San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-08-15
THE NEW WIFE.
Not Necessarily Specimen of the
New Woman, But New in
Whitehead

wife land she is very numerous ut
this season of many weddings, has a
halo woven about her by her young
girl friends as she leaves the altar to
assume the multitudious duties in
her new home; and from her older
married friends instead of the halo.
comes a cloud of commiseration If
the duties of married life are to be
taken up without any previous prepa-
ration. The right sort of wife will
fit herself before marriage for it's re-
spOnsibilities. To be able to fill her
place wOrthily requires at least some
thought, study and application. IL
she intended to adopt one of the
learned professions, could she expect
to succeed with no previous study?
Hardly. And yet nine-tenths of the
girls of the period will marry, and
perhaps becsfne the mistresses of
coy little homes with hardly the first
conception of what their real duties
will be-
No doubt, in a majority of cases the
| mothers are to blame. They think
knowledge of cooking and housekeep-
ing generally will come naturally to
them when once they are established
in their own home; but these mothers
little think what trouble and unhap-
piness may result from such lack
of knowledge. The old saying, the
way to a mans heart being through
his stomach has a great deal of truth
in it. Every man who possesses do
nestle taste land the right sort near
ly all dol likes to have the domestic
machinery run smoothly; and if the
young wife has knowledge of plain
cooking (even though she may not
have it to do HERSELF, and possesses
that convenient and estimable quail
ty which New Englanders call facul-
tty, no serious clouds will be apt to
darken the domestic horizon.
The new wife will perfect herself
in all the small details which go to
make up the grand whole. 1t is not
! absolutely necessary that she shall
be an elaborate cake-maker-she can
learn that gradually as she must
! many other things in housekeeping
but she will understand the art of
making good, sweet light bread, and
she will know just how to make deli
ciouS. wholesome mullins and corn
bread for breakfast; she will under
stand how to cook potatoes so that
they shall be white and mealy in
stead of wet and soggy: she will broil
| the steak so that it shall be tender
and juicy. At the same time she is
| doing all this she will be enabled,
| with the faculty before mentioned, to
have the rich, clear coffee made and
| the table neatly laid for breakfast,
| which should be the most tempting
meal of the day.
OF course, the new wife will have
brains enough to engineer this COM
| pick domestic machinery, no matter
how many servants she may COM
| mand. No woman can make good
| loaf of bread or cake without giving
\ it her mind as well as her strength.
| The reason why so many servants
fail as cooks is because they have not
| the intelligence required for the art.
In several years experience with ser
wants we have never yet found one
| who could cook oatmeal and fry pota-
| toes at the same time. One or the
other must become a burnt sacrifice.
The new wife will de sure to let sys
The new wife will be sure to let sys-
IL
ously. She will not make a slave of
herself to system, but she will know
that work systematized is work half
done.
OF course, the new wife-or per-
haps in this instance we should say
| the ideal wife--will rejoice in strong
| and robust constitution. A judicious
mother has reared her in such a man.
ner that aches and pains will be trials
unknown. AS a child she has romp-
ed and played in the open air. She
has cOmmuned with nature in all her
moods, perhaps to the extent of soiled
hands and clothing; but she has also
stored up treasures of health and
strength for the future. She has been
taught the use of every physical
function, and she enters her new life
ignorant of nothing that she ought to
know. She is firm, self-reliant and
sensible. In short, she has never
been coddled. She has been taught
that after she enters wOmanhood her
life is in her own hands to round into
perfect woman nobly planned"
She will be highly high-minded and
intelligent, and the children of such
mother can not fail to fill their
places in the world with honor and
credit.
OF course the husband selected by
this discriminating young woman
will be perfectly adapted to her.
They will be fully in sympathy with
everything that is wise and judiciOus
and the tact and good sense Of both
will enable them to avoid the shoals
on which so many married lives have
been stranded and so many homes
sacrificed.
At the same time in her busy life,
amid her manifold duties she will
not allow her nature to grow selfish
nor contracted, her social duties will