A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at SchoolBeecher, Catharine Esther
General
A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School
Beecher, Catharine Esther
Home economics
Instead, then, of complaining that we cannot have our own peculiar
advantages, and those of other nations, too, or imagining how much
better off we should be, if things were different from what they are, it
is much wiser and more Christianlike to strive cheerfully to conform to
actual circumstances; and, after remedying all that we can control,
patiently to submit to what is beyond our power. If domestics are found
to be incompetent, unstable, and unconformed to their station, it is
Perfect Wisdom which appoints these trials, to teach us patience,
fortitude, and self-control; and, if the discipline is met, in a proper
spirit, it will prove a blessing, rather than an evil.
But, to judge correctly in regard to some of the evils involved in the
state of domestic service, in this Country, we should endeavor to
conceive ourselves placed in the situation of those, of whom complaint
is made, that we may not expect, from them, any more than it would seem
right should be exacted from us, in similar circumstances.
It is sometimes urged, against domestics, that they exact exorbitant
wages. But what is the rule of rectitude, on this subject? Is it not the
universal law of labor and of trade, that an article is to be valued,
according to its scarcity and the demand? When wheat is scarce, the
farmer raises his price; and when a mechanic offers services, difficult
to be obtained, he makes a corresponding increase of price. And why is
it not right, for domestics to act according to a rule, allowed to be
correct in reference to all other trades and professions? It is a fact,
that really good domestic service must continue to increase in value,
just in proportion as this Country waxes rich and prosperous; thus
making the proportion of those, who wish to hire labor, relatively
greater, and the number of those, willing to go to service, less.
Money enables the rich to gain many advantages, which those of more
limited circumstances cannot secure. One of these, is, securing good
domestics, by offering high wages; and this, as the scarcity of this
class increases, will serve constantly to raise the price of service. It
is right for domestics to charge the market value, and this value is
always decided by the scarcity of the article and the amount of demand.
Right views of this subject, will sometimes serve to diminish hard
feelings towards those, who would otherwise be wrongfully regarded as
unreasonable and exacting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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