"What furniture can give such finish to a room as a tender woman's face? and is there any harmony of tints that has such stirrings of delight as the sweet modulations of her voice?"-GEorge ELIOT. Home has the first claim. "The first thought of a wife or mother should be her home; all things, no matter how important, are secondary to that. No matter how rampant may become certain public evils, let her see to it that she keeps the evil out of her home, and she performs her greatest duty to her God, her family, and mankind." Various are the phases of home life in America. Brief glimpses of some of these domestic scenes and problems are given in this department of the Souvenir. Mrs. Agnes B. Ormsbee, well known for her instructive writings upon this pre-eminent department of woman's life, contributes the article upon "Wives and Daughters in the Home." It is fitting that Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher should treat of "Clergymen's Wives;" and Mrs. Jessie Benton Frémont writes with excellent taste of "Wives of Army Officers." Miss Leonora B. Halsted sketches graphically "The Social Leaders of Washington," and Mrs. Frank Leslie writes of "The Southern Woman Past and Present" with admirable discrimination. Mrs. Jenness Miller is authoritative upon the theme of the "Physical Culture of American Women," and Miss Spelman and Miss Hooker describe the home-life of "Everyday Women," and "Farmer's Wives and Daughters."-EDITOR. CHAPTER IX. WIVES AND DAUGHTERS IN THE HOME. THE BY AGNES BAILEY ORMSBEE. HE home has always been the unit of American civilization. Before the church or the school-house were built, the home conserved religion and education. From Plymouth Rock and the settlements along the James River to Puget Sound dominion has been pushed oftener by the family than by the individual pioneer. The obvious exceptions to this are the mining camps of the Sierras and the Rocky Mountains, but one may question whether those regions were fairly to be called civilized before the reign of the family began. And in those early homes, which were truly tabernacles built to honor God and to preserve liberty, who were the priestesses serving at the altars day and night, and keeping always burning the lamps of the fear of God and the love of freedom? They were none other than the wives and daughters of the household, women rarely "heard of half a mile from home," women toiling with the pots and pans, with distaff and loom, their hands hardened and calloused by daily tasks, their faces lined with vigils over rude cradles and trundle beds; yet their influence, humble in its first estate, has flowed on through the years like the tiny rivulet that leaves the mountain spring, gathering force and strength until it has become a stately river, bearing on its placid breast living ships, laden with noble purposes, high promises and earnest efforts, the glory of our common mother-land. These homely women did not question the right of the husband and father to be the family high priest, but with fervent hearts and faithful hands they filled their lamps with the mingled oil of love and duty. They did those things that lay nearest their hands, the cooking, the sewing, Author of "The House Comfortable," etc. |