At Home in Nineteenth-Century America by Amy G. Richter

Author:Amy G. Richter [Richter, Amy G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780814769140
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 2015-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

Poets and essayists have sung and written a great deal about the beauty and simplicity of the poor man’s home, and theorists have employed the aid of art to prove that contentment and poverty are inseparable; but “The Cotter’s Saturday Night,” “The Village Blacksmith,” “The Flat-Boat,” etc., as illustrations are far more welcome to the rich man’s parlor than would be the living realities which they represent. The whitewashed cottage, the clean-swept hearth, the creeping vines, the fresh-budding flowers, and “the moss-covered bucket,” afford themes for highly-colored pictures of humble life, which never fail to captivate romantic misses and sentimental young men, whose ideas of “love in a cottage” form a part of their youthful dreams. Those who enjoy wealth and luxury too often derive their impressions from the artist’s pencil or the fine-spun theories of magazine writers, and settle down in the belief that the poor are exempt from many cares incident to riches, and that it’s “all moonshine” to prate of the distress and privations of the toiling poor. This outside view of poverty is very apt to satisfy the conscience, and shut out from the heart those feelings of charity which make us “feel each other’s woes.”

But there is an inside view of poverty which the true Christian and philanthropist will sometimes pause to gaze upon. The smile of cheerful greeting, as wealth passes the door of poverty, is not always an index to sunshine within. The canker gnaws none the less when pride places the “best foot foremost,” and many a weary and worn soul struggles hardest to keep up appearances in the darkest hour of adversity. If the poor man is blessed with a thrifty wife who turns his weekly pittance to the best advantage, his condition, and that of the family, are proportionately benefited; but what can the affluent know of the pinch and stint, the self-denial and privation practised to “make both ends meet”? What one throws away as mere offal, the other dishes up in various ways to tempt the palate; for nothing must be wasted in the poor man’s home. One selects the rib or juicy sirloin, the other must be satisfied with the neck and other cheap pieces; one can have his pick, while the other must be content with the refuse of the market. The toiler must put up with nourishless soups and frequent meatless meals. Deteriorated tea and coffee must suffice, when it can be afforded at all; and, as to clothing, a change of inferior domestic fabrics is all that he can aspire to.

This is the difference between rich and poor, under the best management; but it as often occurs with one as the other, that want of experience, indolence, or incompatibility of temper, proves the curse of the household. Such a condition of things is, indeed, a calamity to the poor. The former can provide against this misfortune by hiring help—but not the latter. With them it sometimes happens that the husband is idle, intemperate, or improvident, and, on the other hand, the wife may be thriftless, slovenly, and wasteful.

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