Article by Paul Masters

Years ago, my mother acquired a copy of De La Banta’s Advice to Ladies at an auction. She kept it carefully stored away for years in a Ziploc bag, but I doubt anybody in the family took the time to actually look at it. Just this past year I stumbled across it in her attic and I flipped through the leaves. Published in 1877, most of it is health, beauty, and etiquette advice, much of which would probably be confusing or amusing for the 21st-Century reader. However, I did find a few gems, including the following pages, which I scanned and have included below.

In these current times of rampant feminism seeking to “empower” women, this chapter, titled “The Home” will rub raw the nerves of the typical Western woman. It beautifully and elegantly portrays the role of the woman as a wife and mother, glorifying her natural God-given duties and encouraging pursuit of domestic tasks. Here are some excerpts which most struck me:

Children are becoming fewer and true mothers rarer still. Where children should be a blessing they are an intruding necessity, unwelcome visitors…

Woman may be well assured that the surest pathway to the highest happiness and honor lies through the peaceful domain of wifehood and motherhood.

To the true woman home is her throne…

Read the entire passage below to see what women were encouraged to be in 1877, before the “Suffragette Movement” had woven its insidious tendrils through the entirety of our social fabric. It’s a breath of fresh air and worth sharing with our young women today.