104 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



vided with books and periodicals, musical instru- 

 ments, and all the necessary amenities. There 

 are good gardens and attractive premises, and a 

 sympathetic love of nature and of farm life on 

 the part of the entire family. 



On the other hand, the reverse of these condi- 

 tions often obtains, sometimes because of pioneer 

 conditions and more frequently because of lack 

 of prosperity and of ideals. Conveniences for 

 outdoor work are likely to have precedence over 

 those for household work. 



The routine work of women on the farm is to 

 prepare three meals a day. This regularity of 

 duty recurs regardless of season, weather, plant- 

 ing, harvesting, social demands, or any other 

 factor. The only differences in different seasons 

 are those of degree rather than of kind. It fol- 

 lows, therefore, that whatever general hardships, 

 such as poverty, isolation, lack of labor-saving 

 devices, may exist on any given farm, the burden 

 of these hardships falls more heavily on the farm- 

 er's wife than on the farmer himself. In gen- 

 eral her life is more monotonous and the more 

 isolated, no matter what the wealth or the pov- 

 erty of the family may be. 



