Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-05-20
"THE HIRED GIRL"
A RetrOspectiOn

CBy w. b. SMITED
What has become Of the hired girl
of n quarter of a century ago? The
kind that washed every Monday,
ironed on Tuesday mended the mems
clothes on Wednesday. swept upstairs
and down on Thursday. helped in the
sewing on Friday, and on Saturday
got the whole house in order for sun
day. She knew how to do everything
from feeding the pigs to taking care
of the children. looking after the
chickens and milking the cows. She
knew how to make soap. churn the
butter and do the family washing.
When harvest time came she was on
the job. without a word of grumbling.
II butchering time came she was al
ways ready to help out.
She did not live in the day when
lurking germs existed. She was the
first to rise in the morning and build
the fires, and me last to retire at
night after she had seen that all the
windows and doors were shut She
took as much interest in your affairs
as any one in the house. II was easy
to get away on a vacation. for a week
or a month-she could run things just
as well when you were gone as when
you were there. She would take care
of the children when you were absent,
do the chores, and when you came
home would drop into her place again
as a hired girl and not resent being
/ bossed.
In this day of modern inventions we
still have the hired man who looks
after the stable, tends the garden,
does the farm work and i'm cases of
emergency acts as his lords chauf
feur. But. outside of the dictionary.
.f 1, 81
Has she passed away with the coming
of new inventions? No, the house
work still has to be done. Is II the
greed for money that makes the home
unable to afford her? or has she
been kidnapped and held for largo
sum? or what great crime has she
committed that society has banished
even the name so that 1t Is never
heard in any polite conversation?
The hired girl then was the truest
friend that the home ever possessed.
Every man ought TO take off his hat
| when her name is mentioned She
had the making of the characters OF
our grandparents and even our
fathers and mothers felt the weight
of her hands. She knew how to make
them the kind OF men and women
they ought to be. My, how she could
cook-how our fathers remember the
cookies she baked, the pies she made,
and the fried chicken sometimes
think we could live forever If we had
her In our homes. We knew nothing
then of the new tangled diseases that
! make modern life succession of ter
rors and an operation that was per-
formed In the cities, If 1t was ever
heard of in the country, we seldom
believed
She never asked when she came If
she might have Thursdays and Satur-
days off, or Sunday too. She took an
interest in our affairs, as tho II was
her home too. She expected to be
treated as one of the family and by
our neighbors she was considered as
such, receiving as hearty welcome as
we did She served us uncomplain-
insly when we were we'll faithfully
nursed us back to health when we
were sick was one that would sin
cerely rejoice in our recovery, and,
had we died. would have followed our
remains to the graveyard and there
have wept real tears of sorrow at
our tomb How we long to find one
Ike her today, and how we wish she
was back in our home.