The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1886-11-25

.S>As~|aO
ways in demand-so much 90 indeed that
neighbors sometimes in shear desperation
for lack of them actually don't scruple to
decoy such away from those who have
them engaged. To this lack is chargeable,
in great measure, the disposition of
many housekeepers to break up and try
boarding. In view of the perplexities Of
this question would it not be good idea
to organize system of migration and
import dozen or two Irish, German and
Swedish white girls-a number at once
sufficiently large to constitute society
among themselves? A great dra wback to
this arrangement hitherto has been a lack
OF religious facilities-the mass of this
class of people being Catholics-but now
we have regular Catholic services month
ly in this city and this denomination has
opened neat little chapel, and their
spiritual welfare is looked after by that
devoutly pious and tireless man Of God,
Father Prendorgast. of Savannah. Twen-
ty-one years trial has demonstrated that
the "Sister in Black" az domestic, free,
is failure-and exacts more privileges
and rights than she is disposed to accord
the mistress of the mansion. If married,
the employer has her lord and the numer-
GUS brood to feed-whether he will or no.
Ii unmarried she feeds her numerous
oeaux (and these are numerous, too, if she
cooks) at the expense of the employer
and she only cooks. Cleaning, scrubbing,
sweeping in door, yard, kitchen, house
and laundry are lost arts-in connection
with cooking-and before the bill for do
mestic labor and stealage and waste is
made up 1T exceeds in amount what would
pay two or three reliable white servants
in spite of all that can be done. Besides
the thousand petty annoyances, agrava-
tlons and deprivations which housekeep-
ers are put to by reason of this unsystem,
much OF the peace, tranquility and de-
lights OF Southern homes is destroyed
and the rising generation of blacks are
taught thrlttlessness and profligacy that
can only end in crime, the penitentiary or
the gallows The same unsystem is crush
ing the life, hope, and buoyancy of spirit
out of the housewives of the land and
hurrying hundreds ofthem into premature
graves.
Men in the hurry, scur+y and excite
ment OF business pursuits lose sight of
what these ladies suffer until they are
brought to realize it over the sick bed or
the grave. Somehow their meals are
prepared and served somehow their linen
is mended, washed and ironed-somehow
the house kept clean and scrubbed regu-
larly-but how most men never stop to
think or enquire. This, in brief, is the
situation, not only in cambridge, but in
every country town and village through
out the South and it is ten times worse
in the country remote from the towns)
and every head of a family deserving the
honor of the name knows it; and in be-
half Of the long suffering, uncomplaining
wives and mothers of the land, we cry out
for change. Tens of thousands of the
class of people we have named-(and who
make the best domestics the world has
ever known)-are suffering for the neces-
saries of lite in Ireland, Germany and
Sweeden-to say nothing of the numbers
In our own crowded American cities, and
we only lack an organized system to
place them in our homes and get the re-
lief we have alluded to. This movement
will rectify hundreds of evils attending
the class already among us and force
them to return to the rural districts and
become producers. The vagrant law
properly administered will certainly en-
force this, and the country will at once
rise to higher moral plane and we will
become far happier and more prosper
ous people.
What say the heads of families in this
city to these thoughts and suggestions?
Shall we improve our condition. We
await the answer.-Bainbridge Demo-
crGt.