From an 1895 book on life…

Women Who Make the Best Wives

1. Conscious of the Duties of Her Sex. - A woman conscious of the duties of her sex, one who unflinchingly discharges the duties allotted to her by nature, would no doubt make a good wife.

2. Good Wives and Mothers. - The good wives and mother are the women who believe in the sisterhood of women as well as in the brotherhood of men. The highest exponent of this type seeks to make her home something more than an abode where children are fed, clothes, and taught the catechism, The State has taken her children into politics by making their education a function of politicians. The good wife and homemakers says to her children, “Where thou goest, I will go.” She puts of her own inclinations to ease and selfishness. She studies the men who propose to educate her children; she exhorts mothers to sit beside fathers on the school board; she will even herself accept such thankless office in the interests of the helpless youth of the schools who need a mother’s as well as a father’s and a teacher’s care in this field of politics.

3. A Busy Woman. -As to whether a busy woman, that is , a woman who labors for mankind in the world outside her home, whether such an one can also be a good housekeeper, and care for her children, and make a real “Home Sweet Home!” with all the comforts by way of variation why! I am ready, as the result of years practical experience as a busy woman, to assert that women of affairs can also be women of true domestic tastes and habits.

4. Brainy Enough. - What kind of women make the best wives? The woman who is brainy enough to be a companion, wise enough to be a counselor, skilled enough in the domestic virtues to be a good housekeeper, and loving enough to guide in true paths the children with whom the home may be blessed.

5. Found the Right Husband. - The best wife is the woman who has found the right husband, a husband who understands her. A man will have the best wife when he rates that wife as queen among women. Of all women she should always be to him the dearest. This sort of man will not only praise the dishes made by his wife, but will actually eat them.

6. Bank Account. - He will allow his life companion a bank account, and will exact no itemized bill at the end of the month. Above all, he will pay the Easter bonnet bill without a word, never bring a friend to dinner without first telephoning home, -shore, he will comprehend that the woman who makes the best wife is the woman whom, by his indulgence of her ways and whims, he makes the best wife. So after all, good husbands have the most to do with making good wives.

7. Best Home Maker. - A woman to be the best home makers needs to be devoid of intensive “nerves.” She must be need and systematic, but not too neat, lest she destroy the comfort she endeavors to create. She must be distinctly amiable, ,while firm. She should have no “career,” or desire for a career, if she would fill to perfection the home sphere. She must be affectionate, sympathetic and patient, and fully appreciative of the worth and dignity of her sphere.

8. Know Nothing Whatsoever About Cooking or Sewing or Housekeeping. - I am inclined to make my answer to this question somewhat concise, after the manner of a text without the sermon. Like this: To be the “best wife” depends upon three things: first, an abiding faith with God; second, duty lovingly discharged as daughter, wife and mother; third, self improvement, mentally, physically and spiritually. With this as a text and as a glittering generality, let me touch upon one to tow practical essentials. I the course of every week it is my privileged to meet hundreds of young women - perspective wives. I am astonished to find that many of these know nothing whatsoever about cooking of sewing or housekeeping. Now, if a woman cannot broil a beefsteak, nor boil the coffee when it is necessary, if she cannot mend the linen, nor patch a coat, if she cannot make a bed, order the dinner, create a lamp shade, ventilate the house, nor do anything practical in the way of making home actually a home, how can she expect to make even a good wife, not so speak of a better of best wife? I need not continue this sermon. Wise girls will understand.

9. The Best Keeper of Home. - As to who is the best keeper of this transition home, memory pictures to me a woman grown white under the old slavery, still bound by it, in that little out-of-the-way Kansas town, but never so bound that she could not put aside the household tasks, at any time, for social intercourse, for religious conversation, for correspondence, for reading, and, above all, for making everyone who came near her feel that her home was the expressions of herself, a place of rest, study, and cultivation of affection. She did not exist for her walls, her carpets, her furniture; they existed for her and all who came to her. She considered herself the equal of all; and everyone else thought her the superior of all.

