OUGHT MEN TO SEW ?

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 701, 19 July 1869, Page 4

OUGHT MEN TO SEW ?

(From the New York Morning Post,) Mr. Beecher relates in the Ledger, that when he was a boy he did not like to go to school, and was let off by his mother on condition that he would work in the house: — A long checked apron was made for me. It was my duty to set the table, to wait on others during meals, to clear off the things, shake and fold the table-cloth, wash the dishes, scour the knives and forks, sweep up the carpet, dust the chairs and furniture, and, in short, to do the whole of a

'second girl's work. With such relish did I pursue my tasks that my mother could not withhold her commendation, though she was always sparing of praise. To these tasks I soon added the hemming of towels and napkins, and of coarse fabricationsbags, ticks, and such like. During this period I also continued my stable work Being healthy and vigorous, I enjoyed the training, and was never so good a boy, at home, as during the six months thus employed, nor would I for any consideration spare the knowledge I then obtained. It has been of incalculable value to oie all my life. I have never been afraid of breaking down and having nothing to do. The woiil is full of business if a man has a head and a hand to attend to it with. 1 am not naturally expert at manual craft, yet there are few things I cannot do after a manner.

How does Mr Beecher like washing dishes now ? When New Yorkers and Brooklynites send their families into the country, in the summer, business sometimes keeps them in town; and some men, in such cases, Lave been known to cook their own breakfasts at home. If this ever happened to Mr Beecher, how did he like washing the dishes after breakfast ? We remember a story of a Brooklyn man who enjoyed cooking his own breakfast, but who gave it up when he had used up all the available plates, cups, and saucers. His method was to set away, every morning, the dishes which he had used for breakfast, and to take out a clean set the next day. But the Revolution takes up the question of housework in earnest, and asks:—-

We should like to know why all boys should not be trained to do housework and sew as well as girls ? Just look at the time farmers have in the winter evenings. Now, if they had sewing machines, they could do a greater part of the family sewing, and thus relieve their nervous wives and daughters from the most exhausting work they do. Women work all day and sew all night, while men sleep and read the newspapers. Women who work all day and sew all night do themselves injustice, and ruin their health ; and the Revolution would do well to impress upon its readers. The sewing that cannot be done by daylight ought to be left undone; and we suspect that when farmers' wives sew at night, it is less the fault of their husbands than their own. If men had to do " housework," that mass of drudgery would long ago have been simplified. Men have one great ad vantageover women; they rebelagainst drudgery, women accept it. " Who would be free themselves must strike the blow." But men should learn to cook. That is a calling for which women, for many reasons, are less fitted by nature and by dress than men. That they have so universally accepted it is an evi lence that they do not wisely select their employments.