Thanks for forwarding this important bit of history. Since my roots are from the Carolinas, I'm particularly interested in how they lived. Does anyone know what years this refers to? While I appreciate the hardships born on our ancestors I, as a wife and mother, wonder in what century this piece was written. Certainly, no compassionate, educated male of this century would refer to us as "...bontons of the elite society that we have with us today pretending to be wives and mothers." What a knucklehead! In many ways, our lives are no easier today than they were then. Most of the Southern had slaves to assist them with their "household" chores and they had very large families who could share the burdens of the daily tasks. Not so today, our families are much smaller and most of us can't afford cleaning people or others to assist us with our daily lives. We may be, not only wives and mothers, but housekeepers, cooks, career women (required to support the family), volunteer, and often student all at the same time. I did enjoy the article, but I just had to put in my 2 cents. Sue J.