1146 STATISTICS OF GARDENING. PART IV. 



which they are themselves oppressed. If the man had limited himself for twenty-five years 

 to making the heads of pins, he might have accumulated as much as would have made him 

 independent and comfortable, and still had sufficient time before him to marry, and enjoy 

 the comfort and solace of a wife and children. But the use of a wife to a gardener, and 

 to every man who is not independent, ought to be chiefly as the operative partner in his 

 domestic establishment ; to prepare his food, and keep in order his lodging and clothes. 

 If, in addition to these duties, she has cultivated, or will cultivate her mind so as to be- 

 come interesting as a companion, so much the better ; and if the parties further think 

 that they can attain their object of independence, and rear one or two children, let them 

 do so. Universal sources of happiness should never be rejected, when they can be 

 retained. 



