Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1889-11-02
TEACH GIRLS TO WORK.
An Exhortation That should Be Read ~
Every Mother In the Land.

An EXhortation That Should BE Read ~
Every Mother In the Land.
The difficulty of getting or keeping
good servants while every other en-
ployment is crowded with applicants is
well-known to be the result Of ideas
that domestic service is mark Of social
inferiority. and this is so incompatible
with American notions OF equality that
the Nation has virtually gone on
strike against doing household chores.
Our domestic servants are an imported
class.
1t is only among women that the alb
surd notion prevails that any sort OF
dishonor can attach to an honest occu-
patton. so that the cause OF it must be
sought in differences of the training OF
the sexes. When our boys get through
with their schooling they are put into
the office Of professional man or in
store or a counting-rOom, where like.
as not they have to sweep out in the
morning, dust off the desks, put things
in order, run errands, and in general
do as they are bid without murmuring.
Inflated and self-impOrtant notions are
snubbed out of them, and to rise to po-
sitions of authority they must
first learn to obey well. American
customs are not however, CAL
culated to-. impress upon girls
the duty of obedience and self-control.
At time when French or German
lady is in the heyday of her social en-
joyment an American mother has abdi-
Gated in favor of her daughters. While
it is the mistress of the household abroad
who has the most expensive costumes
and takes the place of prominence at
social gatherings the American mother
provides first for her daughter and con-
tentedly takes back seat. finding her
recOmpense in her daughters enjoy
ments and succe 5ses. Thus girls are
encouraged in self-assertion; they get
the idea that the attitude of obedience
is humiliating and resent restraint as
hardship. Indeed, so widely diffused
is this notion that certain wise ladies
who have taken upon themselves the
reformation of the world insist that the
obligation of obedience should be omit
ted from the marriage VOWS; as II any
cooperative work, whether the making
of pair OF shoes or the establishment
of a household, or the management OF
the affairs of the Nation, could be car
ried on without the duty of command
for some and the duty of obedience for
others, the one duty as useful and hon1
orable as the other. ~
What wonder then IL .n'''ioi 10 g
sional domestic service u, lis
credited when caste. ieoO 'iiooy ARE
drawn against itp = 10 III ~, t-ot
this great evil in 7 t'mlt 10 w.. f-ieile' ,ln'se
clearly to put hou2hiy neat ln'o q Fthhlea-
honorable footing. 4ucea TO Il 'aR as
fairly as our boys. Ms'"u oii0 w.
ances compensation more away o1h-
ances of specified house again to"ur
strictly conditioned upon naere 70 oe III ?
charge of duty. If the daus -Oers Oh Tie
house are themselves enrolled among
it's hired servants, distinctions based
merely on character of employment
can not survive. Moreover, in so do
ing, the great law of nature will be con-
formed to, that all gains should be the
result of individual effort. Violations
of this principle invariably cause de-
terioration of character. Any plant or
animal that adopts parasitic habits in
evitably suffers degradation of type.
Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette.