The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-01-06
GOOD MANAGER BUT POOR WIFE.

A Serious Condition That Often Con.
fronts the Careful Housekeeper.
"Good manager but poor wife" This
statement of what an affectionate, indus
trious, loyal woman may become seems
severe, but, alas! it is too often true. 1t is
the domestic version Of the mint, anise and
cummin story SO constantly repeated in
human lives. The weightier matters of
the law come from the heart and soul Of
the Individual They cannot be got with
the labor of the hands. They are of the
spiritual and mental life, growing, expand
ing, and dominating the labor of the hands
in constant proportion to their use, and,
little used, leaving the man or woman
sordid, petty, ignoble.
And because these matters cannot be
weighed or measured, but felt and expert
enced, is perhaps why it is that they are
harder to grasp when practical duties fill
the hours. But in that grasp lies the key
of such life as shall satisfy and bless
those within it's influences. These spirit
ual qualities become vivified when trans
fused through living, loving heart. They
work hourly transformations in the labors
of day, making homely toll beautiful, and
guiding aspirations always to kinder, ten
derer deeds
No one should keep these high ideals
more constantly in the foreground of the
life picture which each of US is daily paint
ing than the wife and mother. The buster
and more workaday the life, the greater
should be the effort to think high thoughts,
and not to let the labor descend into mere
drudgery, akin to the instructive routine
of the animal. Baking, sweeping, sewing,
planning-these duties take the strength
and time of the majority of housewives.
But every one can recall many houses
where every duty is exactly performed, yet
where the essence of home life has evapor-
ated.
All is immaculate bl the hearts of the
family are cold. There are no cobwebs,
but the minds are narrow and small.
Every material possession is there, but the
inmates seek pleasure, interest and sym
pathy elsewhere. 1t may seem unjust to
lay so much of the deterioration of home
at the wife's door, but she is the bread dis
penser, and it is not alone the material
food she is to give forth. but that which
shall feed the ambitions, steady the pur-
poses and purify the hearts of those for
whom she has assumed her place.
A wife who has no interest in her hus-
bands pursuits, or who cares not to under
stand his perplexities, fails in her oppor-
tunities. The wife who shuts out social
pleasures and relaxations because they
bore her or because she is too busy errs.
She either forces her husband to seek
pleasures without her, and drives the first
wedge of divergence between them, or else
shuts him into her own narrow atmos-
nd oil ho
ences of home life, the wife fails if she
looks at everything wholly from ma
terial standpoint
1t is not strange when children hear
nothing but petty talk and see nothing but
dull repeated work that they grow up
without a capacity for high thoughts, and
lacking the power to resist moral tempta-
lions. Natures grow on what they feed on,
and purity of motive and elevated purpose
must have their roots planted and watered
when the heart is young.
A woman who thinks that her house
work, which well nigh overwhelms her, is
all she can do, may be sure that there is no
better use for a portion of her time than to
daily lift herself out of the narrow confines
of her labors and to rest and refresh her
self in new interests and broader sympa-
thies. Any woman can do this, though all
do not climb the same pathway or reach
the same height. The opportunities may
be few and the advantages slight, but
faithfully used they will develop, and step
by step the way will lead ever onward and
upward. And the first step in the path
way is to see what piece Of work can go IN
done and the time be saved, rather than
how much more mint, anise and cummin
the busy housewife can crowd into her a.
ready too hurried days.
Having thus breathed the broader air, II
only briefly, let her persevere, assured that
in this way is to be builded the rounded,
balanced character of the good wife-a
higher and nobler creature than all the
companies of managers" beneath the can
opy of heaven.-Harper's BazaE