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THE ILLIjSTOIS F^^KMER. 



139 



The State Fair. 

 We loarn tbat the bnildinjrs and other fix- 

 tures on the Fair jrrounrls at Centralia are in n 

 fine state of forwardness, and will be all per^ 

 fectly completed in time. The buildings are 

 large and convenient, nnd all the other fixtures 

 and arrangements will he fully rqual to thoec 

 of any previous Fair. Our editorial brethren 

 will have a eommodions rooni for their e?peeial 

 benefit. Extensive eatirpand sleeping arrange- 

 ment'^ will be made about the grounds. Extra 

 ears will run to the different towns up and 

 down the road,'^, and even in Centralia accom- 

 modations for lodaings? will be found for 8,000 

 people. The hotels and private hou?es will be 

 reserved principnlly for the ladies. Among 

 other great nttractionK.for tliC farmer will be 

 seon certainly one, and pfspibly three, eteom 

 plow* The t'ini of rlr-.ws will be mo''o tbo.s 

 rou'^li aT;d intero-tmji than ni any prerioua 

 Fair. 



riloiliers. 



Whatever man's position maj be in 

 this Western country, woman's is a hard 

 one. And all this in an age of great in- 

 dustrial, social, and intellectual advance- 

 ment. Help, which is the name given 

 for servants in our repuhlican country, 

 is still scarce, and mothers have to toil 

 hard to make up th<; deficiency. Tlie 

 daughters, in a fairly prosperous family, 

 admitting; that thev have left SChool, do 

 less in this generation than they did in 

 former one. There is more required of 

 them intellectuallv. The general status 

 of societv. is more elevated, and vrith 

 what convcntioual usage demands, how- 

 ever absurd, there is ec>-tainly less work 

 expected of them than formerly. The 

 mother, under these circumstances, has 

 to assume the responsibility of the house- 

 hold, to perform its onerous duties, to be 

 up betimes in the morning, to be the la- 

 test, to bed at right. 



If we tak-e less prosperous conditions 

 of life, we shall find that toil has k-ss al- 

 leviation in the liouso than in the fields, 

 and wherever we look, in the city or 

 country, we perceive that woman has 

 the worst part to perform. Our view of I 

 the matter is tliis — that there is not gcu- ! 

 erally indoor help enough, that where i 

 there is too little the profits of the farm 

 suiFer, the butter and the cheese diminish 

 in quality and value, ragged clothing 

 and personal neglect take the place of 

 tidiness and thrift, and the sheer inhu- 

 manity of the thing, to her upon whom 

 the burden comes, makes life hardly en- 

 durable, as we think. The grasping at 

 too much land, at more cultivation than 

 can be profitably attended to, is the fruit- 



ful source of this suffering. A mother, 

 living out wearisome years, when under 

 more equable desires and duties she 

 would enjoy and lengthened her days, 

 is a sad commentary on the prevailing 

 habit of depriving our homes of their 

 needed help. 



Women that have been mothers are 

 difi'erent beino-s from those Avho have 

 not. The anxieties and cares incident 

 to the maternal relation, make great 

 draft upon the physical powers. When 

 to this be added constant hard work, 

 tlie sun of comfort has nearly set. Edu- 

 cation, too, begins with the child's dawn- 

 ing perceptions, and to fulfill her duty 

 bore i-equires the mo.-t of a mother's at- 

 tention. Of thcf daus'h^pr?. however 

 great the accomplishments they may 

 aim at, let them understand that house- 

 hold work, kitchen work, however home- 

 ly, is to our mind the greatest, and is 

 never incompatible with other attain- 

 ments in a well regulated family. We 

 know of no condition in this favored 

 country, there sljould be none, in which 

 degrading toil is inevitable, unless 

 through misfartime, and then if tliero be 

 virtue, there will be the rescue or our 

 experience is at fault. 



Tliere certainly can always be some 

 portion of the day appropriated to im- 

 provement. Girls brought up to con- 

 stant drudgery, are fit only for that ever 

 afterwards; the sternest utilitarian could 

 not desire such a destiny for his child. 

 As to help, how many distressed children 

 there in New York, and in all our great 

 sea-ports, and fur that matter, in our in- 

 land cities, to whom a place in one of 

 these countrv homes would save a soul, 

 would save our own, for we cornot take 

 a child from these positions without mr>- 

 tives of a higher than a selfish kind. 

 Of adult iemale help how much comes 

 from the European world, and the less 

 favored conditions of our own land, that 

 might be sought for and emplo^'cu, even 

 if we could comfortably do without it. 

 AVc can enter into no relation with oth- 

 ers in a spirit of indifference. Life is 

 too sacred for that, and "we may meet 

 angels unawares," — -in other words, good 

 muy redound to us from our intercourse 

 Vv'ith others, if we are open to receive it. 



In this Prairie State, blessed beyond 

 all others in fruitful fields, the infinite 

 has crowded upon us the fall hundred 



talents, and we should manfully and 

 womanly act up to, and not escape, from 

 the responsibility which it imposes. We 

 cannot live for ourselves alone, and we 

 live best for ourselves in a practical sense 

 as it will generally prove, when we live 

 to a certain extent, for others. 



There should then, according to our 

 reasoning, be more servants in our house- 

 holds, better than this, — help, — if we 

 can thus elevate it, more to do indoor 

 work, than we find there is in our West- 

 ern country. Economy is so much of a 

 virtue that if beginners can do without 

 help, then other improvement not being 

 neglected, or their health suffering, let 

 them do it; if they have the help and are 

 able to pay for it, so much the better, 

 for therein are they widening the useful- 

 ness of their possessions and the general 

 good of society. We think a sewing 

 machine is as necessary an implement in 

 in a farmer's family as a drill, cultivator 

 or mower is in the fields. Labor saving 

 machines are wanted indoors as WcJl as 

 out, they are co-laborers with the school, 

 the telegraph, and the railroad in helping 

 forward the condition of man. The in- 

 troduction of the spinning jenny in Eng- 

 land, though it met with great opposition 

 from the hand loom weavers, soon made 

 fabrics so cheap, gave them such exten- 

 sion and use, furnishing ample clothing 

 to the poorest and meanest subject of the 

 realm, that it at once stood forth as the 

 most beneficent invention of the time. 

 ^\ ashing machines, we trust, will be 

 furnished, ere many years, that will su- 

 persede the present slow and exhausting 

 manipulation that is so much dreaded by 

 females. The application of heat to 

 culinary purposes is another labor saving 

 process, that is attracting attention, par- 

 ticularly where coal is used for fuel, and 

 in cities, but which will in process of 

 time find its way into the country. 



That a higher era is dawning upon 

 industry, compressing labor into a small- 

 er compass, is perhaps the leading char- 

 acteristic of the present age, and is des- 

 tined, in the leisure which it affords, to 

 elevate man into a higher rank. That 

 'Ve do not live by bread alone," is be- 

 coming a substantial reality instead of a 

 mere Christian abstraction, expressed 

 without meaning or force. Sewinir ma- 

 chines, if they lift the needle woman into 

 a higher position, a worse she could not 



