Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-08-14

Dougnt ana they SOLD, trovettu In rafi-
road trains and ate I'm hotels. These
people lived alongside OF him. Yet he
was thousand miles away from them.
He could not speak their language. He
had nothing with which TO draw him
and them together. So some of the
servants living under our roofs seem
to speak foreign tongue. They never
seem TO become "famllized." They DO
not care what happens to us I'm any
way. II death comes. or sickness
comes or great trouble comes, they
will heartlesSly leave us at n moments
notice and let us get along the best
way we can.
Mutual sympathy.
But. housekeepers, why should you
expect your domestics to sympathize
with you in your time OF trouble? You
say that your cook left you during
that awful crisis when your husband
was lowering between life and death
on account of typhoid fever. But have
you ever sympathized with your serv-
ant I'm her sickness? Tell me frank
~. have you ever stopped for one mo-
ment TO realize that you had human
being, an immortal soul, working for
you in the kitchen. or have you regard
ed her only as a little cog in the domes-
tic machinery, which can be thrown
away as soon as IL Is useless? Your
eyes have been red with weeping from
sitting up by your baby's crib. Did
you think to ask why your chamber
maids eyes We're red with weeping
on the day after she received that let
ter with foreign postmark7 You have
had hard financial struggle to get
along and make ends meet. You have
complained again and again because
the female help is so wasteful. You
say: They will let the furnace go out,
and then you must start 1t up again
with extra coal and wood. They will
not turn down the gas In the dining
room and the parlor and in the halls,
and they do not care IL the bills run
up. They will throw away good meat,
because they are too indolent to cook
il in another form" But, my sister.
did you ever stop TO sympathize with
your servants financial struggle?
Some OF those girls are humble
heroines. We think of a heroine as
Grace Darling, rowing away from her
fathers lighthouse. in the teeth of an
awful storm, to save n shipwrecked
crew. Under the plain dress of your
humble domestic there may be beating
as brave a heart as that OF the famous
English girl. Why is she working and
so carefully economizing2 For herself7
Oh, no. She is perhaps sending home
all her wages TO support her old par
ents or to help educate her orphaned
brothers and sisters. IL you were to
go into your servants room today per-
haps you would find they did not have
sufficient clothes TO keep them warm.
Why should your servants sympathize
with your troubles IL you care so little
for theirs?
Duty OF the Housekeeper.
sympathy, God given, practical SYM
patty, can break down many n barrier
which today separates the kitchen
from the parlor. Christopher Column
bus life proves what well directed
sympathy can do. After the great
Genoese mariner had returned from his
voyages OF discovery jealousies arose.
He was thrown into prison and man.
acled with irons. The effects or these
prosecutions was to make Columbus
heart as dead as stone. A popular
writer OF that day described the new
world and stole away its rightful
name. The two continents which
should bear the title OF Columbia are
called America. Columbus said moth
ing. His enemies lied about him and
called him a traitor. Columbus said
nothing. But one day he was brought
before the Spanish throne. He came
into the royal palace stern faced
man. He looked up and saw the
eyes OF Queen Isabella wet with sym
pathetic tears. At once this strong
and sullen hero wavered. He kneit
before the throne and buried his face
In his hands and wept until his frame
shook with emotion Sympathy. God
given sympathy. placed Columbus Mt
Isabella's feet; not the chains, not the
prosecutions. not the upbraidings, not
the indiffercnces. So, my sister, IL you
expect your servants 10 be sympathetic
with you. be as Queen Isabella, who
sympathized with Columbus troubles.
You must sympathize with theirs.
The housekeeper is the servants
model also in devotion TO the home.
The servants will inevitably fail TO
appreciate the dignity and nobility OF
domestic service unless their mis-
tresses feel that the highest honor any
woman can have is to preside over and
dedicate her life 70 her home.
The name OF home ought TO have for
every true housewife a charmed sound
1t ought To he spelled by her. as her
grandmothers used to spell II, in many
letters of gold. 1T ought TO be spelled
In tongues OF flame, glowing above the
hearthstone. IL ought to be spelled In
word OF eleven letters. Opportunity
in another word of nine letters, "hap-
piness." 1t ought to be spelled In two
words, the one of eight and the other
OF three letters, maternal JOY" 1t
ought to be spelled in another word of
seven letters, liberty" The true wife
should never want TO be anywhere but
under the shadow OF her home. But
though Mary Anderson, the queen of
the American stage. gladly abdicated
her theatrical throne In order to be
queen of her domestic fireside, dan
gerous tendency OF this age Is for
wives and mothers to vacate their do
nestle thrones. They want to hand
over the kitchen TO their cooks. They
want 10 leave their children under the
exclusive control OF the nurses. They
want TO be separated from their hus-
bands, on account OF their clubs. They
want to be literally educated In every
thing on earth, except I'm the old fash
Toned way OF learning how to be a
good housewife and mother.
Honorable Employment
Now, housekeepers is it right to ex-
pect your servants TO be proud to work
In the kitchen when you yourself are
ashamed to be found doing kitchen
work? is it more Of an intellectual ac-
complishment to be able to speak poor
French than il is to cook good bread?
Lord Aberdeen, the governor general
or Canada, did not think so. A few
years ago. in = public speech, he said