More on Motherhood and Keeping a Home

I just finished reading an excellent book on "The Remarkable Influence of Visionary Daughters on the Kingdom of God" by Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin (So Much More). The were ages 19 and 17 when they wrote the book, and I found their perspective both interesting and challenging. Because this relates so well with other recent posts, I am including some important passages from the book.

"Being a housewife is an illegitimate profession. . . The choice to serve and be protected and plan towards being a family-maker is a choice that shouldn't be. The heart of radical feminism is to change that." (Vivian Gornick, University of Illinois, The Daily Illini.)

"What a traditional woman did that made her home warm and alive was not dusting and laundry. . . Her real secret was that she identified herself with her home, [and] . . . it is illuminating to think about what happened when things went right. Then her affection was in the soft sofa cushions, clean linens, and good meals; her memory in well-stocked storeroom cabinets and the pantry; her intelligence in the order and healthfulness of her home; her good humor in its light and air." (Cherly Mendelson, Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House.)

Referring to wifely duties : "I can understand how this might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it. . . How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about [arithmetic], and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman's function is laborious because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness." (G.K.. Chesterton)

"Though the Proverbs 31 woman's work was praised int he gates, it did not take place in the gates, but in the home. It was the woman's husband who took his place in the gate (Prov. 31:23), and the implication is that his success and influence was largely due to his wife's being faithful to her calling rather than trying to usurp his." (Anna Sofia Botkin and Elizabeth Botkin, So Much More, page 123)