Our Farm Women

In the abstract most of us will agree that nothing is too good for farmers’ wives in general and for our own wives in particular, but our actions do not always correspond with our sentiments, and the fact of the matter is that too many of us do not realize what an enormous assistance labor-saving devices and modern conveniences in the home are to our wives. Undoubtedly there is good reason for this state of affairs in a great many cases. A young couple start farming with limited means, and every effort is turned to keeping the wolf from the door until the farm is running on a sound financial basis. There is little money to be spent. Our wives are anxious for us to get on, and even if we suggested that we should put in a water system so that running water would be available at all times in the kitchen, instead of spending the money in buying stock or fixing up the barn, ten chance to one our wives would be the first to object. To our mind the trouble is that our women folk are altogether too loyal and we men folk are a little too apt (no doubt through thoughtlessness) to improve on our wives’ loyalty. We may think that we work pretty hard, but we venture to say that the average woman works a great deal harder than her husband. She may not do the same amount of physical labor, but her hours of work are longer and she is more tired at the end of the day than her husband. The old saying that “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world,” is both literally and figuratively true - and if the work of farm women was made lighter by the installation of more labor-saving devices and modern conveniences in the home, we would not only be happier, but be living in a much better world than are to-day.

The next time you want to buy something that will make your own work easier, we suggest that you stop and think whether it would not really pay you in the long run better to spend the money in buying something for that good wife of yours.