A Yankee Farmer's Wife.

Manawatu Standard, Volume x, Issue 1448, 7 September 1885, Page 4

A Yankee Farmer's Wife.

She lius received a certain amount, of instruction at apu'-lic school, then marries y«uinjj, ami lie-ins lier, to tne, herculean labors. It is her i>irt to perform sill the daily household tasks with but seldom any outside ai<l. She must make butter, milk the cow, feed therhicken 0 , and att,cnd to the kitchen garden, as well as to her special pet flower-beds suid vines. Then she 'harnesses her horse and drires to a neighbouring town to barter (as no one else can) with he»' butter, ej. r g-, and garden produce. If anything is broken or out of order m the house and farm, she niend^ it, and, being a woman of infinite resources, she may even construct some of her own furniture or paint, her fer.ee. Her " pailoiu- " is adorned with the latest absurdities m the way of worsted work or pressed botiqnets, while her store" oloset is well stocked nith preserves, an. l her garret hunj>; with diiwd fruits. It is probable that she bus children, and none are more thoughtfully tendered m all their needs, bo they physical, moral, or mental. The clothing of the family, even to their stockings and mittens, is her handiwork, while occasionally a garment is made for one of the village poor. But where is her self culture? say yon. Ah! there is the mystery — how and when i> it accomplished ? And there is no denying the fact, a narrow ! provincial education ih may be, but I that is owing solely to her circumscribed life. If you were to enter a small, commonplace, white-washed farmhouse m any of the struggling' New England villages, which appear little else than a cluster of huts m a wilderness to English eyis — if you were so bold as to enter m, and so fortunate as to have uninterrupted conversation with the mistress of the hou-se. you would find her a plain, probably- faded woman, clad m neat cali-jo, sharp, voiced and sharp- visu^ed, [lerhaps, bin gentle m manners, and dis»layin,g as she talks: a well cultivated intelligence, and inoie or less familiarity with literature m all its branches of history, philosphy, science, and belleslettres. You would find her a member of the nearest library, and a subscriber to all the leading periodicals. But m order to make this a strictly truthful account, I must add that she seldom reads the newspaper**, and is utterly devoid of that knowledge oE current affairs thai distinguishes particularly the women of New York and Chicago. Enftheii consider how. precious to her i« each moment of time, and ; how far is she removed from the centre of live and civilisation ! She has no amusements, no diversions, no tiips away ; nothing but the dull, everlasting grind. And yet is she patient and never I'esting from her round <>f necessary duties and that, to her, no less necessary one of .self-culture. Some one has beautifully said that '• the hand that rocks ihe cradle is the hand that rocks the world." The children of Priscilla — or, more correctly, " Sairey Ann" — will doubtless be ru-h, and some will call them parvenus, perhaps ; but as for her grandchildren and great grandchild) en, what may they not become ? — o assail' s Majnziue.