The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-07-16


very seldom knows how to get them in
to the right groove. In the cities you
find hundreds of thousands of women
for work as shop-girls, clerks,
hair-dressers, milliners, ETC., etc., and
failing, simply because they stay where
there are thousands Of the same trade
in competition. If they would 60 to
some village or inland town, where taste
or fashion are beginning to create de.
mand for their work, and where living
is cheap, they could be sure in the end
of competency, if not fortune. On the
other hand, in these very inland towns
and farms you find hundreds Of thou.
sands OF other women, anxious to make
a living, sending poems, novels, pic
lures and high art embroidery literally
by the ton for sale into the cities, which
are already swarming with unsuccessful
authors and artists; and blind to the
fact that their neighbors really want a
tirst-class milliner, embroiderer, sales
woman or hair dresser.
The same singular defect in what we
may call the business organization of
women is shown in their difficulty with
the management of household servants.
About every six months this venerable
topic comes up again fer fresh and fierce
discussion in the newspapers, and is ar
gued and theorized about until it appears
as insoluble a problem as the creation of
evil. But why is there any difficulty?
A contractor or manufacturer controls
hundreds or thousands of employees,
every "boss" mechanic has his jour-
neymen, and nobody hears any com.
plant. Why must a woman call on all
the world to hear of her single Biddy's
ignorance or Betty's insOlence? The
reason is that women do not realize that
in labor, as in everything else, money
will bring its worth. The contractor
who hires a hundred men, or the car
penter who hires one, knows precisely
what labor they ought to give and how
much money they should be paid. If
the workman is unskillful, lazy or drunk
en-, he loses his job or is paid less. 1t is
precisely the same case with domestic
servants. Skillful, intelligent, respect
full cooks, chambermaids and mattresses
are now to be had in this and every city,
and are employed in houses where in
competent Biddy Or Betty would not be
admitted. It Is true they command
high wages. But it is because the sup
NV of such servants is not vet equal to
the demand. The complaints against
servants as . class come generally
from mistresses who employ but
one overworked and poorly-paid
maid of all work, and who, too
conscious of the vast social gull
between the parlor and kitchen of their
establishments, exact from her profound
Difference and as much skill as the chez
of q royal cuisine would pay to royalty
itself. The mistress Of the little house
who helps with the washing and stands
at the ironing board side by side witt
the frowsy maid, may deserve respec
and service as much as tho grand dame
with her liveried retinue. But if she ha
not the money to pay for the higher elias
of servants who could appreciate he
real worth, and can not keep apart from
| them, she will not get either respect o
! service. There is no use in complain
ing. - 'n,.
Women become respondent at thei
;; lack Of success both as employers an
employed. 1t arises not from any in
competency in themselves, but from thei
; lack of recognition of several hard, inez
orable business truths, such as thes
which we have tried to illustrate
7 Women are apt to boast, perhaps justly
. that they have the same intellect, tac
: skill and Judgment as men. But if the
!. disregard plain laws Of business q
these forces are exerted to no end. 70
may bring out the finest engine on th
road, with plenty of fuel and steam, b
if YOU turn it into the grass, instead
. the narrow track laid for it to run upor
y it will 20 nowhere. York 7ri6un
. IL o.. al