Henry Morley - "Playful Poems"

Alfred de Musset - "Child of a Century, v2"

Hamilton Wright Mabie - "Heroes Every Child Should Know"

George Bernard Shaw - "John Bull's Other Island"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The American Woman\'s Home

C >> Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe >> The American Woman\'s Home




Now, I apprehend that there is a very common notion as to the position
and rights of servants which is quite different from this. Is it not
a common feeling that a servant is one who may he treated with a degree
of freedom by every member of the family which he or she may not return?
Do not people feel at liberty to question servants about their private
affairs, to comment on their dress and appearance, in a manner which
they would feel to be an impertinence, if reciprocated? Do they not
feel at liberty to express dissatisfaction with their performances in
rude and unceremonious terms, to reprove them in the presence of
company, while yet they require that the dissatisfaction of servants
shall be expressed only in terms of respect? A woman would not feel
herself at liberty to talk to her milliner or her dress-maker in
language as devoid of consideration as she will employ toward her cook
or chambermaid. And yet both are rendering her a service which she
pays for in money, and one is no more made her inferior thereby than
the other. Both have an equal right to be treated with courtesy. The
master and mistress of a house have a right to require courteous
treatment from all whom their roof shelters; but they have no more
right to exact it of servants than of every guest and every child, and
they themselves owe it as much to servants as to guests.

In order that servants may be treated with respect and courtesy, it
is not necessary, as in simpler patriarchal days, that they sit at the
family-table. Your carpenter or plumber does not feel hurt that you
do not ask him to dine with you, nor your milliner and mantua-maker
that you do not exchange ceremonious calls and invite them to your
parties. It is well understood that your relations with them are of
a mere business character. They never take it as an assumption of
superiority on your part that you do not admit them to relations of
private intimacy. There may be the most perfect respect and esteem and
even friendship between then and you, notwithstanding. So it may be
in the case of servants. It is easy to make any person understand that
there are quite other reasons than the assumption of personal
superiority for not wishing to admit servants to the family privacy.
It was not, in fact, to sit in the parlor or at the table in themselves
considered, that was the thing aimed at by New--England girls; these
were valued only as signs that they were deemed worthy of respect and
consideration, and, where freely conceded, were often in point of fact
declined.

Let servants feel, in their treatment by their employers and in the
atmosphere of the family, that their position is held to be a
respectable one; let them feel, in the mistress of the family, the
charm of unvarying consideration and good manners; let their work-
rooms be made convenient and comfortable, and their private apartments
bear some reasonable comparison in point of agreeableness to those of
other members of the family, and domestic service will be more
frequently sought by a superior and self-respecting class. There are
families in which such a state of things prevails; and such families,
amid the many causes which unite to make the tenure of service
uncertain, have generally been able to keep good permanent servants.
There is an extreme into which kindly disposed people often run with
regard to servants which may be mentioned here. They make pets of them.
They give extravagant wages and indiscreet indulgences, and, through
indolence and easiness of temper, tolerate neglect of duty. Many of
the complaints of the ingratitude of servants come from those who have
spoiled them in this way; while many of the longest and most harmonious
domestic unions have sprung from a simple, quiet course of Christian
justice and benevolence, a recognition of servants as fellow-beings
and fellow-Christians, and a doing to them as we would in like
circumstances that they should do to us.

The mistresses of American families, whether they like it or not, have
the duties of missionaries imposed upon them by that class from which
our supply of domestic servants is drawn. They may as well accept the
position cheerfully, and, as one raw, untrained hand after another
passes through their family, and is instructed by them in the mysteries
of good house-keeping, comfort themselves with the reflection that
they are doing something to form good wives and mothers for the
republic.

The complaints made of Irish girls are numerous and loud; the failings
of green Erin, alas! are but too open and manifest; yet, in arrest of
judgment, let us move this consideration: let us imagine our own
daughters between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four, untaught and
inexperienced in domestic affairs as they commonly are, shipped to a
foreign shore to seek service in families. It may be questioned whether,
as a whole, they would do much better. The girls that fill our families
and do our house-work are often of the age of our own daughters,
standing for themselves, without mothers to guide them, in a foreign
country, not only bravely supporting themselves, but sending home in
every ship remittances to impoverished friends left behind. If our
daughters did as much for us, should we not be proud of their energy
and heroism?

When we go into the houses of our country, we find a majority of
well-kept, well-ordered, and even elegant establishments, where the
only hands employed are those of the daughters of Erin. True, American
women have been their instructors, and many a weary hour of care have
they had in the discharge of this office; but the result on the whole
is beautiful and good, and the end of it, doubtless, will be peace.

Instead, then, of complaining that we can not 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 Christian-like 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 unconfirmed 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 can not secure. One of these is, securing good
servants 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 toward those who would otherwise be wrongfully regarded
as unreasonable and exacting.

