This finger-wag at women about appropriately dividing their time between pleasure and work is fun to sing. Interesting that work is defined in the following line as stitching – something that falls into the play category for me today. The men mentioned don’t have to decide between work and play – just whether to spend or save. “Women Should Their Time Divide” was published in The Essex Harmony Vol II, compiled by John Arnold in 1776, almost ten years after Volume I was published. While not all songs in the volume were by John Arnold, he penned “Women” as a catch for three voices.
