The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1899-12-08
HOW THE NEW WIFE SHOULD
EE TRAINED.

The new wife, or, rather, the young
| wift-and 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 multitudinous duties in her new
home; and from her older married
friends, instead> Of the halo, comes a
| cloud of con,miseration, if the duties of
married life are to be taken up without
any previous preparation.
The right sort of wife will fit herself
before marriage for it's responsibilities.
TO be able to fill her place worthily re-
uuires at least some thought, study an,,
of the learned professions could she ex-
pect to succeed with no previous study ?
Hardly. And yet nine-tenthS Of the
girls of the period will marry, and per-
haps become the mStreSsc>; OF cozy little
homes. with hardly the first conception
writer i'll the Philadelphia" North .Ameri
can.
No doubt, in a majority of cases, the
mothers are to blame. They think
knowledge Of cooking and housekeeping
generally will come naturally to them
when once they are established in their
own homes: hut these mothers little,
result from such Il lack of knowledge.
The old saw about the way to a man $
heart being through his stomach has Il
great deal of truth in it. Every man VIII,
possesses domestic taste-and the right
sort nearly all do-likes to have the do
nestle machinery run smoothly. And il
the young wife has. knowledge Of plain
cooking. even though she may not have TO
do it herself, and possesses that convent
cnt and estimable quality which New
Englanders call faculty no serious clouds
will be apt to darken the domestic hori-
ION.
The new wife will perfect herself in all
the small details which 20 to make ND
the grand whole. 1t Is not absolutely
necessary that she shall he an elaborate
cake makcr-She can learn that gradually
rs she must many other things in house.
keeping-but she will understand the art
of making good, sweet, light bread. and
she will know just how to make delicious
wholesome mullins and corn bread for
breakfast: she will understand how to
cook potatoes so that they shall be white
and mealy, instead 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 neat
ly laid before breakfast, v hich should he
the most tempting meal of the day.
OF course. the new wife will have
brains enough to engineer this complex
domestic machinery. no matter how
many servants she MAY command No
woman can make Il good loaf of bread Or
cake without giving it her mind as we'll
many servants fail as cooks is because
they have not the intelligence required
for the art. In several years experience
with servants we have never Yet found
one who could cook oatmeal and fry pc
tatoes at the same time. One or the
other must become a burnt sacrifice.
The new wife will be sure to let sys-
tenn become part of her life, not for a
week or month, but continuously She
will not make a slave of herself to sys-
tenn, but she will know that work sys-
tematized is work half done.
OF course. the new. wife. Or perhaps,
in this instance, we should say the ideal
constitution. \ judic!":!s mother has
reared her in such a manner that aches
and pains will be trials unknown AS Il
child she has romped and played in the
open air. She has communed with ma
ture in all her moods, perhaps to the OK
tent of sOiled hands and clothing: but she
has also stored up treasures of health
been taught the use of every physical
function. and she enters her new life is-
norant Of nothing that she ought to
know. She is firm, Self-reliant and sem
sible. In short, she has never been cod
died. She has been taught that after
she enters womanhood her life is in her
own hands, to round into "Rrfect
woman. nobly planned' She will be
highly minded and Intelligent, and
the children of such mother cannot
fail to fill their places in the world with
honor and credit.
OF course, the husband selected by this
discriminating young woman will be per-
fectly 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 mar
ried 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 con-
tracted, her social duties will not be neg
lected and she will keep herself posted
on the topics of the day. In her social
life she will converse of things and not
of people. Scandal and gossip will not
be her daily bread. She will select her
friends from among high-minded and in
TTNEN IT'D ENP