A BREAKFAST-TABLE CO.WERSATIOX. 307 



(a most miserable, flat-footed, down-headed beast), and going directly to the cow- 

 pen, very near his house, met Mr. H. witii his pail in hand, just about to join his 

 men, and lake his own station to pull away at the well-tilled udder of a well-fed 

 cow. Here, methinks, I can almost hear the southern reader, sitting probably 

 at that very moment In his piazza, whiffing his fragrant Havana, while his care- 

 less colored women were half-milking some twenty cows a mile off, without su- 

 pervision or responsibility — we almost fancy we can hear him exclaim, " That 's 

 enough, sir — you need not proceed. Where one reason is all-sullicient, the rest 

 may be omitted. If the man milks his own cows, I give it up .' for, with such a 

 root, any tree must flourish !" But let us get along with our sketch. 



Mr. Hall, laying aside his milk-pail, insisted that we shuuld go into his house 

 and take a seat, that being deemed a sine qua non toward getting acquainted, 

 and discharging, on his own part, the duties of hospitality. In exterior his dwell- 

 ing was as unpretending as dwelling could well be — like Col. C.'s, at Saratoga ; 

 but like his, too, inside all cleanliness and comfort. By the by, who can avoid — 

 for the life of us we never could — on entering a dAvelling, the true province and 

 dominion of the good huswife, from slyly casting around to see how things look 

 in her department — whether the windows are washed, paint scoured, hearth 

 cleanly swept up, cupboard neatly arranged, mantle and chairs and chair-boards 

 dusted, cobwebs not a speck to be seen — all, all " set ia order," and neat and 

 clean " as a bandbox"? But, gentle ladies, even all that, let us warn you, does 

 not satisfy the judgment of men who, while they may closely scrutinize your 

 housewifery, entertain, as we profess to do, the highest possible respect for the 

 important, the noble station which Providence has assigned you in the eyes of all 

 men of sense, and which honor and duty alike enjoin upon you to fulfill, with 

 care and with pride, whatever, whether high or low, may be your rank or for- 

 tune ; but, if possible, with more obligatory force and necessity in the country 

 than elsewhere. 



Too well are all men of observation aware that all is not gold that glitters — 

 the fairest looking apple is sometimes rotten at the core. The hall, the parlor, 

 the show-rooms, and all apartments in common view, may indicate minute atten- 

 tion and good taste on the part of the mistress, whose eye is best of all brushes ; 

 and yet, as it sometimes happens, the chambers of such a house may be the re- 

 ceptacles of fllth — the cellars the convenient repository of every offal — the kitch- 

 en the scene of waste, and lounge of every idle loafer about the place — the dairy 

 be poisoned with the bad odors of superfluous moisture and half-scoured utensili?. 

 "We have seen such establishments with disgust ; but much more doth it rejoice 

 us to say that we have known and enjoyed establishments (when we had one to 

 enjoy) where " the lady of the house," like the truly brave soldier who, when 

 roused at midnight, springs at once to his arms, ready to do battle — so can such 

 a woman, in proud defiance of the strictest scrutiny, take husband or stranger by 

 the light of the lamp or the light of the sun, by day or by night, from the garret 

 to the cellar — open every closet and every drawer — and demand, "Where do you 

 find, in my department, a pin or a feather out of place, a mickle of waste, or a 

 garment without a button V But, to achieve all this, she should have all need- 

 Jul help. Such only is the woman who deserves the name of a good housewife ; 

 hut he who possesses her possesses a treasure of inestimable value, and bad in- 

 deed must be his own management if, with her thrift and her example and en- 

 couragement, he fail to thrive. " She looketh well to the ways of her household, 

 and eateth not the bread of idleness." 



(643) 



