Perhaps the difficulties of modern housekeepers did begin with
the opening of the Lowell factories. Country girls were naturally
independent, and the feeling that at this new work the few hours
they had of every-day leisure were entirely their own was a
satisfaction to them. They preferred it to going out as "hired
help." It was like a young man's pleasure in entering upon
business for himself. Girls had never tried that experiment
before, and they liked it. It brought out in them a dormant
strength of character which the world did not previously see, but
now fully acknowledges. Of course they had a right to continue at
that freer kind of work as long as they chose, although their
doing so increased the perplexities of the housekeeping problem
for themselves even, since many of them were to become, and did
become, American house-mistresses.
It would be a step towards the settlement of this vexed and
vexing question if girls would decline to classify each other by
their occupations, which among us are usually only temporary, and
are continually shifting from one pair of hands to another.
Pages:
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257