West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1882-09-27

1t is a wicked pride, because it
fosters wrong ideals of life, wrong
moral distinctions, and leads to no
end of sin and misery. When one
reflects that ill-health, starvation
and life of shame as the products
of this pride in thousands of cases,
no other adjective than wicked Ca n
possibly be applied to it. The case Of
working women in large cities is
hopeless until it is put aside.
One can only wonder at the ori-
gin of the idea that domestic ser
vice-the work for which woman
is most fitted-is degrading. Is it
because educated women have to
compete with uneducated, Ameri-
can girls with foreign-born? But
this is true of every kind of work.
The American girl works side by
side with Irish and German girls at
the loom or behind the counter,
and does not feel degraded by the
contact. Isit because of the inso-
lence of employers? Some women
scold servants and treat them bad
ly, but the remedy is easy; another
place can be found at once. But a
well-bred women has enough self
respect to treat her servants prop
erly, and speaks to them with as
much politeness as if they were
members of the family. At the
worst, the insolence Of mistresses of
households cannot be greater than
that endured by shop-girls from
floor walkers and shoppers. 1t is
constant wonder to us how a girl of
any spirit or self-respect can stand
behind the counter of a store like
Macy's, and receive the treatment
melted out to her. Isit because of
an objection to being called a "ser-
want ?" We suspect this to be the
true reason, out it is most absurd.
The employees ola mill owner or q
merchant are as much his servants
as any housemaid is the servant of
her employer, and in precisely the
same sense. Any one who takes
wages for wo;k is a servant of the
one who employs and pays him !;
and no woman can escape being a
servant if she earns money by hon
est labor.
If 90. H. B." were better ac-
quainted with the condition of
living in the great cities, he would
see that the remedy he proposes is
impracticable as regards some of
its details. In the matter of a seat
at table, for example, meals are
served in such way as to require
the constant attention of at least
one person, and oftener require
two. These duties must be attend
ed to by members of the family, if
not by the servants. In the matter
of family prayers, we suppose that
in most Christian households the
heads Of the family would be glad
to have the servants present if they
desired it; out SO far as our expert
ence goes, they either woald prefer
not to be present,or would be violent
ly opposed to it. Nevertheless the
general state Of things for which
&c. H. B." pleads does exist in ma
ny New York homes. The SER
wants are treated with all the con
sideration that could be asked by
any reasonable person; a warm at
tachment between them and the
family prevails; and when one of
them marries she is given a gener-
Gus marriage portion, while her de-
parture is felt as if she were a
daughter. Such homes are by no
means rare, and there would be
more of them if there were more of
the kind of servants who
live in them. Scores of wives and
mothers would jump at the chance
of giving not only good wages and
good lodging but good home to
some girl who is laboring for a pit
lance at her sewing machine, or
making a wreck of her life and soul
because of the miserable pride that
keeps her away from the open door.
N Y Tribune.
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