Another complaint against servants is that of instability and
discontent, leading to perpetual change. But in reference to this, let
a mother or daughter conceive of their own circumstances as so changed
that the daughter must go out to service. Suppose a place is engaged,
and it is then found that she must sleep in a comfortless garret; and
that, when a new domestic comes, perhaps a coarse and dirty foreigner,
she must share her bed with her. Another place is offered, where she
can have a comfortable room and an agreeable room-mate; in such a case,
would not both mother and daughter think it right to change?

Or suppose, on trial, it was found that the lady of the house was
fretful or exacting and hard to please, or that her children were so
ungoverned as to be perpetual vexations; or that the work was so heavy
that no time was allowed for relaxation and the care of a wardrobe;
and another place offers where those evils can be escaped; would not
mother and daughter here think it right to change? And is it not right
for domestics, as well as their employers, to seek places where they
can be most comfortable?

In some cases, this instability and love of change would be remedied,
if employers would take more pains to make a residence with them
agreeable, and to attach servants to the family by feelings of gratitude
and affection. There are ladies, even where well-qualified domestics
are most rare, who seldom find any trouble in keeping good and steady
ones. And the reason is, that their servants know they can not better
their condition by any change within reach. It is not merely by giving
them comfortable rooms, and good food, and presents, and privileges,
that the attachment of domestic servants is secured; it is by the
manifestation of a friendly and benevolent interest in their comfort
and improvement. This is exhibited in bearing patiently with their
faults; in kindly teaching them how to improve; in showing them how
to make and take proper care of their clothes; in guarding their health;
in teaching them to read if necessary, and supplying them with proper
books; and in short, by endeavoring, so far as may be, to supply the
place of parents. It is seldom that such a course would fail to secure
steady service, and such affection and gratitude that even higher wages
would be ineffectual to tempt them away. There would probably be some
leases of ungrateful returns; but there is no doubt that the course
indicated, if generally pursued, would very much lessen the evil in
question.

When servants are forward and bold in manners and disrespectful in
address, they may be considerately taught that those who are among the
best-bred and genteel have courteous and respectful manners and language
to all they meet: while many who have wealth, are regarded as vulgar,
because they exhibit rude and disrespectful manners. The very term
_gentle man_ indicates the refinement and delicacy of address which
distinguishes the high-bred from the coarse and vulgar.

In regard to appropriate dress, in most cases it is difficult for an
employer to interfere, _directly_, with comments or advice. The
most successful mode is to offer some, service in mending or making
a wardrobe, and when a confidence in the kindness of feeling is thus
gained, remarks and suggestions will generally be properly received,
and new views of propriety and economy can be imparted. In some cases
it may be well for an employer who, from appearances, anticipates
difficulty of this kind, in making the preliminary contract or agreement
to state that she wishes to have the room, person, and dress of her
servants kept neat and in order, and that she expects to remind them
of their duty, in this particular, if it is neglected. Domestic servants
are very apt to neglect the care of their own chambers and clothing;
and such habits have a most pernicious influence on their well-being
and on that of their children in future domestic life. An employer,
then, is bound to exercise a parental care over them, in these respects.

There is one great mistake, not unfrequently made, in the management
both of domestics and of children, and that is, in supposing that the
way to cure defects is by finding fault as each failing occurs. But
instead of this being true, in many cases the directly opposite course
is the best; while, in all instances, much good judgment is required
in order to decide when to notice faults and when to let them pass
unnoticed. There are some minds very sensitive, easily discouraged,
and infirm of purpose. Such persons, when they have formed habits of
negligence, haste, and awkwardness, often need expressions of sympathy
and encouragement rather than reproof. They have usually been found
fault with so much that they have become either hardened or desponding;
and it is often the case, that a few words of commendation will awaken
fresh efforts and renewed hope. In almost every case, words of kindness,
confidence, and encouragement should be mingled with the needful
admonitions or reproof.

It is a good rule, in reference to this point, to _forewarn_ instead of
finding fault. Thus, when a thing has been done wrong, let it pass
unnoticed, till it is to be done again; and then, a simple request to
have it done in the right way will secure quite as much, and probably
more, willing effort, than a reproof administered for neglect. Some
persons seem to take it for granted that young and inexperienced minds
are bound to have all the forethought and discretion of mature persons;
and freely express wonder and disgust when mishaps occur for want of
these traits. But it would be far better to save from mistake or
forgetfulness by previous caution and care on the part of those who have
gained experience and forethought; and thus many occasions of complaint
and ill-humor will be avoided.

