The Helena independent., 1893-09-01
WIVES OF NEW ENGLAND.
The Land Where the Women Are
Mentally Superior to Their
Husbands
1 Frank Though Caustic Analysis
Of Housewives of New
England.
fhsir Character, Environments AND T"eir
Disappointing sn,s-- rhey Sufe' In-
tense rsntni Starvation.

The wife is peculiar creature. She Is
,alled the better half by courtesy, and she
Is usually treated as if she had no title to
the rights which the better half ought to
enjoy. Many men treat their wives AS girls
treat their dolls. They represent to them
the luxury of life, but not companions in
the struggle for existence, and it is some
what rare to find married people where the
wife takes her place us the legitimate part
ner of her husband in all the concerns of
life Not that women are not regarded
with courtesy and treated with honor as
wives and mothers, but the greater num-
Der of men are so much interested in them
selves, are so accustomed to handle money
and do big things, that they do not use the
brains of their wives nearly so much as
they delight in their affections and in their
methods of dress.
This is true OF society in general when
you penetrate below the crust and see things
asa clergyman, u physician or a lawyer sees
them. 1t is the rarest thing in the world
to find wife who is thoroughly happy in
her domestic relations who does not have
some little secret or unhappiness which she
contides to her best friend, who would not
have her husband different if she could,
and who loves him just enough to make
him happy and ceases where idolatry be-
gins.
All this is said by way of preface to the
lives of the wives OF the farmers of New
England. They are constituent part of
the women who have to do with New Eng.
land character, with the training of the
boys and the girls who are to replenish the
wasted vitality of our cities, and who are
In many cases to take the lead in the ad-
vance Of our civilization. Scattered all
over New England you find hon1esteads re-
garded with veneration, Or cellar holes
where houses once stood, in which great
men and noble women were born and
reared. Such are the places where Hiram
Powers and Daniel Webster and Mary
Lyon and John G. Whittier and Lucy Lar
com were born. Some of the best and
noblest fruits of New England manhood
and womanhood expressed itself in the
lives of these persons, and there is not a
well settled township in all New England
where it is not possible to point to this or
that old homestead and be told that Gen
eral Armstrong was born there, or DR.. Pea
body lived there in his childhood, or here
Bishop Huntington first saw the light, or
there the founder Of Smith college lived in
early years.
New England is full of character, and
when you travel through the country and
see the old houses you always think of
those who have gone out from them and
inquire who We're the famous ones that
We're brought up in that town. Nine times
out of ten you will find that in some little
farmhouse, humble and unpretentious,
there once lived New England mother
who received the souls of her children
in trust from Almighty God and endeav-
ored in the light Of the Bible and in the
SaDctItiaS Of bnna n in nj than, botb bar
boys or girls, with the feeling that they
were the children of God, and that they
had mission in the world. 1t is these wo- |
men who are the unnamed and silently |
honored housewives of New England, the |
outgrowth Of our homes the secluded |
mothers in the farmhouses, the women who !
have less education than they could desire |
and who thirst in their inmost hearts for
the careers which their lot in life has pre-
vented them from entering upon.
Many girl has grown up to womanhood
in the quiet of a rural home without arriv- |
ing to a consciousness of her gifts. She has
given herself away in the freshness of a
youthful affection to the first man who
asked for her heart, and after marriage and
after becoming the mother of children her
dormant intellectual and spiritual life has
been awakened, and she has seen visions
and talked with angels and heard the voice
OF God in the garden in the cool of the day.
The New England housewife seldom has a
confessor. Mrs Stowe has penetrated into
the silent lives of some of these mothers
and told us how their sensitive NATURES
We're wrought upon by the New England
theology, and many New England pastor
has found in these smotbered lives a purity,
an elevation of soul and the inward living
upon a high plane which has made his pas
toral visits JOY and an inspiration to his
life
The country Is full Of these mature wom-
en-, arrived at spiritual consciousness, who
are infinitely above and beyond their situa-
tion, who may be the mothers of children,
and who are trying to inspire these chill
dren with hopes and aspirations which the
sluggish natures of their husbands have
never aroused. Without access to books
or papers to any extent, and without the
opportunity to choose interesting compau-
ions, and married so early that they did
not know themselves, these women lead
Isolated lives i'll which they suppress their
higher consciousness and give themselves
up to voluntary martyrdom to duty
The wives of the farmers in New England
have had no voice in church or state. They
arc silent and long suffering company.
Even more seldom than in our common So
clal life do these women find congenial com
panionship i'll their husbands.
This may seem d harsh statement, but
no one can go among the people as pastor
or As physician who does not have these
facts impressed upon his mind and heart a
thousand times. " hat shall he dones If
ever the farms Of New England become
again the heritage Of the sturdy veomanry
ci century ago, the women who live upon
them will hac- more husbands who share
III their higher 1ute! !lectual and moral life,
meu who are educated TO their business.
who share in the life of the community.
and wno knc.? how to be genial coupnn-
ions in their own homes, men who 20 to
church o.! Sunday and take their part in
the moral upbuilding of the community.
he's women such grow up in the Sc
clusion of country homes can find such
companions and such helpers in the bring.
ing up OF their children, they will not waste
the amenities of life in isolation. but will
become all the more noble because they
have suitable companionship and inspira-
tion III their own homes.-Boston Globe.
Length of Girls Skirts.