River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-07-12
HOUSEHOLD DRuDeEs.
Conditions OF Life Which Make Many
Noble Women Affect Slaves.


Noble Women Affect Slaves.
The world is full of Woodworking,
Over-burdened men and women be-
cause it is full of indolent people who
manage to shift their work on others to
whom it does not belong. 1t would
seem at first that it was easy enough to
let the indolent suffer for their own
crime. When a grown daughter re-
fuses to work beside her mother, and
an over-indulgent father declares she
shall not, what is the recourse? There
are hundreds of homes in the land
where the mother is nothing better
than a household drudge, condemned
to work forever. while her daughters
enjoy comparative ease. She would
enjoy the possession of dainty, pretty
clothes, but unselfishly consents to
wear the plainest homespun, and in
some cases does il so continually and
patiently that her husband and daugh-
ters finally seem to think il is but right
and just she should accept what she
has. Sometimes the oldest daughter is
the drudge, and accepts all the rough
ness of life in order that the younger
children may live in ease. Her parents
seem to forget that she is equally en-
titled to rest and enjoyment, and urge
her to make these sacrifices. Year
after year often goes by, and her sis
tiers marry and leave the old home-
stead and she is left to take care of her
parents, and few who know her will
seem to look upon her sacrifi es as
any thing at all extraordinary. Only
when the drudging mother or sister
faints beneath her burden, and her
weary hands are finally crossed in
Heavens sleep, do the rest OF the fami-
ly begin to realize the sacrifices she
made and the work she did for them.
Such conditions of life as these are
as abject slavery as any known when
they are insisted upon in word and
action by the remaining members of
the family, and sensitive woman
forced to work in this way for thank
less family often suffers keenly from
Sights which the rest are scarcely
aware are given. 1t seems useless to
consult her or to talk to her about
family plans when she is so busy with
domestic matters, and she is often not
even consulted in matters in which she
should certainly be deferred to. No
daughter should ever forget that her
m other is the lady of the house, and
should never take, by word or action,
her mothers place. No mother or
father should permit any one child to
make more sacrifices than another.
All should be given the same
privileges and enjoy the same
times of rest. Each one in the family
should have portion of the work al
lotted to her. and in this way all work
should be divided among the various
members of the household in families
where there are no servants. This is
just to all, and the lessons learned by
the youngest as well as the oldest
daughters of the household will be Of
practical value to them in after years.
II is doubtful which daughter suffers
the most in the end in families where
the main part of the domestic work is
done by One--the overburdcncd work.
er or the daughter brought up in in-
dolence and ignorance of all domestic
methods, who will in after years be
compelled to acquire such knowledge
in the hardest way, through her own
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