Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-02-21
Chips From the Waste Basket.

Chips From the Waste Basket.
Taking up the FREEMAN this evening
and glancing over the Household as usua
I am reminded by l.. WIS funny little
poem, and Maude Meredith's humorou.
dissertation Of a subject to which l gave
some thought when l read DR.. Hoskins
queries and assertions about hired girls
but was altogether too busy at the time
to write out my thoughts, not having one
of the aforementioned hired girls to ait
me in my household task just then, and
the impression had nearly faded from my
mind. The paper containing DR.. Hoskins
article is now mislaid, so that have not
it to refer to, but can treat the subject in
a general way perhaps, if my ideas are
not presented very systematically. In
nv opinion, reasons second and third, are
fully enough to account for the scarcity of
female help. without the learned doctor,
(and we all know that Q is learned in a
scientific way even if bis n omen folks lore
is rather shallow), quoting the old dogger-
ell rhyme as n reason.
There is always two sides to all ques-
lions, if we are able to see both. but often
we are not. During large part of my
married life have employed more or less
female help, hence l should naturally look
at the matter from the employers stand
point, yet l am, trust not altogether self
ish and can see the other side as well. 1t
is an indisputable fact that "housework is
hard" more especially so in farmers
families, where the necessary work of the
farm brings much added labor in The
kitchen and dairy, that mechanics families
or those ofany other calling are not conf
PEELED to do. There are many hard and
disaereeable Jobs that wife, mother or
daughter perform for their own families
without complaint; but they would not be
hired to do the same for another family.
Again, the daughters Of the farm house
are not as strong physically as their broth
ers. and that is one reason for the fact
which DR.. Hoskins asserts that where the
bows Of family work out, the girls fire.
quently are kept at home. The girls ale
not strong enough to do the work required
of hired girl, in most families. This is
a lamentable fact, but it is none the less
true.
If girls were clad as sensibly as the boys,
and allowed the same freedom to romr
and fire. lie in the pure air out of doors
! there would be a great change for the
better in regard to their health. 0uI
strongest female help comes from oul
foreign population. where the women
y work out of doors as much as the men
E and more in some instances, But a few
0 years spent in the house and following oul
fashions of dress and living, and we fine
} our foreign help that were so strong al
first, soon grow to be as full of aches ant
ailments as our native born Yankee girls
+ Another cause of scarcity of female help
is the fact that farmers are unwilling tc
pay as large wages as they can earn al
some other kinds of labor than homework
and they flock to the cities, to work in
factories and shops where they obtain lar.
ger wages for less hours work. But al
the present rate of demand and supply the
question of wages is being adjusted TO suit
the employee if not the employer for good
help can command about such wages as
they choose to ask.
2 Farm houses are isolated and often
lonely with little but monotonous round
of work to claim the attention Young
people are fond of company of their kind ;
], they like TO be where there is something
going on" hence they like life in large
places better than the country homes, if
they work just rs hard there, or even
harder than they would in the farm house.
4 Another reason that help is so hard TO
obtain, is that the majority of our farmer S
daughters are bent on having an education
and their parents are ambitious for them
to become scholars, even if their own ed.
ucation is limited, consequently they are
sent to school time after time either from
academy or seminary; the mother is de-
prived of their assistance in the household,
and often help has to be hired 20 take the
place of the absent one.
DR.. Hoskins; who so persislently de-
mands better education for the farming
community, will not consider this as a
/ fault of the sex trust.
l could give other reasons than those
above mentioned for the general scarcity
of female help among farmers but think l
have enlarged upon the subject quite
e ,ough and given reasons enough, though
the doctor most ungallently hints that our
, sex are not amenable TO reason. OF
+ course this little failing is confined entirely
!. to the weaker sex: Who ever saw one of
the lords ofcreation who could not be rea-
soned out of any masculine motion" in.
3 stantly you gave him reason whyP Or
. are the male sex SO Gerry reasonable that
they never nave any "notions?'
wish to enter a protest against l.. WIS
y accusation. never, nerer did think or
i say anything of the kind, that she init
mates; am only too glad to see anything
original in the Household department, and
to characterize her bright little poems as
trash, to be left out, is what l would be
h very 10th to do. In fact az. W." l occa'
sionally indulge in versitication myself
and for quite good many years l really
thought couldn't write any thing else
when school girl, my mpostions were
a nearly always written in rhyme and man,
of my letters also. But poetry is the flow
ers of literature, and l find that when
have anything real practical, 10 say, tina
=. sober prose serves the best. Now may
y give you bit of advice? You say Il an