Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1891-06-10
HOUSEHOLD WORK.

Since the days OF our grandmother
the place assigned to household work
in social estimation has been a gradu-
ally descending one. This is only q
natural result of the reaction from the
then pervading notion that women
ought to confne their whole attention
to such work, that they were unfit for
anything else, and that it was for the
good of the Lody polite that every in
terest outside of the home should be
left in the hands Of men. Indeed,
there was a time within living memory
when no woman in Scotland was al
lowed to teach in a Sunday school.
1t was both impossible and unnatural
that such state of things should con-
tfnue ia a civilized country. 1t is not
the purpose of this article to record the
history of the advances made during
the last twenty or thirty years in the
position and in the intellectual culture
of women, nor of the splendid services
rendered by many during that period
to the country at large In such prog
ress every right-minded man and
woman must rejoice. Why, as one OF
the results of this culture, and running
alongside of it, should not an effort be
made to restore household work to its
old place of honor and dignity? The
two are by no means incompatible;
indeed, the one should help the other.
That such an effort Is necessary will
be universally acknowledged, and the
earnest consideration of thoughtful
women should be given as to how it
may best be made. The estimation in
which home life, in the true old sense,
is still happily held, is too high for sug-
gestions as to cooperative housekeeping
being accepted as a way out of the diff
ficulty, although some arrangement
might suit certain proportion of fami-
lies and of individuals. In nine cases
out of ten, when housekeeping troubles
are under discussion, the position is
assumed and maintained, that nothing
can be done because of the Inefiiciency
of present-day servants. With the
servant difficulty we are Just now con-
cerned, and there is nothing to be
gained by denounciDg them. The fact
must be faced, that a crisis in domestic
arrangements is very slowly but equal
ly surely approaching. Let every girl
be fully persuaded III her own mind,
and deliberately choose her own work.
At the same time let all who value we'll
ordered home life for its own sake, and
for the sake of their country's good,
consider anxiously how it may be pre-
served Not so many years ago sick
nursing was held in lower estimation
than domestic service is now. 1t was
looked on as work fit only for women
who were incapable of doing anything
else, and the nursing of some of the
best hospitals in the country was in the
hands of women who would have had
difficulty in obtaining employment in
any respectable private house. What
changed all this, and what raised the
calling of sick nurse to its present
honored and honorable position? The
change began as the result of the public
enthusiasm created by the splendid SER
vices of Florence Nightingale to her
sick and dying countrymen in the Cri-
mea. Since that time women in every
rank of. life have qualified themselves by
thorough and efficient training TO enter
the service, and their example has had
undoubted influence for good on nurses
of every grade. An infusion of some
thing of the same spirit is wanted for
household work. If all the misery,
ill-health, discomfort, and ill-temper
for which ignorance of such work must
oe helu responsipIe coulo pe summed
up ana IeVeaiea, educated women
wouid surely De inspired 10 come 10
.He rescue. lake ior example the
kitchen departmento mouse: fhysl-
CLANS tell us that dyspepsia REDUCES the
Work1h8 power OF the men and women
OF the world more than anything else,
~ ahu tiiat dyspepsia Is IN Ihe most cases
the result OF padly cooked 1000; ii
every glrl spent lew months OF ner
NE IN learning even the nrst principi,