The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-04-13
housekeeping not a Failure.

AAVuochCtlluS HUI d
The international discussion of that in
herently absurd conundrum, "Is marriage
failure!'' proves as provocative of imita-
ton as the work of the genius who first
favored the public with a list of books that
''had helpedn him. OF the many discus
slons which have thus been generated, none
is more interesting or practical than that
contained in composition in q late North
American RcuielC, the theme of debate be-
ing, SIS housekeeping failure?n 1t is,
perhaps, unfortunate for the debate that
the disputants are all members of the hier-
archy that rules the household. There is
not a man among them. And there is not
woman, of course, from Rose Terry Cooke
to Marion Harland and Maria Parloa, who
would admit that the sacrifices that have
been laid from time immemorial upon the
altar of the household were unworthily
offered. They are all the advocates and
apologlsts OF the home; and we must wait
Tor some woman with the pugnacity of
MISS Anthony and the daring of DR.. Mary
Walker to uphold from the feminine side,
the proposition that keeping house is
practical failure, from the woman point of
view.
A IL 4LONC1, HUI d 1llUlG SupESSJlN6 IQdG
those upon whom the burden and worry of
he housekeeping system fall most heavily
yhould spring 10 its defense with such
eager enthusiasm. For these women are
not satisfied with mere denial: they take
arms yaliantly IN defense of the institution
over which they especially preside. They
volunteer readily, as champions of the
home, to maintain which they spend many
an anxious Gay and many fearful night
Nor will If hp a b1i crbr Il a for.
when the instinct of self sacrifice, which
is the dlvlnest element in woman, shall be
so far lost that she shall refuse to do and
suffer all in the interest of that one saving
institution which holds fast or reclaims
from evil more than all the chlrches-the
home.
No one will wonder, however. that the
question whether housekeeping is not a
failure has been asked, and asked in per
feet good faith. For there are not few
persons, unrepresented in the North Ameri-
cans list o. writers, who would give an
answer in the affirmative. Looking at the
well-nlled hotels and great apartment
buildings and boarding houses beseiged
with applicants. the conclusion is inevitable
that housekeeping has proved failure for
these people. And so, for many, it does.
But the cases are rather accidental than
otherwise, and the remedy for most of
them lies upon the surface. There is the
invalid, for example, whose health is I'M
equal to The assumption of household cares
But, as matter of fact, the cares of board
ing, Tor such they are, are greater than
those Of managing a household, and more
lnVal1ds have recovered in the kindly
atmosphere of the home, with the aid of its
friendly distractions, than ever profited by
the relaxing and depressing influences of
boarding house idleness. There are two
genuine reasons, and only two, but for
which the boarding houses and hotels would
find themselves limited to travellers for
custom The first of these is the question
of domestic service. Probably three
fourths of those who have given up keep
ing house and gone into hired quarters
have done so because it was to secure and
retain fairly satisfactory help Toward
the solution OF that problem, we seem to be
making no especial advancement. While it
lasts, there will be a large percentage of
households broken up annually in despair
and stamped with failure. The second real
enemy of the home is the cost of living.
Put 1t as you may, although there are home
economies that balance much of the SUD-
posed savings of boarding, the accounts are
not the same There is one element where
saving is impossible-the charge for rent.
In the city where the head of the family
must be within reach of his business office,
this is fixed charge that frequently turns
the balance to the side of boarding houses.
And the cost of fuel, where economy is
limited by climate, and, for some families,
it is utterly impossible to make both ends
meet on the housekeeping basis, while the
plan Of boarding shows a narrow balance.
These are valid reasons for the desertion
of the household by so many families in
modern social life.
This is not as it ought to be- Every
argument advanced by the noble hearted
ladies who defend the housekeeping system
is valid. Every enconium which they lavish
upon it is deserved. If country life gains
by comparison with city life in any respect,
if they flourish there in greater profnsion
or sturdier growth, the virtues that flower
into true nobility of character, it is because
there the nome is as necessary as it is
sacred; the beginning and the end Of life
and labor. Housekeeping is not failure.
But there are strong forces operative
against it in solemn life A discussion of
,hese and Of the way to meet and neutral
re them would be fortunate issue of the
question that has been raised.