Why it is that so many people believe that a farm woman, to fulfill her duty, must continue to be as primitive as possible, work as hard as her great-grandmother with little more equipment, and be content to see her city sister freed from all physical sports, one by one, through the help of commercial processes and improved home machinery?
Once upon a time, not many months ago, I went into a grocery buy supplies to for threshing. It happened to be a busy time, and the crew was coming a day or two earlier than we had expected. Among other things, I bought baker's bread. A friend of mine happened to be in store at the same time. She was astonished at my unseemly act. "Baker's bread -- and you live in the country!" she said. She is a woman who lives in town. She never bakes bread. Neither does she can fruit or vegetables or raise chickens or feed hired men or do her laundry. Why would she be so amazed that I, who do all of those some extent, should buy baker's bread when it suited my plans better than to bake it myself? Are all town women Marys, free to sit at the Master's feet, and all country women Marthas, obliged forever to fret over house and food?
Takes Duties Seriously
The majority of country women, I believe, take their duties as seriously as an other class of women and are anxious to do their share of the world's work. Since no human being can do everything, I believe the country women should be allowed to choose that work they can do from among the opportunities before them, with no questions asked. If a woman tends the house and a family of little children, and feels that she has not strength enough to go beyond these things, let her do them well and not try to tend a garden and raise chickens and mow the yard. If her children are older, and if she has strength enough, let her take on as many of the other duties as she can fully handle. If she can do all the family sewing and mending, washing and ironing, churning and baking, and still have a little time to read and rest, still be able to smile at husband and children instead of nagging at them -- all honor to her. But why, just because she lives in the country, should it be assumed that a woman has extraordinary physical strength and ability to manage?
I have known a town woman who would faint if her fond husband unexpectedly sent her out a bushel of peaches to put up. She would have to cancel all engagements for the day and perhaps have husband help with the peeling in order to take care of them. I have known country women who could run that much extra work in between the routine chores, without turning a hair. I have known women who were almost exhausted in caring for their two children -- no baking, no washing, no ironing, no fuel to carry, no outdoor chores to do, no canning, no window washing, no heavy cleaning. I have known others who raised families of as many as 11 children, cheerfully and efficiently, including these other duties, with the care of the little ones.
Gives Pertinent Answer
The whole question came strongly to me recently, when a Household friend sent in a clipping which will be quoted later in the column today. It is an editorial by an honest and eminent minister who is surprised and grieved to find that tin cans repose on the pantry shelves of corn belt farm houses. He has asked "Why tin cans?" And the Household friend who sent in the clipping has given him some very pertinent answers.
It is true that corn belt farms are fertile. It is true that they will produce great quantities of vegetables or fruits, as well as a variety of grains. We hear much talk of diversified farming, and the most prosperous farmers practice it. But by diversified farming we do not mean that one man tries to raise everything which his land is capable of producing. We mean he selects a variety of projects which are suited to his locality and which will fit together so that the labor, as the income, will be more evenly spread over the year. Farm women can usually find time to can what surplus is raised in the garden, but not many can take full charge of raising the garden crops. Nor can the men, for the season when the garden needs most attention is the time the corn has to be plowed and the alfalfa put up. To care for a fair-sized garden in an efficient way would require the full-time service of one able-bodied man. On most corn belt farms it will not pay to hire a man just for the garden. It is cheaper to raise what can be raised with the combined help of the family, for summer use, canning just the surplus (which will vary from year to year, according to the kind of season), and buy the balance of what is needed for winter food. An orchard or a berry patch requires considerable work. Some of it can be done at slack times; some cannot. The farmers themselves are the best judge of whether it pays to neglect other things for the sake of raising more fruit. A farmer's wife may make more by raising poultry than by tending garden. Every family will need to figure it out for itself.
Seems Waste of Energy
It always seems a waste of energy to can what can be kept satisfactorily without. Some vegetables can be salted down or dried with less trouble than canning. Some can be wrapped in paper or packed in sand or wet leaves or dirt and kept fresh far into winter. It seems unwise to can vegetables which require an undue amount of labor, or which can be more efficiently cared for commercially. Peas, for instance, are a tedious crop to can at home. There must be several pickings, for one thing; whereas, commercially, the plant and all is pulled by machinery at one time; the peas are podded and graded by machinery and canned with much less bother than at home, and at a very reasonable price to the consumer. The same principle holds good in regard to buying ready-made garments. Such standardized garments as men's nightwear, shirts, and union suits are made so efficiently and in such quantities that only a few cents can be saved on each one by making them at home. It is up to a woman to decide how much her time is worth and use it to the best advantage.
After all, it is not merely how much work a woman does that will measure her worth to Her family and her friends. It is how much work she can do while she keeps the family. Being gifted with less physical strength than the men, they must balance the ledger by providing other qualities, such as tranquillity, neatness, confidence and good humor. --Hope