The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 99, January, 1866: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and PoliticsVarious
General
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 99, January, 1866: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics
Various
American periodicals
"The model republican uses his brain for the highest purposes of brain
work, and his muscles in _productive_ physical labor; and useful labor
he respects above that which is merely agreeable.
"When this equal respect for physical and mental labor shall have taken
possession of every American citizen, there will be no so-called
laboring class: there will no more be a class all muscle without brain
power to guide it, and a class all brain without muscular power to
execute. The labors of society will be lighter, because each individual
will take his part in them; they will be performed better, because no
one will be overburdened.
"In those days, Miss Jennie, it will be an easier matter to keep house,
because, house-work being no longer regarded as degrading drudgery, you
will find a superior class of women ready to engage in it.
"Every young girl and woman, who in her sphere and by her example shows
that she is not ashamed of domestic labor, and that she considers the
necessary work and duties of family life as dignified and important, is
helping to bring on this good day. Louis Philippe once jestingly
remarked,--'I have this qualification for being a king in these days,
that I have blacked my own boots, and could black them again.'
"Every American ought to cultivate, as his pride and birthright, the
habit of self-helpfulness. Our command of the labor of good _employes_
in any department is liable to such interruptions, that he who has
blacked his own boots, and can do it again, is, on the whole, likely to
secure the most comfort in life.
"As to that which Mr. Ruskin pronounces to be a deep, irremediable ulcer
in society, namely, domestic service, we hold that the last workings of
pure democracy will cleanse and heal it. When right ideas are
sufficiently spread,--when everybody is self-helpful and capable of
being self-supporting,--when there is a fair start for every human being
in the race of life, and all its prizes are, without respect of persons,
to be obtained by the best runner,--when every kind of useful labor is
thoroughly respected,--then there will be a clear, just, wholesome basis
of intercourse on which employers and employed can move without
wrangling or discord.
"Renouncing all claims to superiority on the one hand, and all thought
of servility on the other, service can be rendered by fair contracts and
agreements, with that mutual respect and benevolence which every human
being owes to every other.
"But for this transition period, which is wearing out the life of so
many women, and making so many households uncomfortable, I have some
alleviating suggestions, which I shall give in my next paper."
GRIFFITH GAUNT; OR, JEALOUSY.
CHAPTER IV.--_Continued._
He uttered a little shout of joy and amazement; his mare reared and
plunged, and then was quiet. And thus Kate Peyton and he met,--at right
angles,--and so close that it looked as if she had meant to ride him
down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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