Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1891 — The Servant Question [ARTICLE]

The Servant Question

Harper’i’Bazar. It is a curious fact that there is nothing which is so wholly unanimous as the desire that other people’s daughters should be cooks and chambermaids. We never think of it as a thing desirable, or perhaps supposable, for our own; and this fact seems to damage most of our arguments for others. Artemus Ward was willing to send his wife’s relations to the war, but we are not inclined to contribute even these to the kitchen, for we should hold, rightfully, that it was ‘menial service.” Now if we draw the line at menial service for ourselves and our relatives, why should we speak severe, ly of those who draw the line at just that point for themselves and their own relatives? The whole difficulty of this much-vexed question Seems to lie precisely there.