154 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



but from whatever cause, the effect is an unmixed 

 evil ; and it is to be hoped that our religions pa- 

 pers and aU agricultural publications will persist- 

 ently draw attention to these things, so as to ex- 

 cite a higher sentiment in this direction. It can 

 be done and ought to be done ; and high praise is 

 justly due to to the Honorable the Commissioner 

 of the Agricultural Department, in that he has 

 expressly desired, that an article should be written 

 on the subject of the hardships and the unneces- 

 sary exposures of farmers' wives, to the end that 

 information and instruction should be imparted in 

 this direction ; it is at once an evidence of a high, 

 and manly, and generous nature. 



There are some suggestions to be made with a 

 view to lightening the load of farmers' wives, the 

 propriety, the wisdom, and advantages of which 

 cannot fail to be impressed on every intelligent 

 mind. 



A timely supply of all that is needed about a 

 farmer's house and family, is of incalculable im- 

 portance ; and when it is considered that most of 

 these things will cost less to get them in season, 

 and also that a great deal of unnecessary labor 

 can be avoided by so doing, it would seem only 

 necessary to bring the fact distinctly before the 

 farmer's mind, to secure an immediate, an habitu- 

 al and a life-long attention. The work necessary 

 to keep a whole household in easily running order 

 is very largely curtailed by having everthing pro- 

 yided in time, and by taking advantage of those 

 jli.ttle domestic improvements devised by busy 

 ;l)rfclns, and which are brought to public notice 

 vveekiy, in the columns of newspapers. 



It i:^guires less time and less labor to have the 

 winter's wood for house-heating and cooking 

 brought into the yard and piled up cozily under a 

 shed pr placed in a wood-house, in November, 

 than to put ;it off until the ground is saturated 

 .with water, allowing the wheels to sink to the hub 

 , in mud ; 01" until the snow is so deep as tu make 

 wheeling impossible. 



It is incalculably better to have the potatoes 

 and other vegetables gathered and placed in the 

 cellar or in an outhouse near by, in the early fall, 

 so that the cook may get at them under cover, 

 than to put it off week after week, until near 

 Christmas ; compelling the wife and servants once 

 or twice every day, to leave a heated kitchen, and 

 most Jikely with thin shoes, go to the garden with 

 a tin pan and a hoe, to dig them out of the wet 

 ground and bring them home in slosh or rain. 

 The truth is, it ])erils the life of th« hardiest per- 

 sons, while working over the fire in cooking or 

 washing, to go outside the door of the kitchen for 

 an instant ; a damp, raw wind may be blowing, 

 whicli, coming upon an inner garment, throws a 

 chill, or the clamminess of the grave, over the 

 whole body in an instant of time, to be followed 

 l)y the re-action of fever, or fatal congestion of the 

 lungs ; or by making a single step in the mud, 

 which is in tens of thousands of cases allowed to 

 accumulate at the very door-sill, for want of a 

 board or two, or a few flat stones, not a rod away. 



No farmer's wife who is a mother ought to be 

 allowed to do the washing of the family ; it is per- 

 ilous to any woman who has not a vigorous con- 

 stitution. The farmer, if too poor to afford help 

 .for that purpose, had better exchange a day's work 

 himself. There are several dangers to be avoided 

 while at the tub — it requires a person to stand for 



hours at a time ; this is a strain upon the young 

 wife or mother, which is especially perilous — be- 

 sides, the evaporation of heat from the arms, by 

 by being put in water and then raised in the air 

 alternately, so rapidly cools the system that in- 

 flammation of the lungs is a very possible result ; 

 then, the labor of washing excites perspiration and 

 induces fatigue ; in this condition the body is so 

 susceptible to taking cold that a few moments' 

 rest in a chair, or exposure to a very slight draft 

 of air, is quite enough to cause a chill, with results 

 painful or even dangerous, according to the par- 

 ticular condition of the system at the time. No 

 man has a right to risk his wife's health in this 

 way, however poor, if he has vigorous health him- 

 self ; and, if poor, he cannot aflbrd, for the five or 

 six shillings, which would pay for a day's wash- 

 ing, to risk his wife's health, her time for two or 

 three weeks, and the incurring of a doctor's bill, 

 Avhich it may require painful economies for months 

 to liquidate. 



Every farmer owes it to himself, in a pecuniary 

 point of view, and to his wife and children, as a 

 matter of policy and affection, to provide the 

 means early for clothing his household according 

 to the seasons, so as to enable them to pr&pare 

 against winter especially. Every winter garment 

 should be completed by the first of November, 

 ready to be put on when the first Avinter day 

 comes. In multitudes of cases valuable lives 

 have been lost to farmers' families by improvi- 

 dence as to this point. Most special attention 

 should be given to the underclothing ; that should 

 be prepared first, and enough of it to have a 

 change in case of an emergency or accident. 

 Many farmers are even niggardly in furnishing 

 their wives the means for such things ; it is far 

 wiser and safer to stint the members of his family 

 in their food than in the timely and abundant sup- 

 ply of substantial under- clothing for winter wear. 

 It would save an incalculable amount of hurry and 

 its attendant vexations, and also of wearing 

 anxiety, if farmers were to supply their wives 

 with the necessary material for winter clothing as 

 early as midsummer. 



Few things will bring a more certain and happy 

 reward to a farmer than for him to remember his 

 wife is a social being, that she is not a machine, 

 and therefore needs rest, and recreation, and 

 change. No farmer will lose in the long run, eith- 

 er in money, health, or domestic comfort, enjoy 

 ment, and downright happiness, by allotting one 

 afternoon in each week, from midday until bed- 

 time, to visiting purposes. Let him, with the ut- 

 most cheerfulness and heartiness, leave his work, 

 dress himself up, and take his wife to some pleas- 

 ant neighbor's, friend's, or kinsman's house, for 

 the express purpose of relaxation from the cares 

 and toils of home, and for the interchange of 

 friendly feelings and sentiments, and also as a 

 means of securing that change of association, air, 

 and food, and mode of preparation, which always 

 wakes up the appetite, invigorates digestion, and 

 imparts a new physical energy, at once delightful 

 to see and to experience ; all of which in turn 

 tend to cultivate the mind, to nourish the affec- 

 tions, and to promote that bi'eadth of view in re- 

 lation to men and things which elevates, and ex- 

 pands, and ennobles, and without which the whole 

 nature becomes so narrow, so contacted, so je- 

 june and uninteresting, that both man and woman 



