, 1873-06-08

|
your trials until that dinner is on the table, mt
hot and tired, you Tush Up to change your dret
that You may preside over it 2 No; this is oni
incidental to the servant-g,r1 question. job
eats his dinner, and then you send him down
! The TRIBUNE Office :
WITH AN stAD.n
The naxt morning, that is the only portion Q
the paper That has the slightest interest for you
vii be- risht.. Matters look brighter. Breahas
| is not over when the first recruit arrives in
quires about your family how man,
IN number; how many servants nr
kept; whether the house has modern improve
mente; if there is carriage and piano; and q
last decides that she wont hire you. 4 litt1.
| crcstfallen, you return to the table. You arr
interviewed by several Of these ladies, and q
I last engage one. who promises to return imme
| diately, and that is the last you see of her
Again you go to the intelligence-ofIico and th
hme are glad to take anything you can get, ant
again you are disappointed. John Spends ,
aman fortune in "ads" for you, but they bring
| no satisfactory response. Utterly tired out
you seek refuge from absolute illness in {
] woman
| WHO woHKs ctr Bl THE DAT.
1t tho end Of the week, you discover that you
have paid her just ten dollars and half; have
! given her all the old clothes you had, and some
| that wore not SO old, beside feeding the family
of eleven small children at home, boarding her,
! and doing large proportion of the work your
| self while, when she gets through, things are
| in the same condition that they were when she
| arrived.
under such circumstances ia simply physical
| impossibility. ALI the comfort, and au the luz
| ury, Of home, is made null and void by the
drudgery entailed in the absence OF the iaboripg
| element, and
THIS SEEMS uNArrA1NABLE.
We have grown too accustomed to luxury to be
willing to return to the primitive simplicity Of
the early settlers, when the housework Of fam
iy was 80 ercumscribed that it was eaaily accom-
plished by the female members thereof. There
is certain routine that must be gone through
with now, whether with assistance or not; GER
tain luxurics that have lost that characteristic
are now necessities; little attributes Of ciyiliza
tion and culture, which, while they add
add to tho manual labor consequent
thereon. Miss 1ngelow, in letter to this
country, writes to the following effect: 1--WE are
looking to you for solution Of the question OF
combined culture and labor" These may not
be her exact words, but that is the idea they are
intended to convey. It is knot which can only
be cut by the keen, sharp sword OF
COMMON SENSE,
quite ob1ivious Of any sentimental connidoraxa1u.
We may be considered heterodox in the extreme,
-ob1isions Of the true interests OF The seq; but
surely, if any one has chance to realize that
" 4 little knowledge is dangerous thing" it is
the woman who is obliged to come in contact With
the lady who condescepds to do her houaework,
All reformers are eager in their ontory for en-
Ightenment. and to this We cheerfuliy accedo.
But let it be enlightenment in reality-not q
phosphorescent exhalation from decayed good
sense, which has been killed in the illurn1ninp
process, and has only left q something as useless
as corpse When girls, whoae position in life
With their small portion Of reading and writing,
that to be good servant is better than to be- .
a. SHAM LADY,
then there may be somo hope Of our getting free
OF our difficulties. The philosophers OF the age
neod notbe frightened. II there are any brilliaDt
intellects among these girls, they will make their
way despite al difficulties; and We do not appre-
hend that there have been many DeStae1s
or George Eiots lost to society
through the undue pressure Of aocial
improvement. It ia in the schools that this
must begin. The lady is no less lady that
circumstances may have obliged her to take
place in the ranks Of those who serye, nor is the
u-eu1tiyated boor less boor because some acci-
dent may have raised her to seeming equality
With the former. So long as advertisements
like the following appear in the columns of our
papers, we hsve little to hope for. We copy
verbatim from n late issue:
II any lady wishes lady to do their washing, they
can call nt No. street.
When ladies go out to act a. hired applers Of
detergents to the soiled3 linen Of other people,
they nre notapt to announce the fact quite 30
publicly.
The higher the culture, the more quietly and
easily are altspecies Of lsbor performed
TO DO WHAT ONE DOES WE'LL,
whatever it mag be. is, after all, the desirable
position to arrive at-. The perfect cook ia
writer the excellent 1aundress is superior to
the scHbbling rhymester; and even tho scullion,
who washes her pots and pans well, to the young
lady who knows nothing thoroughly. We think
teaching proper ,selt-respect to all grades Of
society, It is lacking everywhere, unless it may
be in the purely intellectual portion of the
American world. Tom. Dick, and Harry each
has richer relative, whom they thrust upon
consequence 4 cousin lives on Calumet ave-
nuo, Madison Square, or Beacon street,
and carriages enough for smal
lvery-steble; and 60 they shine in this reflected
golden light, and you must worship, not what
they are, not what they might be, but what soms !
individual that you know and care nothing about |
IT Is ALL WRONG.
a lady does not need to placard herself but,
If Mrs: Smith will persist in dragging in her rich
aunt, Mrs- Jones, who never does anything, how |
can you blame your washWoman if she inssta !
upon telling you about the money she might !
have had, or despises sou it you are not rich |
enough to pay some one else 10 listen to her
talk, Or cannot afford to give her your coat, and
cloak also : As it is nov, many Of those who !
should be In our kitchens arc in our Shops
not earning enough to keep them from tempta-
ton, md possible ruin, because they must 1.-Two
On What they earn while others, Who have COM
Portable homes, but who also noed to labor that
they may Obtain something beside nero shelter
and lodging, should be in these positions, as
elsrks. A few bright, able ones will, Of course,
always command something better but the great
mass Of female employees to-day are struggling
o obtain positions for which many Of them arc
lot competent, simply from mistaken idea that
hey
ARE MORE "aENrEEL."
rhich. no believe is the proper word to use. -:
Mako it 8 portion Of the curriculum to teach
hat any labor, properly and perfectly
ccording to ones capabilities, in quiet so1f-re-
peoting manner, is the tirat step towards at
aiming that mqcll,1ooked-for position Of lady,
lacarding, while the domestic machinery will
.ove far more easily. and require less frequent
djustiug.
QUE PUBLIC LIBRARY.