The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1888-08-23
from The Philosophy OF Living"

pist to his wife one day as he suddenly
burst into the sitting room, al have been
counting the windows in our house aud
find there are forty. 1t just occurs to me
that you have To keep these forty win
windows clean, or Superintend the pro-
cess. And that is not a beginning OF
your work. All these rooms have To he
swept and garnished, the carpets made
and cleansed, the house linen prepared
and kept in order, beside the cooking,
and took ii all as a matter of course
Just begin to see what woman's work
is, even when she has help as you are no
always able To procure. You ought TO
receive monthly stipend as house
keeper would. Why havn't you made me
see it before2 | have not been just to
you while have been generous to 9TH
erS.
The wife who told this in after years to
her husbands credit, sat down with him
and for the first time since their marriage
opened her heart freely upon the topic of
wemans allowance. She confessed to
having had many a sorrowful hour at her
position as beggar. At the head of a
/ large household in a Western town where
i domestic service was bo!li >cant and in
i competent, she had hardly been trusted
/ with i've dollars at time during their
united lives.
Robert and talked 1t over" she said,
and decided that the woman who takes
/ care of any household article, like car
/ pet for instance, from the time it is first
made till il is worn ont has expended up
on it an amount Of time and strength
/ fully equal To labor that made It, count
ing from the shearing the wool Till it
comes from the loom. II may be unskill-
ed work but it is work all the same.
And this Is only one small item in her
housekeeping labor Does she not de
serve some payment beside her board and
clothing?
Robert saw womans work In a new
light, From that time till to day he has
placed generous share of his income in
my hands not as a gift but as a right.
And he knows that will no more fritter
1t away than he will. II | choose Ia
deny myself something need and bestow
its cost in charity or buy some books
crave. he no more thinks of chidng me
than think of Gliding him for spending
his money as he likes.
There are other Roberts who have yet
To learn this lesson Of justice aud they
are found IN every walk of life. | have
known rich men who were ready to buy
wives, sometimes far beyond what were
desired, yet who grdugngly doled Out
i've dollars at time when appealed u
for little money. The reason given Is
that it may be spent foolishly. II any
thing will prolong babyhood into matur
, ity it Is such treatment. Against 1t {
woman's nature rises IN rehellious indig
nation. Thoughts of bitterness rank,
? in the wounded heart and there are tigh
} ty, hooking, hppant creatures made 81
by just this want of trust on the part OF
: their husbands. The gravest and mos
elusive faults are always found among
, dependent classes.
} The way in which homework is LOOKED
upon is illustrated by conversation be
tween the son of thrifty mechanic wh'
owned the cottage he lived in and hat
, money in the bank, and a neighbor wht
7 told the story.
: "What wages does your father earn
Tommy"
Dad, why he earns two dollars and /
half day, right along"
"And your"
. II earn a dollar day"
} And your mother what does she get?
t MAN, why she cooks and washes an'
I makes the clothes for me and Dad ant
{
| There amt no money in that" Too
= many wives of farmers and mechanic
have found there amt no money In that.
5 Early and lete, day in and day out, tn
1 same weary feet press the same tread
mill with seldom any opportunity to Sc
, the blue sky or the pleasant landscap
Z around except from the windows of tn
\ kitchen.
1t is shown by statistic that the larg
est class of patients in our insane asylum
c are the wives of farmers. The sad mo
= notony of existence might often be brok
Y en- If "farmeress' (why may not sue
r term be coined2) only had little in
$ come from her poultry. Luttcr or cannet
$ or preserved fruit something that is lie
= very own. | have known a thrifty wifi
and mother, who did far more towar
supporting the family by her manage
ment aud forethought than her husband
who was obliged to conceal a couple o
o pounds of butter in the cellar at a time
/, or dozen eggs till she had enough T.
c smuggle into town to buy a fresh can
}. brio dress to wear to ''meeting" on SUI
J. day. The woman's life had been all fan
y inc Ii Il her eyes had the dumb, patheti
} look of patient animal. There was nc
. enough life left for friction in tina
q family.
u Yet the husband was a good man an
Il kind as far as he knew how to be. II
: owned the, farin and the cows and chick
ems and et s?ything that was produced a
his father did before him. The wife ant
children had enough to eat and clothin!
, sufficient to keeb warm, what more coult
be wanted? He never dreamed that tn
soul needs food as well as the body, aye
more than the body. If one must starv'
! let it be the least important. They cal
live and be happy on simple nutrment a
whose board lit cheerfulness and love
mutual thoughtfulness and personal in
dependence Hester w. Po0te In GooC
HOaSekeeping.