The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-08-01

production of everything the smaller
Industries are capable of adding is
needed for successful Southern farm
ing, then there should be placed for
the use of the head Of those Industries,
for the use Of the wife, proprtionate
amounts Of the proceeds Of the farm
to carry on her work satisfactorily.
The same line of argument would
point out the good effect q more just
apportionment of the money earned
on the farm to the domestic economy
would have. Most men provide ac,
cording to their means pretty fairly
when theyare to sit down at the table,
and thegastric region Is tender spot
with me1, but are they as careful that
wife and children should share equally
in all the providing on table, housing,
clothing? And are they willing I'd
turn over to wife and children for the
qualification of the ideas Of luxury oi
these a duplicate amount of money
spent on tobacco treating and liquor ?
1, of course, do not know that any
money ever goes out Of the mems
pockets for liquor, but traversing, as
do, on my afternoon rides many OF
the roads of Richmond county, L have
noticed that it Is fortunate that many
of the mules of the farmers seem to
know the way home by themselves,
as their masters an asleep In the wag-
on, and J. Q6RpQ Ehink that all the
jugs seea Wagons are carrying
vinegar fof pickles.
"But is there not yet another line
in which the work of the farm, es-
pecially In charge of woman, needs
improvement and in which she does
not yet fill her true position
stake from life all sunshine, all
color, all perfume, all that Is esthetic,
and life would be its own empty
similacrum. Take from the life of the
farm all that can elevate 1t to an esthet-
ic standpoint, and it would be hard
existence under very gloomy realities.
Every flower that clingst to the porch,
every bird that finds home under the
caves of the house, every tree that is
cherished in the yard, every nail that
is driven into its proper place that
keeps fence and house complete, every
bucket Of lime or pot of paint that
keeps the premises pleasant to the eye,
every little curtain, cheap but clean,
that hangs behind the well-washed
window, every picture, chrome
though it be, that hangs unspecked
(by flies, mind you y from the walls
every one ofa hundred little things
that yet together make the domestic
life of the farm. Oh, how would our
Southern farms improve If the South
ern women would but know that q
part of their true position on the farm
Is to make farm life beautiful Can
there, then be question that the true
DOS ton of woman on the farm is yet
among the problems of the future ?
When the farm progresses to the posi-
tion of well-ordered business, having
its debit and credit account with each
of its fields and industries; when its
capital is fairly apportioned to the diff.
ferent branches of work, and its re-
ceipts are correspondingly divided
when the farmer admits the wife as bis
business partner, entitled to her just
share of the profits of the farm, and
when he remembers that woman won
does not necessarily mean that neglect
and indifference are as acceptable 10
the wife as ardor and attention were TO
the sweetneart-when the woman on
the farm realizes that upon her de-
pend not only the cooking, the care
of the children and other domestic
duties, but that everything that makes
life on the farm pleasant as far as neat
ness, taste and establishment can
make it are her especial charge, and
that she also must remember in the
hard-working, ageing husband, the
lover of her youth, then, and only
then. will woman's true position on
the farm be reached, and the Garden
of Eden will find again place on the
earth; a rural life will become the
envy of those bred and dwelling in
the confinements of city life"