Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-05-18
PARLORS FOR SERVANT GIRLS?

Elizabeth Mesevoie Rhodes in the New
York World.
IF | were a working girl" said a
prosperous matron recently, II
shouldn't be contented to toll n slave
in a shop or a factory or an office. /
should take a course in domestic train
ing, and get a losition TO do housework
IN some nice family. Why, see the
wages that are ~paid-really as much,
If you count the board and lodging, as
young school teachers in this city, and
the home surroundings are much more
luxurious than a working girl can af-
ford to pay for out of her own wages.
l cannot understand why there is such
a lack of good maids; why, in fact, the
servant problem exists at ALL"
This sentiment isn't confined to this
n matron. Employers throughout
the country echo the wonder expressed
by this lady, that ambitious working
girls apparently prefer any kind Of
employment other than household work.
Il should think any girl would like a
nice home like thisl" is the puzzled
sigh of the despairing American house
wife.
And yet the nice homes remain SER
vantless, or are invaded by unappre-
~ciative, incompetent girls very differ
ent from the r~osy-cheeked, willing, eff
iiN1'iit lldi Nv lie IlOuSchtGDtI
pictures as her ideal.
A recent publication-the story Of a
New York working girl told by herself
("The Long Day." by Dorothy Richard
son)-is significant in it's view OF this
question. Driven from her mean lodg-
ing house by a devastating fire, penni-
less, friendless, with no prospect of
work except the underpaid toll Of a
box factory, the author Of '"The Long
Day" says frankly that she would not
even consider accepting homework in
a sheltered home; and her attitude is
characteristic and general among
American girls-not exceptional.
The plain fact is that. as our ex-
president said, 1T is a condition and
not a theory that confronts u.s." While
employers continue to theorize regard
ing advantages OF housework over ev-
cry other form of occupation for wom-
en-. conditions show that the better
class OF girls are making their way
into shop and factory and office life,
becoming oyerworked stitchers and
underpaid salesladies and inefficient
stenographers. instead OF taking up the
"womanly' employment of housework.
Now let us look into this theory of
the nice home" and see If %perchance
we employers have been hugging a
INSTRUMENTATION we have beer max
ing the mistake Of believing that be-
cause we have a pleasant home, that
establishment is equally attractive and
equally homelike from the employees
point OF view.
The perfection Of the home, sppar-
emily, depends On whether ones place
in IL is that Of mistress or of maid.
Let Us compare for q moment the home
of the houseworker with the home of
the office or factory worker. BY home
l do not mean the quarter OF the city
H., -
appearance OF the house. l mean the
real h~earthstone of the girl, the place
that she calls hers, whether she shares
IL with a fellow worker or rooms alone
the place where she lives her indi-
vidual and inner life.
Then, there is the question OF en-
Pertaining company. girl friends and
men friends. Now. here" says one
housewife, lis where the houseworker
has the advantage. She has a nice
kitchen in which TO entertain her COM
pany. The girl in il tenement has often
no place to take her caller that is not
already oyerrun by the family: and il
she Is boarding, she often has no place
at ALL Mistress housewife, your argu-
ment Is logical. but perhaps the work
ing girl is devoid OF logic. In any case.
she continues 10 hold a prejudice
against entertaining her friends in the
kitchen, and the young men continue
TO share that prejudice. Houseworkers
tell me that their chances Of marriage
are less h those OF Girls who work
outside the home. | have no statistics
to show on either side, bat whether the
statement Is true or not, 30 long as
young women believe IL to be true the
occupation Will De ioss popular with
them than other Industries. For every
woman OF norrnal feelings desires 10
marry. or at .east. desires a chance Ia
marry. If b emains Il spinster she
likes 10 feel that IL is from choice. not
from necessity. OnG houseworker con
| fided to me, II would nlucss rather
stand at the rate AID talk to my friends
than invite than Into the k.tCi:en.
ont know why II Is. but q nice cir