Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1902-01-25
THE MARRIAGE PROBLEM
Some Pointed Remarks on a Much
Mooted Question.
BY A BERKELEY COUNTY LADY
What Proportion Of Our Country Girls Would
You Advise to Marry Farmres? The
Question Answered by Mrs. {.
W. Van Metre.
W. Van Metre.

What proportion of country girls
would you advise to marry farmers?'
When l first looked at this subject,
and a vision of getting up at four
O'Clock in the morning, hurrying to-
the barn to milk, and back TO the
house to prepare breakfast, and other
innumerable duties of q farmer s wife
Heated through my brain, | thought,
why / can not possibly write anything
on this. that will please the farmers
as don't want all those farmers to-
have "a grudge at me Some of them
l know, want to marry one Of our
girls and if / should happen to say
anything to influence that particular
girl to refuse to marry farmer he
would never forgive me and | could
not expect him to, for | would not
only be spelling his happiness. but
also his business prospects.
For what farmer can get along with
out wife. In almost any other bus
lGteSs IMAM OhAs III q RtLSht 6Ch tsAOhS
without wife. for he can board, but
who ever heard of farmer boarding?
He must eat at home and he must
have good cooking, or he can not keep
in good condition to do his work.
Then. too, eff he has no wife, look
what he looses financially no one to
take care of milk, chickens and the
many other things that farmer wives
attend to. You may say he might
have a mother sister, or hire someone
to do these things. Yes he might,
but none of these would be wife and
| notice that our most happy and con-
tented farmers are those with wives.
So when / consider the farmer /
would advise one hundred per cent of
our girls to marry farmers but how
about it when | consider our girls.
Suppose young, pretty, we'll educat-
ed farmers daughter cam q to me for
advice, telling me she had three oppor-
tunlties to marry. namely: A young
doctor just beginning to practice, q
young merchant just starting, and a
farmer, which would 1 advise her to
accept?
Well l suppose | should give her the
good old advice, Marry the one you
love best, - but | really believe that
she would lead an easier life as the
wife of the Doctor or merchant, If he
should be successful In his business,
than she would as the farmers wife,
for as the farmers wife, no matter
how prosperous he is her duties would
be many. indeed it seems to me the
more prosperot farmer is, the more
work his wife has to do. | have act
ually been guilty some times in the
spring of half hoping we would not
have big fruit crop that year, as
knew by past experience just how
much work lots of apples. peaches
ETC.. meant. | imagine hear some
indignant farmers say 81 would hire
my wife a girl Yes l believe all
farmers would, if they could find the
girl, but girls refuse to work on
farm if they can find work in town.
They have more pleasures in town and
the working hours are shorter.
And yet with all these difficulties
there are some girls that | would adj
wise to marry farmers. Some girls
who have been reared in the country
would not be happy in town under
any circumstances These girls love
the air and sunshine and certain
joyous freedom that is only expert
enced in the country. A girl who can
laugh and be happy over her work,
who has bouyant health and cheerful
disposition, | would advise to marry
a farmer.
If we Ii VIII are farmers wives,
could only bring ourselves to love our
work, to sing and rejoice over it, we
would not tire so easily, and we
would see, too, that we have many
things to be thankful for, and would
actually pity the woman shut up in
town, where she did not hear the
birds sing nor see mother nature at
her best. Out home hooking bird
builds his nest everv spring in an APP
pie tree beside the house, and Oh
how sweetly he sings. Many morn
ings when have been hurried and
worried with nv work, that bird by
his sweet singing, has changed my
thought OF worry and hurry to one of
praise, but this does not answer the
query. What proportion of our coun-
try girls would you advise to marry
farmers. Really shall haveto get out
of it like yankee by asking. What
would be the use to advise them at
all? If one of our girls were in love
with farmer, she would marry him,
even, if told her she would have to
work from Monday morning till Sat