, 1873-09-25
HOMES FOR WoRKlNG.GlRLs.


TIE HAHDHHIPa OF HuudhHOAhs
II the Editor Of The Chicago Tribune:
stn: Tho letter Of "Patcrfamilias," in
your yesterdays isauo, on this sub
joct, while It is full Of sound
common-senso vows, still docs not reach all tho
vital points III tho subject, and I pray him to
boar With mo whilo point out ono OF Two ho
Beon,B to have lost Higllt of.
Tho majority Of girls prefer to work nH clerks,
Bowing-girla. eto., oto., md there must 10 soino
roason for It; for, capricioua and Whimsical as
tho sex are 4 say 1t III all rovoronco), thoy
aro, when thoy roully earnestly do or think Of
anything, pretty generally in tho right; and
hence, I say. II they 80 almost unanimously
evade household work as means of subsistence,
oven though they thereby curtal their omoln-
montH, there must be, and Ia, Botno good roaaon
for 1t. Ono roason ia this: Domestic work ia,
omphatically, drudeory. do not mean to say
that it is either menial or degrading in
tho Honso "Patorfamiliaa uscB those
terms, though whether 1t ia not somewhat
domoralxing is perhaps another question but
1t is mono tho loss drudgory. lspoah adviaedly,
for, malo bipod as am, I know whereof speak.
Whom frat came to this city, a poor man, my
wife was taken sick, and waH out OF work, ditto
as to funds; 80 had to pull off my coat and roll
up my slooves, and pitch right into it. Lot
"patorfamilias," for throo consecutive months,
do all tho work Of q house, however small; lot
him bake, and cooh, and scrub, and clean stoves,
aud haul coal and water, aud empty aBllas and
Bops, and scour pots, and clean windows, and
chop kolling, and do thoroughly and veil all
tho minutim of tho work aud thou ho will know
what drudrory 1t 10. He will know how It will
denaoralize bis clothes, his pernon,-yca, him
self. 'Materfamilias may do her housework :;
but docs she do it all! Docs sho ever got about
: conts' worth Of pot-blaok OIL the end OF her
noso. or q daub Of grease i'll any unneom1y spot 7
Arc hor hands grimod from morn till night With
stoyo-polish, coal-duat, ashes, dlrt7 Lot those
only speak that kfso.o whoro the shoe pincheB.
But, under my circumstance, pater-
familias is wrong, inaamuch as ho
Segi ue @ ea hts ys ss'a ary re4S Sn Granted to spfH h
girls mny DO physically able to- do domestic
work, arc We, therefore, to force them to 1t
against their lncliuasionB7 nm physically able
to curry liod, but I'd rathor earn loas money at
tyrannIcal to say Inasmuch az you lad rathor
not carry tho hod, by Which you can
oar more 10 !y money yGa y'?u,,.oa shn.l .. ~, have
surprised that women do not like household
work, because not only is 1t pretty Heycre labor
and dirty work. but ovory. woman is not adapted
to It; nRy. will 70 further aud Bay that few
WUHGu GUS uO HuAeGuQlu~NUihs 41OH utAu4
n1arriel women I have Heon (not on Wabash
or Michigan avenues, but III Homcwhat
humber splore) who do their household work,
it is true, but only after fashion; I could lay
my hand on at lonst half-a-dozen Of my own
femnlo acQuaintsucca in this city who are
wretctlod botChcB at houBowork. and
would do themselves more credit ut
some other moro congeninl employment.
Az n rulo n good lreasmakor or eeamstresa il q
bad houseloeper, or good louaokeeper ia bad
hand Mt mailing her own dresaeH; Tor there Is no
perfection on earth and even tie ladios-God
b1ops thom cant do everything we'll
Again; very few womon arc physically
capable of doing household work.
call in the Whole medical profession
to bear mo wtuess that the most fruitful source
Of uteriuo disease in unmarried girls of unex-
coptiouable character ia tho severity Of house,
I1old-labor. The lifting of Ito them) honyy
Weights, hauling coal and water up and down
slairB land this il 4 city OF stairs), and othor
work, have not now space to particnlarize, do
originate physical difficulties which arc fully do
ycloped in case Of marriage aud mater
nifty And in tho caso of married
women who do thoir housohold-wor]s,
show mo one sound, healthy mothor, and will
show you twenty, unsouna, woakly women, who
drag painfully through the daily drudscry Of
their houEework. .
Giye tho working-girls homes, and help them
to follow their Instincts; instincts which are
amenable to no rule OF reason or logic, but
which are none the loss diviuely-implnntod aud
arc very raroy at fanlt. Yours respectfully,
CHICAGO. Sept. 20, 1873. BENEDICT.