156 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



For the New England Farmer. 



NEW ENGLAND HOUSEWIVES. 



The following literary curiosity is from the 

 Southern Planter, published at Richmond Va., and 

 is worthy of the attention of our readers, as well 

 for the peculiar force of its logic, as for its enlarged 

 views of the rights of man, and the true position 

 of woman. A few passages are put in italics, that 

 they may be the more readily referred to. 



NEW ENGLAND HOUSEWIVES. 



Many a time liav»we heard the matrons iil' Virginia bemoan 

 tlieir Ini. Tlie ordinary troubles of a family are to them ag,- 

 gravated by what they think the hard res|ionsibiIilies of their 

 conditioii in the midst of slaves, whose labors in many cases 

 they must direct, whose well being it i.s at all times a part of 

 their duly to consult, and whose comfort in sickness, in infan- 

 cy and in age, it is, or ought to be their special province to 

 provide for. We have never sympathized with their repin- 

 ings, because we have always thought that such labors were 

 good for them — that slavery had done them a decided benefit 

 ir^ liivins them something to do; and that something equally 

 well calculated to employ their hands and to engage their 

 hearLs. We have always regarded it as one, and by no means 

 the least, of the blessings which ive ascribe to slavery, and 

 which makes us love the word, that it compels us, by interest, 

 if yon choose, to dispense the charities of life with no niggard 

 hand, and to contribute so much of the poor rates without niu 

 aicipal requirement. 



VVe have sometimes heard these ladies compare their stale 

 with the imaginary comfort of free-soil dames, and, from mere 

 weariness of spirit, wish themselves surrounded by the same 

 circumstances of ease, comfort, and e.vemption from domestic 

 care. We have combated this notion with them, have repre 

 senled to them their superiority in the very particulars which 

 formed the topics of their disparagement, and have exhorted 

 them to patience and thankfulness. Of late we have been 

 aided in these views by the two novels of a very charmin^ 

 writer, and have shown them how, both in Q,ueechv and The 

 Wide, Wide World, the authoress, having by her pictures 

 of New England Rural Manners, shown its unfitness for the 

 abode of the highest female refinement, has, in each case, 

 translated tier heroines to England in order that they might 

 continue to maintain the highest graces of country life. Still 

 our friends have been incredulous. These were but novel , 

 they said, and the lady that wrote them, charming as she was^ 

 and no doubt sincere, filled too with the most beautiful sense 

 of propriety, and refined to the utmost tension of female del 

 cacy, was yet rather high strung, and may have pushed her 

 fastidious imagination into matters of fact. But what can be 

 said, when, (as in the following extracts from the address of 

 Mr. FRiiNCH, associate editor of the New England Farmer 

 from which paper we have taken it, an address accredited to 

 us by ihe regular editor as one of the three best that he had 

 ever seen,) "the peculiar station which woman occupies in 

 New England society" is made the subject of stringent com- 

 ment in a public speech. We shall not attempt to add one 

 touch to this picture by a native limner, familiar with the 

 scene he paints, and endorsed for accuracy by one of the lead- 

 ing agricultural journals of his section. We offer this picture 

 to the contemplation of our lady readers. It is not of our 

 drawing. Let them ponder it— let them consider that "o tna- 

 jorily of the wives of respectable New England farmers 

 aye, and of men of all other classes," in the country, are ex- 

 pected by their husbands "«o be at the same tiine cook and 

 chambermaid, lady and serving girl, nurse and se?npstress 

 and governess, laundress and dairytnaid;" and then let then 

 ask themselves, first, if they would change places with tht 

 New England matron.' and .second, if <A«/r husb.mds would 

 impose as much Inbor on four slaves as ihe men of New Eng- 

 land require of one wife.' 



'be 

 moan their lot." They envy 

 North, "and wish themselves surrounded by the 

 same circumstances of ease, comfort, and exemption 

 from domestic care," but he tells them they are 

 ignorant of their true position, and he has, even, 

 as he says, "combatted this notion with them" and 

 "exhorted them to patience and thankfulness." 



Surely, the ladies of Virginia, are entitled to a 

 more respectful hearing, than this writer seems 

 willing to give them. I have regarded these 

 southern matrons as a highly educated, refined and 

 intelligent class, over whom the natural principles 

 of justice and humanity, and the teachings of the 



religion of Christ, have a controlling influence an 



influence too powerful to be successfully "combat- 



"The matrons of Virginia," says the writer, 

 lOan their lot." They envy the ladies of the 



ted" by the poor sophistry of the author of the 

 foregoing article. 



They justly complain of the burdens which sla- 

 very imposes on women. lie has "never sympa- 

 thized with their repinings," but has told them 

 bluntly that ^ ^ such labors ivcre good for them — that 

 slavery has done them a decided beneBt, in giving 

 them something to do." His argument would 

 seem to be correctly stated, in the following syllo- 

 gism. Labor is good for them, slavery brings them 

 this labor, therefore slavery is good for them. A 

 most ingenious form of argument to establish the 

 general proposition, that their condition is superi- 

 or to that of "Freesoil Dames," because the latter 

 are in a position to labor! 



But, perhaps, in the peculiar Mndo? labor which 

 slavery imposes on southern ladies consists the 

 blessing which that "peculiar institution" brings 

 to them ; the cae, for instance, of some score or 

 two of "the images of God in ebony," "in sick- 

 ness, in infancy and age," which, to use again his 

 language, "refines to the utmost tension of female 

 delicacy" the character of woman ! No doubt the 

 nursing and watching over those, so degraded as 

 to be unfit to take care of each other — an office which 

 might well engage the attention of a Sister of 

 Charity, or of an angel from Heaven, is, for the 

 most part, faithfully performed by Virginia ma- 

 trons, in their households ; and this, surely, is a 

 mission beyond the reach of Northern ladies, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, the matrons of our almshouses and 

 hospitals. 



But that Southern ladies should regard such a 

 necessity, however salutary its discipline, as "a 

 hard responsibility," and a burden peculiar to 

 themselves, shows their just appreciation of their 

 position. 



The Planter invites a comparison between the 

 position of woman at the North and South. We 

 have enough at home to engage our attention, 

 and need not to be reminded that our state of so- 

 ciety is imperfect — that we have wrongs to be 

 righted, and sins to be repented of, and unless 

 challenged to do so, have no desire to institute 

 comparisons between our condition and that of our 

 Southern neighbors. 



Personally, I am identified with no abolition or 

 freesoil party, but have the feeling of every true 

 man at the North on this subject, and if I have 

 ever said, or thought, or done anything that may 

 be fairly construed into a justification, excuse or 

 apology for slavery, except as a mei-e temporary 

 necessity, I humbly desire to repent of that trans- 

 gression. If I have said, that the condition of 

 woman is hard at the North, I have never said, for 

 I have never thought, that it was more desirable 

 at the South. 



Without considering the one-half of the sex, 

 that is bought and sold, and scourged, and every 

 way dishonored, at the will of others, where slave- 

 ry exists, a single glance at the position of a 

 Southern lady as a mother, and a teacher of her 

 children, vt-ill be enough to satisfy Northern wo- 

 men, that indeed, the heart of the Southern ma- 

 tron "knoweth its own bitterness." 



In the address, from which the editor of the 

 Southern Planter has endeavored to deduce an ar- 

 gument for slavery, I spoke honestly, and earnest- 

 ly, to New England men, of the condition of New 

 England society, and cautioned them against allow- 

 ing their personal schemes of business, or amuse- 



