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
Properly to appreciate the nature of these trials, it must be borne in
mind, that the estimate of evils and privations depends, not so much on
their positive nature, as on the character and habits of the person who
meets them. A woman, educated in the savage state, finds it no trial to
be destitute of many conveniences, which a woman, even of the lowest
condition, in this Country, would deem indispensable to existence. So a
woman, educated with the tastes and habits of the best New England or
Virginia housekeepers, would encounter many deprivations and trials,
which would never occur to one reared in the log cabin of a new
settlement. So, also, a woman, who has been accustomed to carry forward
her arrangements with well-trained domestics, would meet a thousand
trials to her feelings and temper, by the substitution of ignorant
foreigners, or shiftless slaves, which would be of little account to one
who had never enjoyed any better service.
Now, the larger portion of American women are the descendants of English
progenitors, who, as a nation, are distinguished for systematic
housekeeping, and for a great love of order, cleanliness, and comfort.
And American women, to a greater or less extent, have inherited similar
tastes and habits. But the prosperity and democratic tendencies of this
Country produce results, materially affecting the comfort of
housekeepers, which the females of monarchical and aristocratic lands
are not called to meet. In such countries, all ranks and classes are
fixed in a given position, and each person is educated for a particular
sphere and style of living. And the dwellings, conveniences, and customs
of life, remain very nearly the same, from generation to generation.
This secures the preparation of all classes for their particular
station, and makes the lower orders more dependent, and more subservient
to employers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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