Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-04-03
MAKING A TRADE OF HOUsEwOR

Laura Fay s., in q letter to the New
York Post, considers. the evils attend
ant upon the present system of house
keeping, and adds:
The remedy | offer is this: That
housework should be considered as a
trade, like dress-making, horseshoe
ing, or any other mechanical art; that.
as it is a trade, it should be prepared
for by apprenticeship; that this appren-
ticeship should be without wages, ex-
cept food and, perhaps, lodging; that
establishments for training such APP
prentices should forthwith be started
in various parts of New York CITY, I'M
der the management of competent
women; that the ladies of New York
should furnish the means for the enter
prise, with the tWofold motive of sup
plying their homes with skilled domes-
tics, and also of taking many young
girls out of the way of temptations
which, in their cOmfortless homes or
exposed manner Of life in workshops,
etc, often prove too much for them to
withstand. Let the ladies who should
organize this charity elevate house
work into the dignity of a trade, at the
same time intoxicating it's Importance
and lis value into the minds Of their
young pupils. Let them extend, if
possible, their influence over the girls
through the period of their working
life. Let them offer prizes to girls
who can bring certificates of faithful
service during, let us say, three years
time, with one employer. Let them
make OF these schools a nucleus of So
cial enjoyment for the pupils and en-
deavor to find some means of causing
young women to realize that household
labor, being the normal field for their
exertions, is therefore the most honora-
BILE for those who must work with their
hands, and SO endeayor to content
them with their position These
schools might be classified according
to the part of the city where they were
situated, from those suitable to the
Five Points, where only the plainest
and simplest kinds of general work
would be taught, up to the establish
ment where each girl should be Il spe-
CfalIsJ ana receive her training accord
ingly.
Another point which needs overhaul
ing IS the wages question. 1t is salts
factorily proved, [ think, that high
wages do not secure skilled service,
but they DO secure perpetual unsteadi-
ness. Now, if employers in New York
could fix upon a tariff of wages based
upon the actual amount Of work done,
Irrespective of the wealth of the en-
plOyer, girls would not be forever leav-
inc good places for the sake of an eX-
ira quarter of q dollar per week. as at
present The wages of cook who
did no laundry work should not, for
example, exceed those of the cook who
expended the same amount of time be-
tween cooking and laundry work. We
ought, IL other words, by some means
to come ut the actual and not the hy-
pOthetical value Of her time
Inc truth IS that ut the present time
the whole domestic system is in such
state OF utter confusion, concerning
Yaiues Of every kind that nothing
worse could be imagined. There
ought, in every ward, for example, to
be reference registry office, in which
every lady giving references should re-
cord them over her signature. Then
when a servant presented her creden-
tials they could be verified. This
would have a tendency, | should sup
pose, to keep the servants within the
neighborhood of their respective offices,
and make it easier for housekeepers to
look up references. One reason why
women do not succeed in establishing
rules for their employees rs men do is
because they do not unite. [ take it
for granted that there is not mascu-
line trade in New York which has not
It's fixed tariff of wages for services re-
CeiVpd