Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1896-11-07
TO MAN AND HELPER.
THE MEANING OF A FAMILIAR ITEM
WELL KNOWN TO WOMEN.

How Sam Patched the Wall Paper and
Fan Acted as Helper-Adam and His
Agricultural Pursuits In the Garden of
Eden Painted by Modern Eve.
That too familiar item on our plumb
er's bills, "To man and helper" is ex-
pressive of so much in our daily domes-
tic relations that one almost forgives the
plumber the gift of the phrase.
"I'll patch up that paper on the wall;
you leave it" says Sam. And then Sam
appears on a day when you are in the
thick of some particularly absorbing
household task and he says: GIVE come
up early to mend that paper, and if
you'll just make some paste for me,
please, I'll go at it." You sigh, but do
it cheerfully, thinking, if it is early in
your married life, that that will be all.
Presently, however, there is demand
for rags, stepladder, pail and whisk
broom. These also you get out and re-
turn to your work.
"Fan," calls Sam, "where have you
hidden my brush? 1t was in the toolbox
right in the left hand corner, and it is
gone Some one must have taken it. -
Again you leave your task and go up
stairs or down stairs to the place whence
cometh the plant and behold the brush
a little to the northeast perchance, but
quite in the visible neighborhood of that
little left hand corner. Without even a
blush of shame he takes it, and you re-
turn to your own work. You have bare
1y begun again, when Sam appears at
the door: "Where can find box the
right size to set on the stairs, so that I
can pat some boards across on which to
stand the stepladder?"
You think a minute, and you know
that the only box available is one filled
with odds and ends of needful kitchen
things, but you resignedly lay them all
out on the floor and give Sam the box,
catching at the same moment look
which reveals that he is about to ask
you for the boards. There are only two
long boards on the premises, and those
can be taken up, and they are-but it
entails vigorous brushing and cleansing.
Then for time Sam vanishes and all
is SERENE b. not for long. There are
clatter of boards and notes Of masculine
trouble, which you ignore, until, find
ing that it is not a day for taking
hints, Sam calls again, "Fan, will you
please come and steady this thing, or
I'll break my neck" Of course you go,
and of course you find that he has not
already broken it. You get odds and
ends of things together to even up and
strengthen his rickety scaffolding, and
then you sit on a step with your head
up between the boards to steady the lad
der, except when you vary it by hand
ing pasty rag, Or brush, or a match
for his pipe Then is the time you say,
"To man and helper, three hours" and
get your revenge, for Sam really sees
the point.
Now, it is strange thing that it is
always "man and helper" If woman
undertakes anything. as rule she goes
ahead and gets her things together and
does it all by herself but if man starts
any task not in the line of his ordinary
DuSlutSS lS Will W uluW W
himself the assistance of every woman
within call. If it is driving nails, some
one must hand the nails to him; a wom-
an would keep them in her pocket or
mouth. If he is riveting something, the
woman must hold the other hammer on
the under side and get i'll her arm the
jar of the stroke. If he even mends his
fishrod Or ties his flies, she must hold
the waxed thread or turn the rod with
both hands, do not see how any mar
ried woman can doubt the truth of the
Scriptures. Why, to her, the fifteenth
and eighteenth verses of the second
chapter of Genesis set the seal Of truth
fulness upon the whole When man was
made and put in the garden Of Eden to
tend it, he hadn't been there day be-
fore woman had to be made to help
him. He couldn't get along alone at all.
Fancy him starting out to SOW his rad
ish seed and having nobody to ask how
far she thought he ought to put the rows
apart, so he could put them some other
distance. 1t must have been awful!
Poor Eve! For of all conditions of
"helper" that of the gardeners helper
is the worst 1t is easy to imagine her
her days work over, as she supposes-
planning for quiet rest upon cool
green bank through the long summer
twilight. Along comes Adam, belated
in his work, because he had been cast
ing his line from shady hooks into deep,
messy pools, where the speckled trout
are lying, and he says to Eve: "My
dear, won't you como along with me in
to the garden? haven't seen anything
of my darling all day. You can sit on
nice soft stone in the path while I
work" And poor, easily beguiled by
love Eve gets up and follows right along,
but, alas, the stone has not changed its
nature any more than Adam has. 1t is
not soft, and perhaps that is the reason
why Adam does not keep her sitting
there long. Good, kind Adaml He
wants the rake, and it is down at the
house, or maybe it was bower, and she
may as well bring along measuring
line, of which also she may hold one end
when she gets back. And then as Adam
gets absorbed he absorbs more and more
of Eve. She rales up the weeds which
he has hoed out. She holds up the vines
which he ties to the trellis. She trots
back and forth for the primitive imple-
ments, and she smiles, as if she enjoyed
it, but it is a weary woman who, as
dusk yields to darkness, accompanies
Adam to the house, Juggling numerous