1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



129 



made, or ready knit, and refusing- to let his wife 

 work at what she can not niakotliree cents an honr, 

 perhaps. ]t may be by getting- her needed help, or, 

 if they are too poor foi- any other way, by taking- 

 hold and helping- her at work that mnst be done. 



At an institute this winter T had the pleasure of 

 hearing- a paper read by a farmer's wife, a quiet 

 little ladj'. She was so thoroughly well posted and 

 well read, as shown by what she said, that I was 

 much surprised. I was invited home with them, 

 and there drew out the secret of it all. She had an 

 intelligent husband, three small children, and did 

 her own work; but all through the long winter 

 evenings, while she was busy with her Avork, her 

 husband had read aloud to her, for their mutual in 

 struction and i)leasure. This had been done all 

 through their married life. Now, here was a man 

 who was a man indeed ; or was the praise i)art due 

 to the wife? I noticed a quiet twinkle in her eyes 

 when she told me there was nothing like beginning 

 right with a man. While he was ready to fall down 

 and worship her, she got the good habit well fixed 

 on him. I hope the young people who read Glean- 

 ings will take a hint from this. It certainly is a 

 grand idea. The wife's labor would be lightened 

 if her mind were busy with what her husband was 

 reading. 



But, how about us older ones? I am afraid wo 

 shall have to arrange so our wives will not need to 

 work evenings, and then let them read for them- 

 selves. Not having been brought up to it. I am 

 afraid we should not make out well at reading 

 aloud. 



I am sorry enough that I did not begin that waj'; 

 but now it is too late. I^'or years I have insisted that 

 my wife should not do any work after supper. She 

 generally minds, but not always. I do not want to 

 beaten-hour man with a si.xteen-bour wife. God 

 gave each of us minds, and intended, donbtlcss, that 

 we should each spend a reasonable amount of time 

 in their improvement, and in enjoying life, not that 

 one should do all of that and the other be a mere 

 household drudge. 



Have you ever noticed, friend Root, how manj^ 

 men there are who do not think of taking their 

 wives with them when they go away anywhercV 

 They foi-get how terribly they need a rest, and 

 something new to look at and think of. Are their 

 wives so overworked and worn out that they are 

 ashamed of them, or have they got into the way of 

 neglecting them, and it is only mere thoughtless- 

 ness'? Sometimes the former, but usually the latter, 

 I think. Let every married man who reads this 

 stop and think if he takes his wife with him as 

 much as he ought to, as much as he did when lie 

 was tlrst married. If not, why not? It is your 

 simple duty, and it ought to be your pleasure. You 

 say, perhaps, she does not care to go. Well, how 

 did you ask her? As politely, and as though it would 

 be a pleasure to you to have her, as you did in your 

 courting days? Now, didn't you say something like 

 this? " Wife, 1 will take you along if you want to 

 go," with a tone of voice that says plainly you 

 rather hope she won't? Why not say heartily, "Come 

 on, wife; I should not enjoy it at all without you "? 

 The more she stays at home, the less she will care 

 to go; and still the more she needs the change. 

 When you get her out, act so that common people 

 will say, "They haven't been married long; you 

 can see that plainly enough." Then I will warrant 

 she will enjoy it, and want to go again. 



I have felt badly this winter, several times, to see 

 an audience of two or three hundred men, almost 

 without a lady, at our institutes. There is some- 

 thing wrong there. Where the audience is half 

 ladies, the speaker can feel the difference almost 

 before he opens his mouth. I remember several 

 years ago a farmer took me home from an institute, 

 to dinner. He had added farm to farm until worth 

 a hundred thousand dollars. We had a good dinner, 

 but the tired-looking wife at the head of the table 

 spoiled it for me. As I was leaving the house I 

 said to her, "Can you not get out to our meeting 

 this afternoon?" She replied, " I do not see how, as 

 I have not been asked." Her husband then said, 

 "Oh I Mary doesn't care much about getting out," 

 and hurried me oU'. 1 had a subject that afternoon 

 that gave me the chance, and some strong words 

 were said for his benefit that were not in the pre- 

 pared paper, but which I couldn't keep back. It 

 makes me angry now, just to think of it. I have 

 never seen the friend since; but I pray to Heaven 

 that he may have stopped the mere accumulation 

 of dollars, and given Mary the rest and some of the 

 enjoyment he could so well afford. If he has not, 

 she has probably gone to her long rest ere now, or 

 else her mind has given way from the endless 

 monotony of her work, and she is one of the numer- 

 ous thousands of overworked mothers who people 

 our insane asylums. 



In conclusion, 1 want to tell you of one of the best 

 compliments I ever got. Friend J. H. Seymour, 

 now our County Treasurer, once invited me to come 

 to a political meeting. " Is it a vilace for ladies? " I 

 asked. "Certainly," he says; "if it hadn't been, I 

 shouldn't have asked you; for I know you wouldn't 

 come to town without your family." 



Hudson, Ohio, Jan. 14, 18S8. T. B. Terry. 



Friend T., if it had not been for your 

 work in the institutes, very lili;ely you could 

 never have written the above vvords. God 

 has called you to take up this matter in l)e- 

 half of the poor overworked women at the 

 head of our farmers' homes. There are 

 women, I know, who can speak for them- 

 selves, and who do speak for themselves ; 

 but there is a large class who stay at home, 

 as you tell it, and give up, and go down to 

 their graves without ever discovering how 

 much happiness there is in store for them 

 if they were once induced to get a little 

 more among the world and among people. 

 You know how heartily I am in sympathy 

 with yoti in all this, from my reply to your 

 last article on page 87, last issue. In fact, 

 it made me smile to think how intently I 

 had been considering this very problem. If 

 our readers have forgotten it, will they 

 please turn to the page above mentioned ? 

 God has placed us here on this earth— both 

 men and women — to be social creatures ; 

 and a curse falls upon us when we neglect 

 to go out among people and interchange 

 ideas with our fellow-men. Reading good 

 books and papers is well so far as it goes ; 

 but it can never take the place of these 

 face-to-face meetings — this matter of form- 

 ing friendships and intimate acquaintances 

 with the good people of the world. It is 

 Satan who whispers to us that the world is 

 all a deceitful show. The world is a good 

 deal what we make it, and there is ten times 

 more danger of our thinking too ill of our 



