Maiden Writing Contest--Carolyn

Written and Submitted by: Miss Carolyn Moir, age 21

Why I Desire to Learn How to be a Keeper at Home

My mother went to graduate school and began a career, but when I was born she quit and became a full-time homemaker for the next twenty years. Growing up I watched her very full life. She taught Sunday school and made fresh food for a homeless shelter.

Inspired by her example, and by the books I read of "Anne of Green Gables," and my favorite Bible story, the Book of Ruth, I knew from a very young age that I wanted my career to be as a wife. Motherhood, if that comes, will be a blessing, but even without children there is plenty for a full-time wife to do. I always loved the stories of women who devoted themselves fully to their husbands and submitted themselves to him as though to Christ.

I began to prepare myself for marriage in my earliest years. From my father's mother I learned to knit and to cross-stitch, and I was soon sewing ankle-length skirts for my Barbie dolls. My mother was given a copy of a book called "Is There Life After Housework?" by Don Aslett and I loved it. It gave tips and hints on cleaning. I also learned ironing and laundry from my mother. I began to crochet doilies because Diana in the "Anne of Green Gables" books crocheted doilies before getting married. Apparently in that time women made as many doilies as possible and it was a matter of pride. I didn't know then, and I still don't really know, what the purpose of loads of doilies is, but I learned to make them anyway.

As I got older I began collecting books, articles and information on all aspects of housekeeping. I search the web frequently for sites about being a devoted wife. One book I'm very fond of is "Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House" by Cheryl Mendelson. It is a comprehensive, thick book on details of laundry and cooking and airing bedding and all sorts of subjects that thrill me. And Wendy Shalit's "Return to Modesty" inspired me greatly. My mother and I both wear almost exclusively skirts and I've always thought women who cover their hair are particularly lovely, but I never knew why. That book gave me reason to think I was not crazy.

Now I have just received my own sewing machine for Christmas and I'm looking forward to getting a pattern and learning to sew my own clothes. And from the moment I first started cooking I couldn't stop. I love making things as much from scratch as possible. My brother likes to tease me, saying it's not from scratch unless I've milked the cow myself. I haven't. But I hate pre-boxed meals and there is nothing more thrilling than making a sauce from scratch that most people buy, or baking a pie in a homemade crust. It is a deep instinct in me to create. Cooking is a process of creating something useful from raw materials, as are all the crafts I love.

I'm also in the process of gathering a book of the writings I have found over the years in the subjects of cooking, modest dress, solving marital problems, home decorating, craft projects, and frugality tips. I hope to put it together into a really solid book that will outline what it is to be a wife, adding to it as I learn from the experience itself and, hopefully, using it to teach my daughters.

I meet people all the time who have never heard of a modern woman (or any woman for that matter) wanting to devote herself to husband and home. I am unashamed to tell people that it is my ambition to be the best wife possible. Words like "piety" and "obedience" give me much more comfort than a word like "pleasure." It brings peace to my heart to stand in a kitchen with a long skirt and apron on, bringing out a meal to nourish my friends. That is how I serve God, in the details of an ordinary, quiet life.

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