Nature's Aristocracy: A Plea for the Oppressed

Chapter 8: Servant-Girls

chapter 8 Servant-Girls Why American Girls Prefer the Shops and Factories. —Their Taste and Refinement.—Incidents in Kitchen Life.—The Old Cook.—The Nurse.— The Waiter.—Anecdotes, &c. 1 When the cry of the working-women of New England finds lodgement in the ears of the wealthy housewives, the first question which they put is always this, “Why do they not go out as house-servants?” and the question is asked in that decided manner which indicates that the speaker declines to do anything for them as long as that field is open.1 There is a great demand for housekeepers and servant -girls even in New England, and the greatest annoyance which a wealthy mistress now has is in the finding of suitable servants and retaining their services when once engaged. Hence it is very natural that the subject of these perplexities should excuse her lack of interest in the poor working-women by saying that “there is work enough for them in the kitchen.” “Every class complains,” said an English writer, “but the housekeepers. The factory operatives, the needle and machine women, the female printers and clerks, the school-teachers and accountants, are all discontented, and this land of women (Massachusetts) has found that there is no joy for woman in any occupation but housekeeping.” Now that writer was right as far as his statements with regard to the discontent are concerned, but his conclusion that there is “no joy for woman in any occupation but housekeeping” is very far from the truth. I do not doubt 74 | Nature’s Aristocracy that, as a class, the married women are the happiest; and the possession of a nice home, bright children, kind friends, and plenty of money ought to make them so. But there are found many women in other stations in life who are as happy as human beings can well be, and who would not leave the school, the hospital, the life of business, for the pleasantest mansion in America. Woman is discontented as a laborer for wages because she does not receive a just compensation for her work, and because she is unreasonably restricted in her choice of occupations. She is discontented in any position where she comes in contact with wrong which she cannot remedy, suffering which she cannot relieve, and degraded humanity which she cannot elevate. She would be equally discontented as a “housekeeper,” did not those who assume that title have a right to their own time and all the opportunities for relieving their own distress and doing good to others that they desire. A kitchen-maid, or a chambermaid, is not a “housekeeper” in the sense which the writer above quoted intended to convey. “Housekeepers ,” in the best sense of the word, are the mistresses of houses or mansions; and without doubt they, as a class, are happy. Although they cannot protect themselves, yet they are supposed to have a protector in the form of a husband, father, or male friend; and in many cases, no doubt, are happier in their blissful ignorance than they would be if cumbered with the responsibility of protecting their own moral, social, and political rights. The servant-girls are not only without protectors, but without the commonest means of shielding themselves; and in this fact may be found the reason why so many fly to the shops for sustenance rather than to the kitchen. In the first place, it is looked upon by all classes in American society as a disgrace to be a servant in a family, or even to have a relative who is one. I will not dwell now upon the reasons why this is so, as it is a fact so patent that it needs no arguments to establish its truth. American girls are naturally sensitive. The hereditary refinement of their natures, combined with the educational and social advantages which are fortunately or unfortunately offered to young girls, gives them finer feelings and more delicate organizations than Nature’s Aristocracy | 75 characterized their great-grandmothers or marks the immigrating women of our own time. Hence the respectability of an occupation would affect their choice much more than it would the choice of the coarse and vulgar. They will make greater sacrifices to retain their good name than would the uneducated, unrefined masses of Europe. To make a sacrifice for one’s name is an indication of natural nobility which is honored...