Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-03-28

The domestic service problem Is one of
the most irritating IN the whole system
Of social economy, In its ramifcatioHs
IL extende TO every part of the household.
Its respOnsible for much OF the friction
In family Affairs; like Ba.qnO's ghost, II
will not down. but comes an unbidden
guest at every meal il goes with the
mattress of the household TO market, and
even to church; it forms theme OF oon-
versatiou on shopping tours, in the street
oar and in the parlor; it follows men TO
their places of business; IL ia responsible
for indigestion, and for the peevishness
that causes persons OF both sexes TO be
guilty Of acts of impatience-of down
right wrong doing.
The most successfully managed Ameri
can house hold is not entirely free from
the dinicultiea attendant upon domestic
service, while thousands OF homes are
! constantly under it's malevolert influence,
and the common complaint is that 1t is
daily becoming more puz2linR and an
noying. Many explanations have been
offered az TO the underlying cause of tho
trouble, chief among which which ia the
almost universal difike OF the young of
both sexes for mammal labor or for any
occupation which inferentially carries
with 81 a badge of seryitude. The good
old daysn Of which we read, when the
mistress of the house sat in her room
surrounded by her maid servants and
| initiated them into the myBteries OF
picking and preserving or weaving, OF
knitting and of dyeinR, have passed
away, never to return. In the place OF
that ideal state we have n system under
which servants are selected without any
regard 20 their fitness tor membership
in the family.
IL Is au open question whether the
quality, or rather the lack OF quality, in
| the available material be not largely re-
sponsibe for many Of the perplexing diff
! houlties 80 much complained of. The
much Wanted independence of the Amer
lean character is, in one sense, weakness
when 1t leads 20 the rejection of an en-
! ployment homo, able in itself because of
| feeling that II implies dependency, and
TO the selection of some other field of la
Dor In which the fact OF soryitude, II IL be
not so plainly apparent, nevertheless sx-
| lists in an equal degree.
Bti /, We can't blame the girls" Their
aspirations are natural. Put yourselves
! in their placer, and you will understand
the feeling. May it not be said that bet
ter mattresses would make better "giflsW
A good housewife is apt 20 make good
mistress. 10 Ia a lamentable fact that too
many young women who expect to have
! households TO manage are ignorant OF
| the art OF household management. Such
! young women have false idea of "edu-
cation For an "educatiou' they saeri-
hoe everything. The mothers bake and
wash and scrub and sew, while the
daughters study the rules Of grammar,
the mysteries Of algebra and the princi-
| plies Of constitutional history, knowing
nothing OF thoss duties that belong to
woman, nor Of those arts which make
| home bright and cheerful and cause the
fires OF affection TO burn steadily and
| clearly.
The true school for the teaching Of
| applied household science is in the bone.
/ There the domestic virtues may be- Guilt
waited; there the dignity Of labor may be
/ rightly taught,and the full significance be
realized Of those lines Of good old George
/ Herberts, that
who sweeps q room az by Thy Law
Makes that and the action fine.