1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



409 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HOME DUTIES. 



Would you see ■woman in her most lovely char- 

 acter, her most proper position ? Then seek her 

 not amid the dust and turmoil of city life, not be- 

 neath the glare of gas light in the crowded ball- 

 room, or the round of shopping, calls, and gossip- 

 ing, M'here, I am sori-y so many women seem so 

 happy, but in the sweet, quiet retreat of a farmer's 

 home. 



Home is a word that thrills the hardest heart. 

 Ah ! many a worn and weary man, now far away, 

 fighting for his liberty, and boldly facing the en- 

 emy, without one tremor of fear, quivers as though 

 in pain, at mention of his home, and will, when 

 night descends in mercy over the bloody scene, 

 weep bitter tears upon his hard, lonely cot, as he 

 thinks of the comforts that once were his, in that 

 beloved spot. And what makes our homes ? It 

 is woman. Sneer at her as you will. ])arade her 

 failings and weaknesses before the public eye, if 

 you choose, but for all that, it is her refining, 

 soothing, refreshing influence, that makes home 

 the loveliest place on earth. A man may have a 

 place to stay, eat, and sleep in, but it is the pres- 

 ence of woman that makes it a home, to be sought, 

 with eager steps, when work is finished for the 

 day, if she exert her powers as she ought, to make 

 it a pleasant spot. 



The farmer's life is one of toil. By the sweat 

 of his brow does he earn his bread, and ought not 

 woman to make his resting hours as happy as 

 hours can be, here in this weary Avorld ? Shall 

 she not beguile him from his care, make him for- 

 get, for awhile, his corn and potatoes, and in- 

 dulge in a higher enjoyment than mere tilling of 

 the soil aff"ords ? It is for her to place the easy 

 chair beside the inviting fire, and on the hearth 

 the soft slippers to receive the tired feet. It is for 

 her to draw up the little table, with its dainty, 

 white cover, and place thereon a gloAving light, 

 the evening paper, and a tempting dish of apples, 

 pears or nuts. With such influences, can a far- 

 mer do otherM'ise than forget the hard toil of the 

 day, and revel in a pleasure the city man can 

 never feel ? 



And thus, to place all the refining influences of 

 home around the former's hearth, the woman, the 

 presiding genius of the spot, must not be allowed 

 to work too hard herself. Woman will droop and 

 pine, grow cross and fretful, forget others in think- 

 ing of her own aches and pains, if, from the rising 

 of the sun till late into the stillness of the night, 

 she must work incessantly, with no hope of rest, 

 till she finds it in her lowly grave. If there are 

 butter and cheese to make, hired men to Avait 

 upon and cook for, and no daughters large enough 

 to help the tired wife and mother, let her hire 

 some one to do it. 



To be sure, it will take quite a sum out of your 

 yearly profits ; but, my good friend farmer, had it 

 not better come out of the profits, than out of the 

 faithful companion you have chosen for life ? Wo- 

 man is often blamed and found fault with, for not 

 doing more work than she is really able to per- 

 form. If woman is true to her nature, if she is 

 such a wife as she should be, she will faithfully do 

 all she is able, and if she come short, know, ye 

 men who carelessly complain, that it is lack of 

 strength, not will. 



The calm of a farmer's home is just the place 

 for love and harmony to dwell. Jars, discords, 

 and family quarrels should never mar the lovely 

 scene. What more beautiful than a pretty, com- 

 fortable farm-house, nestled among trees, and sur- 

 rounded by fields of waving grain and rustling 

 corn ? All the better qualities of the heart must 

 involuntarily spring forth, amid such influences. 

 And shall it be said that Avoman fails to do her 

 duty, in such a field as that ? No ! wives and 

 mothers, be up and doing. Let the subduing at- 

 mosphere around you quell all fault-finding, pee- 

 vishness and ill-temper, and may your influence 

 be such, that the farmer's life may always be, as it 

 often is, the happiest to be chosen. Sarah. 



ABOUT CISTERNS. 



Eds. Rural New-Yorker : — In a late num- 

 ber of your journal some one wishes to know the 

 best way to make a good cistern, and as I have 

 made cisterns for the last eighteen years, I am 

 willing to give my experience for what it is worth. 



Cisterns can be made all shapes and sizes, but 

 the best shape is round, because it is the strong- 

 est. A very good size for family use is about 7 

 feet deep and 6 feet wide when finished. The. best 

 way is to wall up the sides with stone laid in good 

 lime mortar, (either stone or water lime will an- 

 swer, but water lime is the best,) it should then 

 be covered with a brick arch 8 inches thick, the 

 arc;h to rise about 18 inches, in shape like a cal- 

 dron kettle turned bottom side up. A place to go 

 in and out must be left in the arch by making a 

 frame of good plank, or plates of iron cast for the 

 purpose, and built solid in the arch. Sixteen 

 inches square is a good size for the opening. 

 Other holes can be left in the arch to receive tubes 

 to conduct in the water, to conduct off" waste wa- 

 ter, and to put in a pump if needed. The top of 

 the arch should be 10 inches or a foot below the 

 surface of the ground, to keep it from the frost. 

 Another frame should now be made two inches 

 larger than the first, and set on the top of the first 

 one. This leaves a ledge an inch wide to receive 

 a cover made to fit inside the top frame, and fas- 

 tened, to keep out children and creeping things. 

 It must now be plastered with two coats of good 

 water lime mortar on the inside, and if the work 

 is done thoroughly, you will have a cistern that 

 will last from generation to generation. — Rural 

 Neio- Yorker. 



The Tomato as Food. — Dr. Bennett, a pro- 

 fessor of some celebrity, considers the tomato an 

 invaluable article of diet, and ascribes to it very 

 important properties : 



"First, that the tomato is one of the most pow- 

 erful aperients of the liver and other organs ; 

 where calomel is indicated, it is probably one of 

 the most eff"ective and least harmful remedial 

 agents known to the profession. Second, tliat a 

 chemical extract will be obtained from it that will 

 supersede the use of calomel in the cure of dis- 

 ease. Third, that he has successfully treated di- 

 arrhoea with this article alone. Fourth, that when 

 used as an article of diet it is almost sovereign for 

 dyspepsia and indigestion. Fifth, that it should 

 be constantly used for daily food ; either cooked, 

 raw, or in any form of catsup, it is the most 

 healthy article now in use," 



