The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-07-29
The Workshop, the Kitchen
and the Parlor.

AASSAAAS0 VI WANING HOlAOA W SOI4ouAG
upon their condition. The persons
who spoke told very simple tale of
labor and suffering from their own
experience, and very pitiful tale it
was to read. 1t reminded you Of that
picture in which John Leech repre-
sents skeleton figure of death sew
ing shirts, in illustration of the slop-
shops of London.
Perhaps, however, the sequel of
the revelation made at the meeting is
still more painful. One Of the news
papers, which was UNIV illing to be-
leive the stories as they were told, add
ed the remarkable statement that, if
there were so many women SO sorely
pressed to live by the needle, there
are plenty of places where they would
be thankfully employed as domestic
servants at good wages. This is
probably true, and yet they will not
go. The one thing which they can
not bare is what is technically called
service. What change from the
time when country gi1ls came to
town, and, without loosing self-re-
spect, did all the household work Of
families! 81 hope [ can do better
than slave in Kitchen is the in
stinctive and indignant reply to re-
mote suggestion of this kind.
But can thing that ought to be
done be more than we'll done, and if
well done ought not the respect for
it to be as pure in kind as for the do
ing Of any other necessary thing, al
slough it may be less in degree ?
Lois and Jerusha leave home to earn
an honest living. Lois is quick,
handy, full of taste, and she is pre-
sently milliner in high repute. It
was her neat equipage that you pass
ed in the Central Park yesterday
afternoon. Jerusha is slow and hea-
Wy and she is after dozen years the
same honest chambermaid she was
ct first. We all acknowledge the
superior gifts of Lois, But unless
labor be in itself disgraceful, we
ought not to feel that Jerushais stig-
matized by the kind of labor to
which she is devoted. The labor,
being necessary is honorable, is it
not, oh, good America 3? Then there
can be no dishonor in engaging in
necessary labor, can there ?
Look at the case of the Boston
work-women. An employer says to
them, let us suppose, ''Here are a
dollar week, a garnet, cold and star
walton for sewing Shirts" Another
employer says, "Here are home,
plenty Of food and fire and $S a
month for chamber-work," Brains, if
you please, do not much enter into
the calculation. Yet there is a recoil
as of insult and injury from the last,
and bitter acceptanc of the first.
If the reason of this recoil be what
is called pride, is it an honorable
pride? Jane goes into cotton mill,
Jemima into the kitchen Mary Jane.
for that reason, takes airs and feels
that she is lady, while poor Jemi-
ma is mental ? And mental is not
originally word of discredit or hui
initiation, 1t means merely family
or household; and servile is only the
qnality of serving; and we Chris
tians, you remember, do not speak
i'll or think i'll of serving others.
''Ah, indeed, Mr.. Easy Chair -
exclames very lively young person
who has just dropped in. ''And how
would you like to be waiter at
Delmonico's !"
Well, my young friend, the Easy
Chair would not prefer that profess
ion, because there are natural tastes
and choice. One man would be a
musician, another a carpenter, anoth-
er printer, another an author, an
other barbar and another waiter.
But, obliged to make an honest liv-
ing, if the methods which it preferred
were impracticable for it, it would
lay cover and hirt a napkin with
out the least sense of disgrace. And
if the alternative were to run abom-
Unable errands at starving rates, OF
to waite at fair wages. which would
nv Young friend prefer for himself?