We have in our possession eight 1941 Life magazines. How they came to us, along with 80 other old books, was a little bit of a hectic ride - a few tears on my part I confess. Let’s just say, a garage full of books and I mean a GARAGE FULL of books, an offer to clean it out and keep the old books, offer allowed, dumpster, old message on a phone not received immediately, books in dumpster, thunderstorm, I cry, learn of the books still in the dumpster, quick truck ride over there, and hour and a half of digging through a dumpster retrieving the discarded magazines and books.

These magazines were in the process of WWII and refer to Hitler as easy as we refer to Hussein. Articles on the bombings of London as they happen, how to kiss a shy guy, and many others are sprinkled over the large pages. Last night I sat on my bed and for fifteen minutes was living in 1941, reading Life magazine, the originals. This is Momand I’s favourite cover…

“How to Knit” was issued only 13 days before Pearl Harbor. Notice the face she is making…

I love my old books! They are so quaint and have such stories surrounding them as they passed through someone’s hands, sat on different shelves, and were read by so many voices to countless listeners. From Chemistry books to The Coral Island by R.M.Ballantyne, the books are unique from their tattered covers, through their yellowing pages, to their loose binding.

From their crisp new pages that was given to an adventurous child at their birthday, through the years when they were then placed on shelves in a local library, and in their last remaining readings when a creature thirsty for literature flipped rapidly through their pages. Soon after, their bodies grew weary and hopefully found refuge on a sturdy shelf in the home of old book lover…like me:)

A Book by Emily Dickinson

There is no frigate like a book,

To take us lands away,

Nor any coursers like a page,

Of prancing poetry.

This traverse may the poorest take,

Without oppress of toll;

How frugal is the chariot

That bears a human soul.

This Wednesday, Mom and I left after school to go visit a new vintage store that had opened up. The hostess had been collecting treasures that she couldn’t let go to waste from rummages and other vintage areas and storing them up. And she prayed to God, that one day she could glorify Him through her love for  old items. And after a few years, she opened up a little antique shop, that she is able to witness to others that share her passion.

So we went, and immediately the place was adorable. There was a little pink fence, well it was really just the gate on the entrance of the sidewalk with absolutely no fencing. It was a cute idea…somehow retro. And then in the inside, it looked like a house / shop. The decorations are arranged like a house, except a few small display cases for the hundreds of small antique jewelry and powder boxes and oodles of things that I wanted to purchase. Mom had to remind me of discretion I became so excited.

In the end I purchased a lovely book on Flowers, written in the early 1900’s with watercolour pictures and adorable descriptions, and two postcards. Both are foreign, but one is printed with a scene of a lady and man picking flowers in the garden (also early 1900’s), and the other is a postcard with the Teddy Roosevelt Family dated in 1911. The language is Swedish, so I am thinking maybe an immigrant wrote it to his family back home. Just a guess.

But THEN, the most exciting part came. She said, “Did you see that lovely old book, that is in really good condition about Decorum?” I replied that I had not. And she brought the book over to me and showed me its pages. I fell in love….with a book. (Partly because I can never get over the image of Hetty King. of R.T.A. , spelling out to her rambunctious class “You shall all write a two page essay on decorum- D-E-C-O-R-U-M.) It is a decorum book dated 1880’s that is in perfect condition. No pages ripped, the binding still the original, I believe. And the greatest thing is, a wanna-be writer like myself, can catch up in personal detail about the rules and regulations that applied to my imaginary characters! I have been giddy since the book became my own. Mom has heard me say over and over again “I love this book!” And  I am determined to read bits and pieces on the way into town, piano lessons, visits, anything.

Now for the title of this post. As you can see in photograph #2 it says “Love a Universal Passion”, yes they even have a section on how to have a decorum filled romance, which I personally think everyone needs to have a crash course in. Well underneath the title it says

“We are all, at one time or another, conjugating the verb amo.”

To some that may seem like jibberish, but those who have studied Latin, can say for certain what amo means. It is the latin verb for love, and to conjugate means to add together, or saying “I love, we love, they love” etc. I read that to Mom, and we both chuckled ourselves silly. The saying is simple but so true. God has placed that ability and desire in every human (being created in the image of Him) to love another.