The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1907-05-25
part. While there really are figs, they
never grow on thistles.

The one answer to the question as to
what shall be done in the case Of In
adequate intelligence in the kitchen
seems to .presuppose itself. Brains
there must be in the house or it, will
fall. If there are none in the kitchen
there must be some in the parlor, and
the motive power must extend to the
Kitchen and supply the need there.
When the room is swept there must
the queen reign, her throne must be
movable into the quarters where the
bread is made and the dishes washed.
She must peryade the house with
her superior intelligence and above al.
she must be able to perform herself,
perfectly in the manner which she ad-
vocates, the tasks which she sets the
servant. She may not actually do
them, but she must know how with
head and hands. She must be trained
like any teacher in the lessons which
she gives before she can teach to adj
vantage.
But the mistress may have no more
illness for her position than the maid
Tor hers. She. may not only lack abil-
lty but the power to acquire ability.
what then? The chances are that
while two and two exist they can never
be combined, that while the household
remains there will never be peace and
order and work well done. And there
is still another contingency
The mistress may be abundantly
able, she may have the knowledge
which gives her the right to teach, she
may have the power to enforce the
teaching by the authority of example,
and yet manifest duty may point out
another path for her willing but re-
stricted feet. There are cases in which
a woman would not save but squander,
would not do right but wrong, in de-
voting herself entirely to the manage
ment of her household and servants.
Sometimes the queen must go abroad
and work and war in sterner and
broader fields and forsake her closet
and her bread and honey. Sometimes
it is she who has to count out the
money
What then? The problem remains
stated, its solution indicated but i'm
possible. Abigails come and go, and
the dirt and disorder and discomfort
remain. Ineficiency graduates with
out laurels and the new aspirant takes
her place, until the end
There is no way out which is in
fallible, though many may be suggest
Il Doccih1,y ho -
interest, which ignoble thing is, after
all, a powerful mind tonic for the most
of u.s. might stir the sluggish nature
and rouse the dormant faculties to en-
ergy. What that selfish interest should
be could be proved by experiment.
Possibly small new privileges or re-
wards, although those are always
doubtful; possibly system of profits
sharing, or rather saving-sharing,
might work we'll. But that is all sug-
gestion, and the first experiment might
prove the futility Of it. Possibly the
caste of the domestic servant might be
elevated gradually by careful and
judicious system until in time the po-
sition camesto be considered more de-
sirable by the Intelligent class capable
of skilled labor. That may seem to
advocate the old New England system
of having hired man and girl sit at the
table with the family, but It need not
necessarily involve that. The servant
might have her quarters made more
beftting a person in higher walk of
life, her manner Of dressing might be
improved and she might be made to
feel that her work was her distinction,
instead of her disgrace, and in time it
might all be better But who knows?
The problem, although old as the
world and lightly spoken Of, is serious,
involving as it does the power and
leisure to do lasting work of the best
workers in the world. Unless Abigail
serves we'll, the judge, the physician,
the teacher, the scholar, the writer, are
in great measure powerless; but who
Fshall regulate the serving of Abigail?