Then, too, was seen the economy of daylight
and its pleasures. They were used to early rising, and would not lie
in bed, if they could. Long years of practice made them familiar with
the shortest, neatest, most expeditious method of doing every household
office, so that really for the greater part of the time in the house
there seemed, to a looker-on, to be nothing to do. They rose in the
morning and dispatched husband, father, and brothers to the farm or
woodlot; went sociably about, chatting with each other, skimmed the
milk, made the butter, and turned the cheeses. The forenoon was long;
ten to one, all the so-called morning work over, they had leisure for
an hour's sewing or reading before it was time to start the dinner
preparations. By two o'clock the house-work was done, and they had the
long afternoon for books, needle-work, or drawing--for perhaps there
was one with a gift at her pencil. Perhaps one read aloud while others
sewed, and managed in that way to keep up a great deal of reading.
It is said that women who have been accustomed to doing their own work
become hard mistresses. They are certainly more sure of the ground
they stand on--they are less open to imposition--they can speak and
act in their own houses more as those "having authority," and therefore
are less afraid to exact what is justly their due, and less willing
to endure impertinence and unfaithfulness.
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