346 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
only when she took a notion to go. There was 
no habit of study fixed, and so she got discour¬ 
aged, and disgusted, with all kinds of books that 
required any thinking. She had as little disci¬ 
pline of body as of mind, could not sew well, did 
not know how to make up a bed, or to darn a 
stocking, could not broil a fish, or boil a pudding. 
Some how% her mother seemed to think, these 
every day matters were not worth attending to. 
She said she was going to make a lady of Eliza, 
and marry her off 10 some rich man, who would 
not want a wife that knew how to work. She 
was going to have her “larn the ornamentals,” 
as she called them ; music, painting, embroidery, 
dancing, and such like. Sally used to say that 
she did not know enough about the lessons to last 
her over night, when she left the academy, and 
I do not think she has learned much more about 
the common branches since. She was sent off 
to a fashionable boarding school in your city, 
when she was fifteen, where they do nothing but 
put the polish on to young women. But I should 
like to know what is the use trying to polish a 
woman, before you have got a woman to polish. 
You can put the shine on to a leather boot for 
there is some substance to it. But you might 
rub brown paper, with the best of Day and Mar¬ 
tin, till doomsday. afUfl^not get a bit of gloss ; 
there ain’t substance enough to hold the blacking 
And you can put the polish on to marble, and 
bring out leaves and flowers, and all sorts of or¬ 
namental things, upon the surface, but you might 
as well undertake to polish hasty pudding, as to 
do anything with soap-stone. It won’t hold the 
stroke of the chisel, or respond to the touch of 
pumice stone. 
And it is jest so with sending a woman in the 
gristle to a fashionable boarding school. A girl 
wants to be solidified by home duties, and solid 
studies, before she is fit to be sent away to take 
on polish. Something ought to be done for her 
physical education, to make her body fit for the 
responsibilities of house keeping, and I don’t know 
of anything better than to have her help her 
mother. A woman has no business to be mar¬ 
ried until she has shown her capacity to keep 
house. They should know how to do every thing 
from washing dishes, emptying slops, making 
soap, and yeast cakes, up to the nicest kind of 
cooking, and needle work. 
If they are ignorant of these things, accom¬ 
plishments wont save them from mortification, 
and domestic unhappiness. They will be as bad 
off as poor Eliza was, at her first dinner party, 
after she got into her new house. She had not 
been married to Dr. Sturgis more than two 
months, before she invited a company of their 
friends to dine. The Deacon and his wife were 
there, and quite a number of middle aged and el¬ 
derly people like Mrs. Bunker and myself. There 
was a great display of silver ware, and fine linen 
upon the table, forks, castors, spoons, napkin 
rings, and fruit dishes, that you could see your 
face in, and china plates, platters, and vegetable 
dishes with gilt edges, and nosegays in the mid¬ 
dle so handsome and natural, that you could al 
most smell the perfume of the flowers. There 
was an air of triumph upon the face of Mrs. Deti- 
con Smith, as we sat down to dinner, as much as 
to say, “ now we shall see w hat it is to have a 
daughter educated at a fashionable French board¬ 
ing school, and keep house in style.” There was 
considerable unction about Mr. Spooner’s grace 
before meat, as if he had got it up for the occa¬ 
sion. The company were in the best of spirits, 
and Dr. Sturgis w-as slicing away at the turkey’s 
breast, when attention was suddenly arrested by 
sundry corn, oats, and buckwheat, slipping out of 
the undressed crop of the fowl. The women 
folks at that end of the table put their handker¬ 
chiefs to their noses, as if they had got wind of 
something that did not smell like the roses on 
the bottoms of their plates. Mrs. Deacon Smith, 
fidgeted about in her chair, as if she was on pins. 
Eliza looked as crimson as a beet, clear to the 
roots of her hair. The Deacon was at the other 
end of the table, very busy discussing the last 
sermon, or election, with Mr. Spooner, and did 
not see the trouble. Our Sally looked wicked, 
and winked across the table to Josiah, and there 
was a twitching about Josiah’s mouth, that I 
should say was wficked also, if he w»as not a min¬ 
ister. Dr. Sturgis got over the matter nicely, by 
remarking upon the undone condition of the tur¬ 
key, and calling a servant to remove the dish. 
Fidelity to truth, I suppose, did not require him 
to tell whether the rawness pertained to the cook¬ 
ing, or the dressing of the fowl, or the housekeep¬ 
er, that lay back of both. Fortunately a liberal 
allowance had been made for the dinner, and the 
boiled fowls, purchased of a farmer who married 
a housekeeper, as well as a woman, did duty for 
the roast turkey cooked with his crop in. 
Now I suppose a good many of your readers 
among women folks, will hold up both their hands 
in astonishment, at my standard of a good house¬ 
wife. I say it is a shame and a disgrace, for an 
American woman, not to know how to do every 
thing that is done, or ought to be done, in her 
kitchen. There is just as much merit, and wom¬ 
anly worth, in knowing how to bring a turkey 
upon the dinner table, so that it shall not be of¬ 
fensive to the smell and taste of her guests, as 
there is in singing a good song, or in dressing in 
good taste. It adds very much to the comfort of 
a woman, to know how to fro everything from 
garret to cellar. The polish is all well enough, 
but let there be something in the first place, to 
put the polish on to. This doll-work, in the place 
of a good old fashioned wife that knows what 
she is about is poor business. 
