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Flashback Friday Archive 2021-22: Flashback Friday: Week of March 11

March 7, 1872 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Messenger

POETRY — SPEAK GENTLY TO THY WIFE
Speak kindly, gently to thy wife,
She knows enough of sorrow;
Oh seek not from each petty ill,
An angry word to borrow.
For in her heart there’s treasured love;
Oh, prize its golden worth;
One gentle word, one smile of thine,
Can ever call it forth.

When thou art harsh, and stern and cold,
And from thine own dear home
The sunshine of domestic love
In sorrow seeks to ram,
Upon her heart thy cold words fall
And chill life’s tender life;
Then, oh amidst thy trials all,
Speak kindly to thy wife.

Speak softly, kindly to thy wife;
She may have left a home
Of cherished love, and to thine own
But scarce as far have come,
Though five or ten have told the time,
And thou hast shared its strife—
Whene’er thy footsteps onward turn,
Speak kindly to thy wife.

Speak kindly, gently to thy wife,
She may be growing old,
And soon ye both may garnered lie
In shadows of the mould.

March 7, 1922 – 100 YEARS AGO
Nyack Evening Journal

 THE HARING HOMESTEAD TO BE A TEA HOUSE
[Image: The Old Haring Homestead, Piermont, New York Times, June 11, 1916.]
       Mrs. Hester Folsom and Mrs. Kate Riker expect to open a tea room and high class gift shop in their home in Piermont sometime in the late spring.
       The place will continue to be called by its old name “The Haring Homestead.”  Mrs. Riker and Mrs. Folsom, daughter of the late John C. Haring, are direct descendants of the Onderdonk family, who built in 1739 the red sandstone house with six chimneys which is now to be a tea house.
       Mrs. Riker remarked last week: “This is one of the oldest houses in the county and George Washington did not sleep here.”
       There has not been a tea room in the vicinity of Nyack since the Dight Tea House was forced to close after a brief existence two years ago.

March 8, 1972 – 50 YEARS AGO
The Journal News

MOM, POOR MOM — YOU’RE EASILY WORTH $257.53 A WEEK — Will Wives Ever Get a Regular Salary? Fat Chance!
       Women’s Lib. Just mention the name to some of Rockland’s suburban housewives, “Sure, I’d love to get liberated,” they reply, “but first I’ve got to iron so the kids will have something to wear to school tomorrow. Then I’ve got to go over the budget to see if I can spend more than $5 on tomorrow's weekly shopping trip. Liberated?  Who’s got the time?”
       They’re right. According to an independent study done by columnist Sylvia Porter, the average American Housewife performs at least 12 well-defined jobs each day.
       The housewife is a nursemaid, housekeeper, cook, dishwasher, laundress, food buyer chauffeur, gardener, maintenance man, seamstress, dietitian, and practical nurse.
       For these diverse duties, the average housewife’s work is worth at least $257.53 a week. Fat chance!
       “If my husband ever decided to pay me a salary for what I do, we’d have to get a divorce,” said Mrs. C. B. McGill of Pearl River. “He just couldn’t afford me.”
       But Mrs. McGill admitted that all is not lost. “Doing housework is part of being married. You can’t put a value on it.” Mrs. Pierre Laurent, also of Pearl River, could not put a price tag on her work either. “You can’t judge the value of housework in dollars and cents. You have to do it with love and with feeling.”
       If there’s one thing Mrs. Peter Mucciolo of Nanuet does with love, it’s housework. It seems inconceivable that she would do what she does for any other reason.
       Her family consists of one husband, an NYC commuter on the Erie Lackawanna and a volunteer ambulance corpsman; four daughters, all but one a teenager; one son slowly going “loony” in a house full of females, and one “beautiful” cat named Friday, who just wandered in one day.
       “$257.53 a week!” she cried. $500 seems more like it.
_____

This Week in Rockland (#FBF Flashback Friday) is prepared by Clare Sheridan on behalf of the Historical Society of Rockland County. To learn about the HSRC’s mission, upcoming events or programs, visit www.RocklandHistory.org or call (845) 634-9629.

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