Daily Dose of Common Sense

"If you complain of neglect of education in sons, what shall I say with regard to daughters, who every day experience the want of it? With regard to the education of my own children, I find myself soon out of my depth, destitute and deficient in every part of education. I most sincerely wish ... that our new Constitution may be distinguished for encouraging learning and virtue. If we mean to have heroes, statesmen, and philosophers, we should have learned women." - Abigail Adams (1744–1818), U.S. matriarch; wife and mother of United States President. Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution, letter dated August 14, 1776 (1875).

Survey Says...

What type of life do you think is best for women in general?

Homemaking & Family Raising
Boys 63% -- Girls 46%

Career
Boys 3% -- Girls 7%

Combination of Homemaking & Career
Boys 20% -- Girls 36%

Undecided
Boys 14% -- Girls 11%

This is from The Purdue Opinion Poll for Young People, 1948. The results are published in the Personal Adjustment Marriage and Family Living textbook I discussed briefly yesterday. From what I read in the text, the young people surveyed were high school age.

I wonder what the results would be today?

Sixty Years Back In Time

I have a small collection of old books. Mostly children's books and a few women's books too. Recently I bought 2 high school text books from the 1950s at a garage sale. They are Your Marriage and Family Living (1954) and Personal Adjustment Marriage and Family Living (1950). They are more "Sociology" than "Home Economics." The photographs and illustrations are a delight! The content is sometimes surprisingly liberal and not as old fashioned as I expected.

From page 218 Your Marriage and Family Living:

In our great grandparents' time the husband was a patriarch who ruled his family and provided for it. The wife was an obedient helpmate who confined her interests to home and children. Marriage today is approaching the ideal of equality between husband and wife. By discussing problems together, sharing views, sacrificing self-interest, they try to help each other realize the goals for which each strives.

Piety?

The most important virtue of the Proverbs 31 woman is found in verse 30:

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

This is the only attribute that matters, the rest are meaningless if the woman doesn't first and foremost fear & love the Lord.

Rule #1: Get Up Early In The Morning

A young wife ought to rise betimes in the morning, and after she be once awake should never doze. Dozing is both weakening to the body and enervating to the mind. It is wonderful how much may be done betimes in the morning. There is nothing like a good start. It makes for the remainder of the day the occupation easy and pleasant. How glorious, and balmy and health-giving, is the first breath of the morning, more especially to those living in the country! It is more exhilarating, invigorating, and refreshing than it is all the rest of the day. If you wish to be strong, if you desire to retain your good looks and youthful appearance, rise betimes in the morning; if you are anxious to lay the foundation of a long life, jump out of bed the moment you are awake. The early risers make the healthy, bright, long-lived wives and mothers. But if a wife is to be an early riser, she must have a little courage and determination; great advantages in this world are never gained without; but what is either man or woman good for if they have not those qualities?

- Wife and Mother; or, Information for Every Woman (1886)