Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
465 
rude unless the mother strives to he something more than a house¬ 
hold drudge. There is danger that our husbands may blush for our 
ignorance—even though our homes may he models of neatness and 
economy. 
Does the farmer work harder in the field than his wife in the 
house? If he needs the evening hour to read the papers, hooks, or 
that he may improve his mind, does not the wife need the same 
time to rest and read, and cultivate her mind? If he can drive to 
the concert, lecture room or Grange hall, why may not she accom¬ 
pany him, if she leave her children in proper care? Rest and 
amusement is just as necessary in one case as in the other; and if 
instruction is to be derived from such sources, both equally need 
it, and should receive it together. 
Woman needs relaxation from the continual sameness of her 
work, and her mind will be stronger and her body healthier if a few 
hours are occasionally taken for rest, to say nothing of the improve¬ 
ment it might produce upon her temper, a consideration of which 
all husbands will readily see the propriety. 
Some housekeepers might have more time for rest, did they not 
consume so much in useless fancy work—in needless piecing and 
patching, in intricate work, which if beautiful when done, is neither 
useful nor commendable, and only weakens the eyesight and irri¬ 
tates the nerves, without adding an idea to a mind already too 
vacant. Again there are some who spend much valuable time in 
fashionable follies and frivolous pursuits to the neglect of all men¬ 
tal improvements. But among farmers’ wives they are few, and we 
trust their number may speedily grow less, for such occupations are 
all unworthy to be ranked with culture of the mind. 
While we should delight to ornament our homes with beautiful 
things in handiwork and art, it were better still to adorn the minds 
of our children with bountiful thoughts and holy aims, and spend 
more time in moulding their lives after the model ot the great 
Master. If but little leisure is allowed us, let us spend it in improv¬ 
ing our own or our children's minds. Instead of confining our little 
ones to the house to learn to knit and sew while they are yet mere 
babies, let us read or talk to them, tell them stories or take them 
with us to the beautiful fields, and while we may teach them lessons 
from nature, we shall also give them the air and the sunshine, and 
strengthen and cheer ourselves for renewed work in the house. 
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