its success.  Probably, too, women more thoroughly believed then that her chief mission in life was to aid some man in his public affairs by keeping always in preparation for him a haven of comfort, peace, and love.  On the other hand, the father of colonial days undoubtedly gave much more attention to the rearing and training of his children than does the modern father; for the present public school has largely lessened the responsibilities of parenthood.  Both husband and wife were much more “home bodies” than are the modern couple.  There were but few attractions to draw the husband away from the family hearth at night, and hard physical labor, far more common than now, made the restful home evenings and Sundays exceedingly welcome.

Due to the crude household implements and the large families, the wife and mother undoubtedly endured far more physical strain and hardships than fall to the lot of the modern woman.  The life of colonial woman, with the incessant childbearing and preparation of a multitude of things now made in factories, probably wasted an undue amount of nervous energy; but it is doubtful whether the modern woman, with her numerous outside activities and nerve-racking social requirements has any advantage in this phase of the matter.  The colonial wife was indeed a power in the affairs of home, and thus indirectly exerted a genuine influence over her husband.  And not only the mother but the father was vitally interested in domestic affairs that many a man of to-day, and many a woman too, would consider too petty for their attention.

In spite of all the colonial disadvantages, as we view them, it seems undeniably true that those wives who have left any written record of their lives were truly happy.  Perhaps their intensely busy existence left them but little time to brood over wrongs or fancied ills; more probably their deep love for the strong, level-headed and generally clean-hearted men who established this nation made life exceedingly worth while.  Surely, the sanity, order, and stability of those homes of long ago have had much to do with the physical and moral excellence that have been so generally characteristic of the American people.

FOOTNOTES: 

[75] Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning, 1678.

[76] Letters of A. Adams, pp. 10, 89, 93.

[77] Brown:  Mercy Warren, pp. 73, 95.

[78] Brown:  Mercy Warren, p. 98.

[79] Wharton:  Martha Washington, p. 85.

[80] Smyth:  Writings of B. Franklin, Vol.  III, p. 245.

[81] Ravenel:  Eliza Pinckney, pp. 93, 175.

[82] Bassett:  Writings of Col.  William Byrd, pp. 356-358.

[83] Wharton:  Martha Washington, p. 153.

[84] Page 242.

[85] English Garner, Vol.  II, p. 584.

[86] Earle:  Home Life in Colonial Days, p. 160.