Year: 1874


Nothing could be useful to child but moral infiu-
ences, and these only when impaired by example.
| After which it would be difficult to say that the
platform of the Education Department is not free
one; for this paper like all Others, must have been
submitted to the Council in advance. and its read
ing permitted by them. Naturally enough it evoked
very sharp expressions of dissent. The Lord Pro-
vOst of Glasgow was there, and he entered his SOL
protest against tho extraordinary doctrines OF
Mr. Barry. Mr.. Bennett, wellknown secularst.
dIsclaimed all sympathy with Mr. Barry's notion,
both for himself and for secuarists in general What
secularsts object to is not the teaching of religion,
| but to the UNCONVENTIONAL teaching Of it at the
public expense. II never made part of their plan
that all religious teaching should be denied to chill
| dren. good many other members Joined in the
| condemnation of Mr.. Barry, and that gentleman
seems to have thought IL prudent to suppress the
reply to which he was entitled. for we hear no more
of him. 1t would be too much to hope that we shall
never hear any more OF him.
Ihave not done Justice to the ladies who have
taken part in the work Of the Congress. They have
contributed some admirable papers, notably Miss
Carpenter on Industrial Schools and Mrs. Lewis on
Education. Yesterday was field day for the ladies'
but they abandoned the departments Of crime-re-
preston and education for that of economy, which
Mrs. King made to mean Domestic Economy. Mrs.
King is the author of scheme Of cooperative house.
keeping. some account of which she gave year ago
to the British Association. She is certain things
cannot go on much longer as they are that existing
relations between mistress and servant must undergo
a radical change; that the whole system of domestic
service and of housekeeping now practiced must
be revolutionized. There must be cooperation on
both Sides number Of houses must have COM
mon kitchen, and servants in common to do the
housework Of each coming in during the day at
fixed hours like other work people, and going home
again when their work is done. Make housekeep-
ing machine, in fact. Mrs. King complained yes
terday that her scheme had been ridiculed by the
press feminine crOtchet. Perhaps it has been
but perhaps Mrs King does not know that it has
been much more mercilessly ridiculed by her own
sex. 1t is scheme which takes account OF pretty
much everything except human nature. especially
female human nature. Who does not know
by experience how long time is required
to familiarize servant with new post
how long. that is, for a servant to get into the
ways of his or her master mistress. and that till
this has been dOne there is little comfort on either
side Mrs. Kings cooperative system would be pretty
much the same thing as having new servant every
day. or every week. Did she ever happen to con-
slider how it would work in nursery of young chill
drenf 1t appears there is already one building on
her system at Stamford Hill, (which has been
favorably noticed" Why do not ladies, she asks,
who need work go into servicef Because, she
answers there is no possibility of their rising from
that position. Precisely; and if Mrs. King will
allow me- should like to tell her that the fxity OF
condition of which she complains is one main reason
why it is possible to get good servants in this
country 1t is the change into different condi-
ton which makes bad servants. The feeling that
service is mcnal and not worth doing well, and the
baer To from
shiftless and dishonest work. An English servant
knows that he or she is to be servant for lfe save
for the hope upper servants may have OF saving
money enough to go into the public house business
Within the limits of service there Is promotion, but
not to something outside Of it, kitchenmaid may
become cook, an under housemaId an upper, foot
man NAV swell into o butler; but the cook will
seldom marry her master, and it Is certain that the
butler will not be elected to Parliament. The
effect of which is that servant has dis
tinct object in being a good servant. Livelihood is
dependent character and without good character
from master mistress no servant has a chance of
another place. They may go down. but not up The
result of the system is by perfection. Few
systems or other things in this world perfect But
il ia better than no SYSTEM and the English certainty
of something is better than the American uncertainty
about everything. When say better am speaking
solely of the system Of service not at ALL broadly
Of the effect on the nation. do not believe-nO
American suppose, believes-that an arbitrary dis
tribution into classes which shall never minge is
the most healthful arrangement of society," All l
say is that it is conductive to the comfort OF
those who happen to be in the upper classes-and


in the case of servants to great extent to the salts
faction of the lower 1t strikes us as odd that SER
want should look down artisan but such is the
fact and the inference to be drawn from it is that
the servant prefers his position to the position of the
artisan.


All these considerations Mrs. King puts aside
Nothing will content her but to raise domestic
economy into science side by side with political
economy-and not less dismal, Mr.. Carlyle would
saw. Mrs Mary Crawshay has remedy unlike
Mrs Kings as possible. She starts, however. not
much with the notion of improving the condition of
distressed servants by making them half-geutle-
women as of improving the condition OF distressed
pentlewOmen by making them half-servants. This
she has attempted in practice at her own home
Cyfartha Castle. in Wales, which is what an auc-
tioneer calls palatial residence. Mrs. Crawshay
had discovered that there are 100000 more women
than men in Great Britain, to most of whom mar
riage is an impossibity. 1t is for these she would
omen the ranks of service She tells that she has
in Cyfartha Castle cook, kitchenmaid dairymaid,
ladv's maid and upper housemaid chosen from the
600 Goo and doing their work with perfect success
What is most surprising is that they get on we'll
with the other female servants. of whom there are
nine. Mrs Crawshay points with pride to the fact
that no chan ge has occurred in her household for
vear-a fact rather remarkable in any household in
these days. and which is q very good answer, as
far az it goes to Mrs. King. discussion followed
in which Mrs. Lewis sided with Mrs. Crawshay. and
objected altogether, as most women will, to Mrs.
Kings plan. Everybody agreed that improvements
might be made in present arrangements. The old