Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 September 1874 — A Model Farmer’s Wife. [ARTICLE]

A Model Farmer’s Wife.

Matilda Fletcher thus describes a farmer’s wife who is not only beautiful and wise but possesses several cardinal virtues in addition: “The most beautiful woman I have ever known was a farmer’s wife who attended to the household duties for afaniily of four, and also assisted in gardening and the light farm work; and yet I never saw her hands rough and red, and never even saw a freckle on her nose. Impossible! you say; how did she manage? I never asked her, but she had some envious neighbors who went slouching around with red, scaly hands, sunburnt faces, and hair matted with dust and oil, who let me into the dreadful secret. They informed me with many an ominous shake of the head that she was just the proudest minx that ever lived; that she actually wore india-rub-ber gloves when she used the broom and scrubbing-brush, and always when she worked out-doors; that she also had a bonnet made of oil-silk, completely covering the head, face and neck, leaving only apertures for seeing and breathing, thus securing perfect freedom from sun, wind and dust. Did you ever hear of such depravity? She also fastened her dishcloth to a stick so that she, need not put her hands in hot water. For the same reason she accomplished her laundry work with a machine and wringer. And then to see her in the afternoon tricked out in a fashionable white dress, with a bright-colored ribbon at her throat and a rose in her hair, entertaining in tlie parlor, as though she was the greatest lady in the land, was more than her patience could endure^ And her husband! He had such a satisfied expression that it was a perfect aggravation to ordinary people to look at him. He deserved to be happy, because he encouraged and helped her to cultivate beauty in herself, her family and her Jiome; an d I don’t know but her success principally belonged to him, because he brought all the new inventions tna't could lighten her labors and all the delicate and pretty things she needed to adorn her home, and when she was sick he wouldn’t let her touch work until she was well and strong. Strange as it may seem, at such times he actually devoted himself to her with as much care and tenderness as lie would if she had been the most valuable horse on the farm.”