The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-07-26
A Representative Case and q
Suggestion
Roundabout in the New Orleans Times.l

iROun0aDOuT III the New orleans 1lneS.I
Roundabout commends this letter to
the thoughtful readers of the Times.
1t is a typical picture which speaks for
hundreds besides the writer, and it
presents that vital prOblem-is work a
loss of responsibility 4!
MR.. ROUNDABOuT-Can you offer any, sug@es-
tons to a woman placed i'll my unenviable posi-
ton?
Unfortunately formyself, I have been brought
up a lady, and now, while privately out at the
elbows, l am compelled, owing to my social
status, to bear q smiling face into the drawing
room of the rich. My tastes, education and i'll
clinatiOns, certainly, lean toward the straw
| berries and cream and roses of life but, alas!
| my substantial frame cries out for roast beef
and calico dresses. 1 have tried to gain admit
lance into the noble army OF teachers, but my
repeated efforts go unrcWarded.
Almost utterly dependent upon my Own eXer-
tons, which way shall I turn? To the counter
of the Dollar store, or to the labOriOus work OF
the sewing machine girl? To neither. For
without assistance, 1 have not the moral c0ur-
! age to endure the social Ostracism which would
be an lneyltabie result OF such a step, EFen
acknowledging my fitness for it, how can l go
into a kitchen and cOOk-I the daughter OF a
prominent family-with my circle OF silk and
satin bedizencd friends, who even now cast
questioning chances on my much wasted mus
liz. How can | go into the kitchen? Liberal
minded as you are, would you care to be on
terms of fr~iendship-would you care to have
your friends know You :" called last evening on
Mrs. AS new cook g. Oh, no, and other mel
and women are just like you.
Do you possess sufficient knowledge to point
out to me the opening that will lead to beef and
calico dresses. and occasionally to a new DOCK
or a few strawberries and cream, or other ne
c~essities of life without the luxuries?,
l don't believe you can do it, but please give
me Il hearing perhaps some Yankee can show
the road. Respectfully, yours, etc, r."
Still, if r" is really at bay, and it
the necessities of life have at least
grown to he more important i'll her eyes
than the opinion of a few SOl-dlStGRt So
cial Magnates, there are some ways III
which her cas can be amellOrated. For
example, it occurs to Roundabout that
every day at II o'clock. OF thereabOuts,
several thousands Of men go into the
c~Offeehouses Of this city to get a lunch,
1t is reasonable to suppOse-nay, it is a
fact-that a large proportion OF these
would rather go somewhere else 1t they
could get the lunch at an equally rea-
sonable rate. 1t is one of the safest as,
Il s~ertions imaginable, that a neat anC
pleasant little establishment in CarOn:
delet street, where a good lunch COulC
, be had at low prices, would be one OF
the best %patrOnized institutions in New
Orleans.
=, This is said without much hope tina
it will ever be realized. ROundabou'
) knows very we'll that Mrs. Grundy
: would not hear of such a thing. But h.
! reminds that respectable female tina
, she counsels it and encourages it
thousand times a year at charitable fair
and similar places, and he deties h@r t.
= point out any instrinsic difference be
tween the one thing and the other. H
G has seen young women, on whom tn
l approving eye of Mrs. Grundy rested
t buttOn-hole masculine strangers at
e fair and absolutely brOwbeat them int
E spending money. 1t was in the nam
Of charity. Yet, if a lady of educatiO
and refinement, driven by necessit
e and taking it as a last resort agains
G privation, should undertake to supper
- herself in the same line, but under Gil
cumstances of much greater dignity an
!" modesty, why then, oh! Mrs. Grundy
would you withdraw your benignaI
# smile?
There is one thing to remember, how
= ever, and every man worthy the nam
II will echo the assertion; any lady maxim
e the experiment just suggested wOul
find, Whatever society might say, nOtl
y ing utrespectful sympathy and encOu,
agement from men. just as she d.
l. served it, in her new capacity she wOul
receive the same courteous deferenC
70 shown her in the parlOr or the bal
~ room.
rs If that fact, and the sense of beir
is independent, offer any compensation f
20 a temporary loss of the American III
10 trOn's approval, it may be just as we
l0 to turn this suggestion over mentally.