Frontier women’s days were consumed by relentless domestic labor

Evidence

To-day has been one of manual labor. We did not breakfast till 9:30, then the men went out, and I never sat down till two. I cleaned the living room and the kitchen, swept a path through the rubbish in the passage room, washed up, made and baked a batch of rolls and four pounds of sweet biscuits, cleaned some tins and pans, washed some clothes, and gave things generally a “redding up.” — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 227

Categorization

• SEED: An essay on the physical labor hidden inside ‘travel writing’ — the cooking and washing that made the adventure possible.