Wanted: a Young Woman to Do Housework | Page 8

not go out alone to eat in a
restaurant, but to-day one sees about as many women as men eating
their midday meal in public. If women engaged in general business
prove themselves thus capable of self care, there seems to be no reason
why household employees, who often receive higher wages than shop
girls and stenographers, should not be able to do the same. They would
enjoy their meals more outside, albeit the food given them in their
employer's house is undoubtedly of a better quality; the change of
surroundings and the opportunity of meeting friends, of leaving their

work behind them, would compensate them. In any event, it is clearly
proved by the scarcity of women applying for positions in private
houses that these two advantages only to be obtained in domestic
labor--board and lodging--do not attract the working woman of the
present day.
The joy of eating the bread of independence is an old and deeply rooted
feeling. There is an ancient fable of Æsop about the Dog and the Wolf
which portrays this sentiment in a very quaint and delightful manner.
(Sir Roger l'Estrange's translation.)
THE DOG AND THE WOLF
There was a Hagged Carrion of a Wolf, and a Jolly Sort of a Gentile
Dog, with Good Flesh upon's Back, that fell into Company together
upon the King's High-Way. The Wolf was wonderfully pleas'd with his
Companion, and as Inquisitive to Learn how be brought himself to That
Blessed State of Body. Why, says the Dog, I keep my Master's House
from Thieves, and I have very Good Meat, Drink, and Lodging for my
pains. Now if you'll go along with Me, and do as I do, you may fare as I
fare. The Wolf Struck up the Bargain, and so away they Trotted
together: But as they were Jogging on, the Wolf spy'd a Bare Place
about the Dog's Neck where the Hair was worn off. Brother (says he)
how comes this I prethee? Oh, That's Nothing, says the Dog, but the
Fretting of my Collar a little. Nay, says T'other, if there be a Collar in
the Case, I know Better Things than to sell my Liberty for a Crust.
THE MORAL
...'Tis a Comfort to have Good Meat and Drink at Command, and
Warm Lodging: But He that sells his Freedom for the Cramming of his
Belly, has but a Hard Bargain of it.
In modern business enterprises, there is hardly a single instance of an
employer who is willing to board his employees, nor would he consider
for a moment the proposition of allowing them to remain at their place
of employment all night and of providing sleeping accommodations for
them. Neither in consideration of benefiting them, nor with the view of

benefiting himself by thus making sure of having them on hand for
work early the next morning, would he ever consent to such an
arrangement. When he needs some one to watch over his interests in
the night time, he engages a night watchman, a very much more
economical plan than to provide lodging for all his employees.
Why should the housewife be the only employer to assume the burden
of a double responsibility toward her employees? Perhaps in the
country, where it might be impossible for them to live outside her home,
such a necessity might arise, but in cities and suburban towns, there is
absolutely no valid reason why household employees should sleep, eat,
and live under their employer's roof. It is a custom only, and truly a
custom that would be "more honored in the breach than in the
observance."
HOUSEWORK LIMITED TO EIGHT HOURS A DAY
In the home woman's work is said to be never ended. If this be true, it is
the fault of the woman who plans the work, for in all the positions of
life, work can be carried on indefinitely if badly planned.
It is the essential thesis of this little volume that the domestic labor of
women should be limited to a fixed number of hours per day in private
houses.
It is not unusual at the present day for a woman to work twelve, or
fourteen hours a day, or even longer, when she earns her living as a
household employee. A man's mental and physical forces begin to
wane at the end of eight, nine, or ten hours of constant application to
the same work, and a woman's strength is not greater than a man's. The
truth of the proposition, abstractly considered, has been long
acknowledged and nowadays requires no argument.
When a woman accepts a position in business, she is told exactly how
many hours a day she must work, but when a woman is engaged to fill
a domestic position in a family, the number of hours