Here is a common dilemma in modern parenthood: a husband or wife leaves town on business, placing the full responsibility of caring for the children and managing household chores upon the spouse who remains at home.
These moments can become all the more stressful when one or more of the children is ill. As it turns out, this dilemma is hardly new. In fact, the annals of history are filled with examples of couples experiencing such moments, bemoaning their temporary separation and expressing anxiety for the welfare of their sick children and the intense labor required of the spouse who remained at home to care for them.
A particularly insightful example, which will appear in a future volume of the Joseph Smith Papers, shows Joseph Smith traveling to Washington, D.C., in November 1839 on church business and leaving his wife, Emma, behind in Commerce, Illinois, to care for their children and other loved ones who were stricken with malaria.