The Good Wives Fore-cast,
OR, THE
Kind and Loving Mothers Counsel to her Daughter after Marriage
My Daughter dear I pray give ear,
this Lesson I have learnd,
Ill tell to you, youl find it true,
a penny savd, is earnd.
Tune of, Why are my Eyes, still flow----ing, etc. This may be Printed, R.P.
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MY Daughter dear, now since you are become a Bride,
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Take these my Precepts for to be your guide;
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Therefore attend, and listen well; for they are these,
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First you must strive your Kind Husband to please;
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The next is this, which you must understand,
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Still to provide all things at the best hand:
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For I must tell you, this Lesson I learnd:
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A Penny well savd is as good as one earnd.
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Your Husband he by Labour dayly does provide,
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Both meat and Drink, likewise all things beside;
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Therefore besure you dont abroad with Gossips rome,
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For tis your duty to Keep your own home,
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Ery thing needful alwayes to repair,
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This must still be your industrious care,
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For by experince this Lesson I learnd:
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A penny well savd, is as good as one earnd.
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Some Wifes will boast that they their Familys main[tain;]
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And therefore over their Husbands may Reign,
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Yet take no rule, dear Daughter, by such wives as these,
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But still be careful your husband to please;
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What tho you cannot get so much as they.
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If you will learn but to honour, obey
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This is the furthest you need be concernd
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A Penny well savd is as good as one earnd.
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Daughter, for those that has been brought up to a trade,
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When they are marryd what use can be made
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Of that imploy, when as they have a Family,
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To guide and govern as it ought to be,
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Then if that Calling, and work, it be done,
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All things beside that to Ruing must run:
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Therefore I think it may well be disern[]d
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A penny well savd, is as good as one earnd.
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Maids by their trades themselves too such a pass do bring,
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That they can neither brew, bake, wash, nor wring,
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Nor any work thats tending to good housewifry;
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This amongst many too of[t]en I see;
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Nay their young Children must pack forth to nurs,
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All is not got that is put in the Purse;
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Therefore of old I this Lesson Ive learnd,
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A penny well savd, is as good as one earnd.
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Yet there are men that take no thought or care at all,
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The comfort of their poor wives is but small,
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For they must slave, or else be forst to starve,
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But such ill husbands good wives dont deserve;
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Altho a woman indeed may contrive
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To help her husband in order to thrive,
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But hes no better I think then a Knave,
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That takes a woman to make her a slave.
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But you are blest with such a real honest man,
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Who near expects you to do what you can;
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For he is always like unto the painful Bee;
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What he does earn, he brings safe home to thee;
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When he returns from his Labour at night,
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To you in whom he has placd his delight;
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This my dear daughter you know to be true,
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I wish all wives were as happy as you.
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To all your words, dear Mother, I have givn good heed,
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And do account it my Duty indeed,
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To prize them far more then the rich refined gold;
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Then said her Mother, dear Daughter behold,
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Here is my blessing to you I will give,
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And be a friend to you as long as I live;
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And when I dye, all I have shall be thine,
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If you observe this good Councel of mine.
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