Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
The building and the pulling down are not literal erecting or demolishing of a house, but how a woman manages home life and what rightly comes into her hands. The wise woman builds her house by strengthening, supporting, and upholding her household. She makes the home a happy, peaceful, and comforting place whose tender, holy influence extends outward. That home renews her husband's strength for his work and troubles and sustains him through life's difficulties.
She does this by keeping the home neat and clean, cooking, having meals ready on time, and keeping system, order, firmness, and decision. She practices thrift and economy by holding on to what rightly comes into her hands and gaining by every proper means what economy shows should be hers. She spends money wisely and never lets means go to waste through carelessness, so the family can save. In this way her firmness, decision, and economy uphold the household.
The foolish woman plucks her house down with her own hands by indolence, folly, and a troubled home. She hates housework and sewing, leaves dishes and clutter piled everywhere, dresses well to go out but is slovenly at home, and keeps no appointments or system. She is extravagant and wasteful, letting waste run free, spending faster than her husband can bring in, and wasting a good income until nothing can be saved.
Such conduct undermines and weakens her husband and brings despair. It breaks the bonds of the home until the hearth is deserted and the family ruined. It causes homes to be mortgaged and sold. It brings the house of happiness to fall in ruins around her, leaving her husband discouraged and tempted to abandon the marriage.
Caring for and keeping a home has value alongside any other work a woman is able to do. Mothers who fail to teach their daughters to keep house, cook, and spend money will have to answer for that neglect.
The building and the pulling down are not literal erecting or demolishing of a house, but how a woman manages home life and what rightly comes into her hands. The wise woman builds her house by strengthening, supporting, and upholding her household. She makes the home a happy, peaceful, and comforting place whose tender, holy influence extends outward. That home renews her husband's strength for his work and troubles and sustains him through life's difficulties.
She does this by keeping the home neat and clean, cooking, having meals ready on time, and keeping system, order, firmness, and decision. She practices thrift and economy by holding on to what rightly comes into her hands and gaining by every proper means what economy shows should be hers. She spends money wisely and never lets means go to waste through carelessness, so the family can save. In this way her firmness, decision, and economy uphold the household.
The foolish woman plucks her house down with her own hands by indolence, folly, and a troubled home. She hates housework and sewing, leaves dishes and clutter piled everywhere, dresses well to go out but is slovenly at home, and keeps no appointments or system. She is extravagant and wasteful, letting waste run free, spending faster than her husband can bring in, and wasting a good income until nothing can be saved.
Such conduct undermines and weakens her husband and brings despair. It breaks the bonds of the home until the hearth is deserted and the family ruined. It causes homes to be mortgaged and sold. It brings the house of happiness to fall in ruins around her, leaving her husband discouraged and tempted to abandon the marriage.
Caring for and keeping a home has value alongside any other work a woman is able to do. Mothers who fail to teach their daughters to keep house, cook, and spend money will have to answer for that neglect.