Then were to be seen families of daughters, handsome, strong women,
rising each day to their in-door work with cheerful alertness--one to
sweep the room, another to make the fire, while a third prepared the
breakfast for the father and brothers who were going out to manly
labor: and they chatted meanwhile of books, studies, embroidery;
discussed the last new poem, or some historical topic started by graver
reading, or perhaps a rural ball that was to come off next week. They
spun with the book tied to the distaff; they wove; they did all manner
of fine needle-work; they made lace, painted flowers, and, in short,
in the boundless consciousness of activity, invention, and perfect
health, set themselves to any work they had ever read or thought of.
A bride in those days was married with sheets and tablecloths of her
own weaving, with counterpanes and toilet-covers wrought in divers
embroidery by her own and her sisters' hands. The amount of fancy-work
done in our days by girls who have nothing else to do, will not equal
what was done by these who performed, besides, among them, the whole
work of the family.
In those former days most women were in good health, debility and
disease being the exception.
Pages:
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460