The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-04-11
Women as Boarding-H House Keepers

WO1Su DIS oOaIu1uS -hOuSS n0OPOAo'
There is one business Just as good as
any, and peculiarly suited to women,
which they have had the monopoly of
from time immemorial. I allude, of
coure, to the keeping of private board
lighthouses. It seemed to be woman's
special right to make a home for the
homeless, to feed the hungry, to house
the weary, to entertain the stranger and
the solitary. And surely none of these
have grudged fair pay for such offices
when they could afford it. But what
have women done with this calling, with
all its ennobling influences, its opper-
tunities for doing good They have
made botch of it. They have brought
it down to one of the most mental of
occupations, and have stripped it of
every pleasing association. How one
shudders at the idea of being sick in
boarding house Yet women keep
these houses. There are so many Ia
ments over the small opportunities
which women have for doing good, and
here is a whole broad field, which has
been hers for so long, without single
good seed planted in it And at last,
for the sake of suffering humanity, it
has to be taken out of her hands
Men-who are not philanthropists, in
deed, but who have common sense
enough to see the utter stupidity of the
scrimping line of action-are now tax
ing the business into their own hands.
At present there are things enough be-
ing done by women exclusively, and be-
ing done by them in a miserably inef-
ficient, halfway manner. Let US not
add to the number yet. Letus first see
if we cannot get them to be faithful
over a little before we entrust them
with great deal. l do not know of
any school in which a woman can be
| taught to be thrifty, kind-hearted and
good manager, with proper regard for
| the rights of others, and with q sense of
! honor in business, if these qualities do
not come natural to her. But it is per
| haps the very women who have these
qualities who ought to bear the brunt
| of our reproaches, rather than their
more narrow-minded sisters to whom
| they have abandonded calling which
originally, in every way worthy one
has now fallen into disrepute. It is
precisely because such women have
avoided this calling that they ought to
be reproached. They had and still
have it in their power to ennoble and
elevate it, while making and honorable
living by it. I wish they could be
brought to see the Importance of COM
Portable, well managed boarding houses,
made as much like home as possible !;
seeing that the boarding-hous is one
| of the social necessities of the nine
! teenth century. I wish they could be
brought to see the good influences they
could WELD in making these establish
ments all they ought to be. The field
is a wide one and the soil unbroken !;
and there is more call for well-kept
houses than there is for the services of
women writer's, or women lawyers, or
women farmers, or for women in any
other calling which is already over
thronged by men. We can get on at
present without the lady counselors,
the lady politicians, the lady editors,
etc. but how are we to get on without
somebody to look after matters pertain
| ing to the house? One thing is GER
tain, unless some reform is instituted,
and that speedily, women must be con-
tent to see a province of action which
has always been considered especially
theirs, pass into the hands of men,
while they are neglecting it for the sake
of other untried spheres of effort, in
finitely less suitable to their qualifica-
tons for labor, both natural and ac-
quired.