SOLON ROBINSON, 1850 385 



apparatus without fatigue. A pipe leads from a tub by 

 the side of the well to the stable, about 150 yards off, 

 thus affording a convenient watering place for the stock. 



R. 

 A Virginia Housewife. 



[New York American Agriculturist, 9:227; July, 1850] 



[June ?, 1850] 



Some of our northern readers suppose that all at the 

 south, entitled to the rank of ladies, never take upon 

 themselves household cares ; that is, none of them are 

 housewives, in the sense which they are quaintly de- 

 scribed in Tusser. A housewife 



"Who seemeth in labor to equal the pains 

 Of husband who striveth to bring in the gains." 

 and again : 



"Though in field good husband it is needful should be, 

 Good housewife within is as useful as he." 

 Just such a one, at least, is one of my Virginia acquaint- 

 ances. She is a lady in every acceptation of the word — 

 wife of a wealthy gentleman who resides in one of those 

 elegant mansions upon the banks of James River, upon 

 one of the six first-settled estates in the ancient colony 

 of Virginia. Notwithstanding she has numerous serv- 

 ants to do her bidding, yet no matron of a New-England 

 farmhouse is more of a housewife than this lady. 



On a recent visit to this most lovely and interesting 

 family, I found the lady in her kitchen, personally super- 

 intending the operation of putting up the lard of fifty 

 porkers, for family use — a duty as she assured me, 

 which she had not failed to attend to but once while she 

 had been mistress of that house, and in all the time, 

 never had failed to have sweet lard at all seasons, the 

 great secret of which lies in personal superintendance, 

 to know that it is cleanly rendered and well cooked, and 

 put up, not too hot, in sweet tubs, (oak is the best wood,) 

 or good stone jars, and these put away in a cool place. 

 True, the time has not been a very long one, for she is 



