator.

deplored, that the farmers vile
especially is that overworked Great
ure that Whittier calls a "house-
hold drudge" She is mostly a
willing horse" and pulls readily
in harness--so to speak-but the
time comes when if the horse is
over-worked it breaks down from
sheer inability to 90. No matter
how willingly the shoulders bend
for the burden there are still found
ready hands to pile it on. Indeed,
the farmer himself Iii consciously
adds to her labors, for like ali men,
he loves Widespread table, and
thinks that cooking and homework,
and caring for half a dozen chill
dren, is a mere trife and can be
done in a hurry and well done
too.
/ 1t is said that Glove hghtens la
Dor, and perhaps it does, if it is
I the kind of love that turns in and
lends helping hand; but Others
wise, all that kind Of talk is wind,
and the man that talks is wind
bag, unless be shows some consid-
Grafton for the object loved There
are some men who expect their
wives to care for the babies all
night, and yet arise refreshed and
smiling in the morning, and pre-
| pare breakfast in time for the fam.
lily, and perform. the hundred 9th
cr duties that devolve on the moth
CT of household. He is very much
surprised if she complains of IA
tigue-which, to do her justice. she
seldom does-cnd should she
chance, iii the course Of time to
break down, he aScIihes it to bile,
and procures for her numberless
powders and Pills, and is again
surprised that they seem to do no
coed. Oh, man! man! when will !
you learn that your wife is no less
human than you, and docs rot pos
seSs the constitution or strength ot |
an eiel ] ant?
Some tine since the satisfies of !
one Of the States showed that OF |
insanity among women, the great
est number of cases were those o.
farmers wives. Does net this fact |
| prove there is something extremely |
rotten in Denmark" 1t is not |
that the farmer does not work HIM
self, but he generally has labor
saving machinery, while his wife |
has none. Patiently she plods
along, always hoping for rest (and
never e ting it, she goes to bed
tired and gets up tired, and with
the evcr>ready order to "move on,
she moves on until with sorrowful
gladness S he at last reaches the f.
nal great rest" of all. Is it any
wonder that even the babies of
these over>worked wives come into
the world looking like little old
WORKOUT men and women, too
tired to even cry, or else by their
continual wailing, giving voice to
the unspoken fatigue Of the moths
er? Right here let me give a bit
of "norse. sense" There will news
er be a superior race mentally or
physically until men give as much
care to their wives as they do to
their Jerseys and their thorough>
bred horses? Don't be shocked
aud call this sweeping untruth.
1t is, alas! only TOO true, and oh !
the pity of it, the pity of it There
are numberless instances of farmers
who, to their honor be it said, treat
their wives "as their own bodies"
with all tenderness and kindness,
but the majority are of the other
kind.
During this summers vacation
away from home | met with a typ,
zeal farmers wife. She looked like
patient, ploddiug ox-and did
the work of one. With a large
family of children, and with what
assistance they rendered, she cooks
ed, washed, ironed, brought water
from n distant down-hill spring,
cared tor the young children, did
countless other duties, aud aided
her husband besides in the farms
work. He worked hard also, but
had hired labor and was thriving
enough to have afforded the same
for her. 1t never occurred to him
that his wife was over worked, be-
cause she never complained, and
yet comparatively young in years,
her face was wrinkled with care
and her head sprihkled with snow.
We all know that
"Too much care will make young
man gray,
Too much care will turn an old
man TO clay,
and the farmer in general without
being such extreme cases, as the
one mentioned, give too little cons
sideration to the welfare Of his
wife, while she is spending health,
strength and life for BIN and
! biz.