The Sensible Housekeepers
of the Future.*
Sarah Orne Jewett
I wish that it were in my
power to persuade young girls who wonder what they shall do to
earn their living, that it is really better to choose some
business that is the line of a woman's natural work. There is
a great repugnance at the thought of being a servant, but a
girl is no less a servant to the man who owns the shop where
she stands all day behind the counter, than she is where waits
upon the table, or cooks the dinner in a pleasant house; and
to my mind there would not be a moment's question between the
two ways of going out to service. The wages are better, the
freedom and liberty are double in one what they are in the
other. If, instead of the sham service that is given by
ignorant, and really overpaid servants to-day, sensible New
England girls who are anxious to be taking care of themselves
and earning good wages, would fit themselves at the cooking
schools, or in any way they found available, they would not
long wait for employment, and they would be valued immensely
by their employers. When one realizes how hard it is to find
good women for every kind of work in our houses, and what
prices many rich people are more than willing to pay if they
can be well suited, it is a wonder more girls are not ready to
seize the chances. It is because such work has been
almost always so carelessly and badly done that it has fallen
into disrepute and the doers of it have taken such a low rank.
Nobody takes the trouble to fit herself properly, but women
trust to being taught and finding out their duties after they
assume such positions -- not before. --
Note
This item appeared in The Ladies Home Journal 6: 7
(June 1889): 10. LHJ indicates that the piece is
reprinted from The Congregationalist. At this
time, the Congregationalist publication has not yet
been located; therefore it is not known whether this is the
complete article or an excerpt.