Drudgery by Mrs. M. C. Du Bois

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 30, 1908

“Drudgery”

By Mrs. M. C. Du Bois

MRS. M. C. DU BOIS

Not long ago in a conversation I heard this remark made by a young married woman concerning domestic affairs: “I do not intend to make a drudge of myself for any man; I shall take life easy, and not slave myself to death.” Her friend replied, “I did not look upon housework as drudgery, and never felt myself a drudge, in doing my own work and in making my home pleasant.”

The wife who finds housework a drudgery is to be pitied. True, one often gets very tired in the daily round of household duties; but I never feel to complain, but rather to be thankful for health and strength sufficient to do my work. Experience teaches that much of the so-called drudgery in housekeeping may be dispensed with by a little system and forethought. There is a happy medium between extreme neatness and slovenliness. It may not always be possible to keep the house in “apple-pie order.”

I have lived the greater part of my life on a farm, and know full well the work required of a farmer’s wife; but still in my busiest days, when caring for a growing family, I was very happy, and never thought of my work as drudgery.

By being systematic, by doing one’s work up each day, whether one feels just like it or not, the housewife can keep ahead of her work. A plain table, with plenty of plain, well-cooked food, is far better than a table loaded with rich foods and pastries. It is better for those who eat and for those who prepare the food.

Both boys and girls should be taught to help with the housework, to put away their own things, and wait upon themselves as far as possible, thereby saving much work some would call drudgery.

Never retire leaving the sitting-room and kitchen in confusion. It is very much easier in the long run, even if tired at night, to put things in order before retiring. Books and papers put away, chairs set in place, scraps picked from the sitting-room floor, make quite a pleasing change from an untidy, littered room. In the kitchen, after the little feet were at rest, I have often cleaned the floor, and felt well repaid in the morning, as I would begin the work of another day.

By taking thought, we may save ourselves many unnecessary steps, thereby saving time in which to read the Bible and other good books. And here let me say, Keep plenty of clean reading-matter on your table. It is poor economy to starve the mind.

The brides of to-day begin housekeeping under far more favorable conditions than did those sixty and seventy years ago. Yet I do not remember of hearing any complain of drudgery. That wife undervalues her home work, who looks upon it as drudgery.

In the hand of every wife is put a scepter of power, which she wields for good or ill. Destinies most sacred are entrusted to her keeping. Will she prove faithful to her trust, taking the words of Paul as her incentive, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, . . . for ye serve the Lord Christ”?

Could every wife do this, and seek to glorify God in making her home pleasant, she would enjoy her work, and feel she was doing what God had given her to do, as much as those who are apparently doing a greater work in the world.

By properly performing our humble, every-day work we are serving God just as surely as is the person who is doing “great and noble things for him.” It has been said by one, “The good, old-fashioned home life is dying out.” Men and women forget the great responsibilities resting upon them. Money-getting, pleasure-seeking, and fashion are first and foremost in far too many of our homes.

May God help the fathers and mothers to realize, before it is too late, the magnitude of the work of training their children in the way they ought to go.

Grand Ledge, Mich.