19th century women
...usehold and therefore it was seen as their job to take care of the children. For example, the editor of the McGuffey’s states, “the middle-class ideal depicted women as nurturers (Gorn 48).” By nurturers he means one that is able to care for somebody, which turns into being the one to look after the children. In addition, to show what the editor said in the McGuffey’s there is a poem that is from a child’s point of view talking about his mother, “Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair; Over my slumbers your loving watch keep; Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep! (Gorn 108).” It is shown here how the mother is to watch over her children and take care of them. Moreover, in the Women’s Diaries it talks about the hardship mothers had, “Accounts shade and darken in the pages of women whose energies were spent nursing and caring for infants and small children (Schlissel 115).” It says that their diaries turn in essence bleak because they are being overwhelmed with so many duties and then on top of that having to care for the children. Being on the trail made it very difficult for the women to perform these duties as the author points out, “The West to them meant the challenge of rearing a family and maintaining domestic order against the disordered life on the frontier (Schlissel 115).” The women had to face to challenge and they did in a way that shows that the men were not the only ones who had an immense amount of courage in this great undertaking. An integral part of the nineteenth century Victorian way of life was having strong morals. The women were seen as pure beings and therefore it was there job to keep the family unit moral. In The McGuffey’s it tells of how the morals were taught to kids very early on, “Victorian moral earnestness was especially aimed at children because it was believed that during youth the habits and ideas of a lifetime were formed (Gorn 59).” Since it was in the youth that they had to be taught these things the woman as the mother had to play an important role in teaching these to her children. Since the women’s place was the home she was expected to prepare meals for the children and the men when they came home from work. Meal preparation was one of the hardships for women on westward journey. For example, women had to cook for everyone and at times, “Last night for supper we had stewed peaches. They were all eaten up before we ladies had any. This morning we had rice and apples boiled together. They were also eaten up before we got any (Schlissel 102).” They would cook for everyone else first and eat last. In addition, since the food had to be cooked over fire what were the women to do when it rained, “In heavy rain, the women might dig a hole in the ground, jam in a hollow ramrod to serve as an air shaft, and then fill the hole with small rocks and bake the bread on these (Schlissel 80).” It seems as though these difficulties of the journey were no match for the inguinty of the women. Women in the Victorian era were seen as subservient to men in every way and that was their role in the institution of marriage. All over in the Women’s Diaries there are examples of the women having to follow the mans decision. For example, the diaries of the women explain in many different ways that, “the decision to cross the continent was a man’s decision (Schlissel 28).” In addition, there is a an example of a wagon train that was going to slip up and when it did it would separate daughter from mother, “Janet Stewart grieved, knowing that she and the other womenfolk had not been strong enough to oppose the men’s decision to push on (Schlissel 95).” Even though the women strongly opposed it they could not challenge the men’s decision. Throughout the 1800’s there were many of religious awakenings that spread through the country. The women in this time were to keep the family religious. In The Mcguffey’s a child asks their mother, “Mother, who made the stars, which light The beautiful blue sky? . . . ‘Twas God, my child, the Glorious One, He formed them by his power (Gorn 117).” The mother tells them that god is the one who created everything and that they must be thankful to him. In another example a mother tells her daughter of living life in a way of good faith and the child is described as pondering, “. . . carefully and seriously on what her mother had said. When she thought over her past conduct, a blush of shame crept to her cheeks (Gorn 118)....