I wonder how long it would take to name, just merely to name, all the
duties which fall upon the woman who, to use a common phrase, and a
true one, carries on the family. Suppose we try to count them, one by
one. Doing this will help to give us that clear view of the present
state of things which it is our present object to obtain; though the
idea reminds me of what the children used to say when I was a child,
"If you count the stars you'll drop down dead,"--a saying founded,
probably, on the vastness of the undertaking compared with human
endurance. It certainly cannot be called trivial to enumerate the
duties to which woman consecrates so large a portion of her life,
especially when we remember that into each and all of these duties she
has to carry her mind. Where woman's mind must go, woman's mind or
man's mind, should not scorn to follow. So let us make the attempt;
and we need not stand upon the order of our counting, but begin
anywhere.

Setting tables; clearing them off; keeping lamps or gas-fixtures in
order; polishing stoves, knives, silverware, tinware, faucets, knobs,
&c.; washing and wiping dishes; taking care of food left at meals;
sweeping, including the grand Friday sweep, the limited daily sweep,
and the oft-recurring dustpan sweep; cleaning paint; washing
looking-glasses, windows, window-curtains; canning and preserving
fruit; making sauces and jellies, and "catchups" and pickles; making
and baking bread, cake, pies, puddings; cooking meats and vegetables;
keeping in nice order beds, bedding, and bedchambers; arranging
furniture, dusting, and "picking up;" setting forth, at their due
times and in due order, the three meals; washing the clothes; ironing,
including doing up shirts and other "starched things;" taking care of
the baby, night and day; washing and dressing children, and regulating
their behavior, and making or getting made, their clothing, and seeing