The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-04-25
Passing OF. Servant

1 -lFf7 : y -
II Vol, had said to Pericles or to Caesar that
slavery one day should be abolished he would
not have believed ycn he would not have
been able to undersWR bow the world could
get along without slaves.
rf.sycu should say to the most intellisent
modern man that one day there should be-
no more servants, he would hardly believe
Won: or If you should tell wealthy woman.
mistress Of a large establishment, that some
day there will be no more servant problem
for the reason that there will be no more
servants, she would doubtless think you
crazy. sAs4t
For all of that, domestic service Is going
to disappear in time rjpst as slavery mas ans
appeared. sSs1A
Slavery had to 60 because 1t was neon
sistent with the new moral tone that Chris.
tianity brought; domestic service Is doomed
because it is inconsistent with modern ideas
of things. of time when the aim OF Life vas
Domestic service, like the veriborm APP
pendix, is a relic Of an outgrown condition
Of things, Of time when the al mot life was
to be waited upon, and mans Importance
was gagged by the number of those who
waited upon him.
The democratic ideal Is quietly curing this
morbid idea. Our notion of the greatest man
Is coming to be the man who serves the most
and not the one with the most servants.
AT the close of the twentieth century the
cardinal element in every childs education
will be to teach him how to wait on himself
Already we find It difficult to 'tget good
help" The maid of all work becomes more
and more exacting, demands more and more
nav. and often it is impossible to procure
one at any price.
Attempts ut communal life have been
made in the effort to solve the servant pus-
zle. Apartment buildings and groups OF cot
tages have tried common kitchens
More and more foodais being prepared, and
sold from the grocery ready to eat"
The only place where there is no servant
problem is the home Of the poor, where the
wife does her own work. And women are
showing growing distaste for entering into
a marriage that implies that They seem to
suspect that the man is marrying to obtain
housekeeper to whom he need not pay
honest wages. 9fg
: The solution Of the difficulty is In two
directions, which are coordinate. One hope
is in the inventive genius Of man the other
IN his growth in democracy, spiritual sfm-
plicity and greatness.
In the electric house a hundred years from
nov there will be little hand work to do.
The house then will beaas far ahead of ours
now as the present day steam heated, electric
lighted nd dvacuum cleaned apartment is in
boy. The home of theSfuture viii be servant
less.
But at the same tine people viii learn
gradually the dignity d helping themselves
and the pettiness OF being helped.
Society has invented football, tennis, golf,
boxing, fox-trotting and automobiling to keep
people from dying of fat and atrophy.
The simplest and most scientific form Of
exercise is taking caresof yourself.
MI. &huA 80 al 80
pick up their own scattered toys and gem
orally to look after themselves is absolutely
necessary If we would have them understand
the meaning of ''brotherhood.'
Herbert Spencer says the same regime is
necessary to education.
IT'S all in the way you look at It. A man
who thinks it no disgrace to lie on his back
in the mud under an automobile and get !.
grease on his hands and up to his armpits
need not think it beneath him to fry some
eggs and bacon 49,.
:. And a 4wopan who cen stand four hours
afternoon in an art gallery need not think
hair, putting together! her own spring hat,
and buttoning her own gown-also having
her gowns made SO that she can button them
herself. r ~
Fashion determines all. Fashion is being
forced toward simplicity. And If we only
thought SO it might be quite as much the
thing for a gentleman to polish his own
shoes as to steer his own car, and for lady
to make her own shirt#aists as to embroider
castles and duckponds ION canvas.
when Adam dolve and Eve span,
Who was the gentleman s.
r.