Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-12-26

| lit them for life. Instead of being
placed in almshouses or asylums as
now, they We're given into the charge
of respectable Christian householders
to become a part of their families until
they We're of age.
The mistress of one of these great
homesteads usually had one or two of
these bound girls in her service She
was under legal bonds to the Orphans
Court to support, feed and clothe the
girl until she was of age: to have her
taught to read, write and cipher, and to
train her in the Christian father. In
return she had the service of the girl
free until she was eighteen years Old.
she was bound then to furnish her with
an outfit of clothing, a feather bed and
Il sum of money! forget how much.
After that time, if the young woman re-
manned in her services, she received
wages.
The advantage of this system to the
girl was that she was taught to cook,
to spin, to weave, to sew and to take
care OF the sick-was fitted, in a word,
to be the wife Of q workingmah, and
the mother of his children; or, if she did
| not marry, to earn a comfortable liv-
ing for herself.
The advantage to the mistress was,
that she had, after a few years of
anxiety and work, a servant trained
by herself, in her own methods.
| The advantage to both was that the
relation of server and served was not
ono as now Of mere work and wages,
but of affection, of countless kindnesses
given and received; the tie between
mistress and maid was almost as
strong as that of mother and child.
In one of these old homesteads, when
was q child | saw a fair presentation of
the workings of this system. l have be-
side me now the portrait Of the woman,
who more than q century ago, was it's
first mistress and managed it's mixed
bard of retaincrs. and the heterogeneous
kinds of work which were necessary in a
great establishment. The tie which
bound them all together was very real
and fine.
1t never can be revived among us again.
Any approach to the old ratriarchal
family system is now out of date. The
object of ambition set before working peo-
plc-whether It be the clerk at his desk
or the cook over her saucepans-has
CIIdHStu dirSDi-tltiN. lHt CiltDpe III inc
motive and in the CGality of the work is
more marked in domestic service than in
any other. IIoilc-na king--of all sciences
the most humane and important--is not
valued now as it was fifty years ago, by
either mistress or maid. The house mis-
tress, as a rule, feels no more personal
interest in the woman who serve her in
| the house than she does in her caterer
or confectioner. She knows that they are
| in her kitchen only because they cannot
get what they consider better work out
| side of it.
| | should Ike to make personal appeal
| to each one of the thousands of women
! who win read these words and to ask
/ her for a year to give up her outside work.
| and to try to set this matter straight in
| her own home. She will not find in her
| kitchen the bound girl with whom her
! grandmother worked. But the Southern
Negro, the Irish girl, or the Swede who
are there, are like her, human, ignorant,
with reasonab bic wits and a loving heart,
! if it can be reached. Why not try to
| reach It? Why not establish again the
old personal tie between the mistress and
| the maid?
| First. learn her work yourself. 1T needs
as much intelligence, skill and taste to
prepare food, to control the outlay in a