Now what I want to say to all parents that are 
bringing up girls is just this. Do not be afraid of 
putting them into the kitchen—that school ot 
womanly virtues—and keeping them there, till 
they can tell the difference between a churn and 
a tea kettle—till they know how to scour a skil¬ 
let, black a stove, wash a floor, and cook a turkey. 
Yours to command, 
Timothy Bunker, Esq. 
Hookertown , July 1 st, 1859. 
—- -o « ■■i r3 <gt Bi ii »i i |i q i - - 
Suggestions About Dress. 
BY ANNA HOPE. 
To dress well is of no little importance. By 
dressing well I by no means intend dressing/asA- 
ionably or richly, but dressing neatly and tasteful¬ 
ly, according to one’s means. A person may be 
quite as ill-dressed in silk as in calico. One of 
the first considerations should be to adapt our 
dress to our position in life ; to our pecuniary 
means, our employment, and our persons. That 
which is suitable for one person and one occasion 
may be wholly unsuitable for another. A school¬ 
girl does not need the dress which she may prop¬ 
erly wear when she becomes a young lady, nor 
does she need for school that which she may wear 
at home after school hours are over. For school, 
a dress should be plain and neat, of simple mate¬ 
rials and almost devoid of ornament; rich em¬ 
broidery, delicate laces and handsome silks are 
out of place in the school-room, at least. 
It is not in good taste to wear gay attire to 
church—the house of (Jod is intended for a place 
of worship, not for the display of millinery, or of 
dress. In the Church, as in our schools, all meet 
on terms of equality, and while ther.e will ever be 
rich and poor, it is well in these places to make 
the distinction as slight as possible. A plain dress, 
too, is more suitable for the street, than one which 
patterns after Joseph’s coat. ■ 
The two things most essential in a dress are, 
that the color should be becoming, and that it 
should be well-fitted. For a dark complexion 
dark colors, relieved by decided, bright colors, are 
much more becoming than light colors or the 
beautiful drabs worn by the Friends. It requires 
but a little relief to give these dark colors all the 
life they need, and this may often be found in the 
ribbon of a head-dress—or of under-sleeves, or ia 
a simple bow at the neck. It is always better to 
have too little color than too much. 
Persons of a doubtful complexion, neither fair 
nor brown, require dark tints. Delicate pinks 
should be worn only by the fair—deep rose-color 
may be worn by the children of the sun. Light 
blues, too, belong to the fair ; bright deep blues to 
the dark ; the same is true of light and dark 
greens. 
To every person there is a particular style of 
dress which is most becoming ; this, of course, 
will vary with age. Dress should be as individual 
as the person who wears it; it should be, so far 
as possible, an outward manifestation of the in¬ 
ward being. Indeed it always is so, to a less or 
greater extent, according to one's pecuniary abili¬ 
ty to copy that which taste requires. The plain¬ 
est attire will reflect inward beauty as truly as 
the most magnificent. This individuality of 
dress may he preserved', and yet not be at vari¬ 
ance with the prevailing fashion. It makes fashion 
its servant instead of being itself subservient to 
fashion. A short, thick person should not increase 
her width and diminish her height by sleeves full 
puffed at the top. A slender woman may look 
well in such sleeves. A very long waisted dress 
is rarely becoming, especially to a short person. 
Fashion usually decides how high or low in the 
neck a dress should be ; it may be cut too high as 
well as too low; it seems almost a pity to con¬ 
ceal the delicate curve where the neck rises from 
th« shoulders. A tree loses much of its beauty, 
that is covered above the point where nature 
made it spring so gracefully from the earth. 
Avoid all tawdriness, all violent contrasts, all 
inharmonious colors; study nature; learn from 
her what is beautiful and tasteful; she makes no 
mistakes, and is the best teacher we can have. 
Always wear something white about the neck; 
a dead white, like a linen collar, is not so becom¬ 
ing as a thinner maierial ; it forms a line of di¬ 
vision between the dress and the person—lace 
unites the two. Lace, however, should not be 
worn except for dress ; a narrow ruffle, neatly 
crimped, is very pretty in these days of surplice 
waists. Thin-soled gaiters for the street, I am 
happy to say, are entirely out of fashion ; I hope 
women have said good-bye to them forever, for 
such use. 
A neat, well-fitting glove, and gaiter, and a nice 
handkerchief, are three important, although small 
articles of dress. They mark the lady—yet per¬ 
sons of taste are often compelled by their limited 
means to wear a glove or gaiter, or carry a hand¬ 
kerchief that is in conformity more with their 
purse, than their wishes. I think we can judge 
very much of man or woman by the glove. A 
few years since several pairs of kid gloves were 
given me, and from economical considerations, I 
felt it expedient to wear them. They were ill cut, 
miserable things, and I never drew one on my 
hand without an emotion of disgust, and it would 
have afforded me real pleasure to have dropped 