Those who fill the places of heads of families are not very apt to
think how painful it is to be chided for neglect of duty or for faults
of character. If they would sometimes imagine themselves in the place
of those whom they control, with some person daily administering reproof
to them, in the same _tone and style_ as they employ to those who
are under them, it might serve as a useful cheek to their chidings.
It is often the ease, that persons who are most strict and exacting
and least able to make allowances and receive palliations, are
themselves peculiarly sensitive to any tiling which implies that they
are in fault. By such, the spirit implied in the Divine petition,
"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against
us," needs especially to be cherished.

One other consideration is very important. There is no duty more binding
on Christians than that of patience and meekness under provocations
and disappointment. Now, the tendency of every sensitive mind, when
thwarted in its wishes, is to complain and find fault, and that often
in tones of fretfulness or anger. But there are few servants who have
not heard enough of the Bible to know that angry or fretful
fault-finding from the mistress of a family, when her work is not done
to suit her, is not in agreement with the precepts of Christ. They
notice and feel the inconsistency; and every woman, when she gives way
to feelings of anger and impatience at the faults of those around her,
lowers herself in their respect, while her own conscience, unless very
much blinded, can not but suffer a wound.

In speaking of the office of the American mistress as being a missionary
one, we are far from, recommending any controversial interference with
the religious faith of our servants. It is far better to incite them
to be good Christians in their own way than to run the risk of shaking
their faith in all religion by pointing out to them what seem to us
the errors of that in which they have been educated. The general purity
of life and propriety of demeanor of so many thousands of undefended
young girls cast yearly upon our shores, with no home but their church,
and no shield but their religion, are a sufficient proof that this
religion exerts an influence over them not to be lightly trifled with.
But there is a real unity even in opposite Christian forms; and the
Roman Catholic servant and the Protestant mistress, if alike possessed
by the spirit of Christ, and striving to conform to the Golden Rule,
can not help being one in heart, though one go to mass and the other
to meeting.

Finally, the bitter baptism through which we have passed, the life-blood
dearer than our own which has drenched distant fields, should remind
us of the preciousness of distinctive American ideas. They who would
seek in their foolish pride to establish the pomp of liveried servants
in America are doing that which is simply absurd. A servant can never
in our country be the mere appendage to another man, to be marked like
a sheep with the color of his owner; he must be a fellow-citizen, with
an established position of his own, free to make contracts, free to
come and go, and having in his sphere titles to consideration and
respect just as definite as those of any trade or profession whatever.

Moreover, we can not in this country maintain to any great extent large
retinues of servants. Even with ample fortunes, they are forbidden by
the general character of society here, which makes them cumbrous and
difficult to manage. Every mistress of a family knows that her cares
increase with every additional servant. Two keep the peace with each
other and their employer; three begin a possible discord, which
possibility increases with four, and becomes certain with five or six.
Trained housekeepers, such as regulate the complicated establishments
of the old world, form a class that are not, and from the nature of
the case never will be, found in any great numbers in this country.
All such women, as a general thing, are keeping, and prefer to keep,
houses of their own.

A moderate style of housekeeping, small, compact, and simple domestic
establishments, must necessarily be the general order of life in
America. So many openings of profit are to be found in this country,
that domestic service necessarily wants the permanence which forms so
agreeable a feature of it in the old world.

This being the case, it should be an object in American to exclude
from the labors of the family all that can, with greater advantage,
be executed out of it by combined labor.

Formerly, in New England, soap and candles were to be made in each
separate family; now, comparatively few take this toil upon them. We
buy soap of the soap-maker, and candles of the candle-factor. This
principle might be extended much further. In France, no family makes
its own bread, and better bread can not be eaten than can be bought
at the appropriate shops. No family does its own washing; the family's
linen is all sent to women who, making this their sole profession, get
it up with a care and nicety which can seldom be equaled in any family.

How would it simplify the burdens of the American housekeeper to have
washing and ironing day expunged from her calendar! How much more
neatly and compactly could the whole domestic system be arranged! If
all the money that each separate family spends on the outfit and
accommodations for washing and ironing, on fuel, soap, starch, and the
other requirements, were united in a fund to create a laundry for every
dozen families, one or two good women could do in first rate style
what now is very indifferently done by the disturbance and
disarrangement of all other domestic processes in these families.
Whoever sets neighborhood laundries on foot will do much to solve the
American housekeeper's hardest problem.

Again, American women must not try with three servants to carry on
life in the style which in the old world requires sixteen; they must
thoroughly understand, and be prepared _to teach_, every branch
of housekeeping; they must study to make domestic service desirable,
by treating their servants in a way to lead them to respect themselves
and to feel themselves respected; and there will gradually be evolved
from the present confusion, a solution of the domestic problem which
shall be adapted to the life of a new and growing world.




XXVI.

CARE OF THE SICK.


It is interesting to notice in the histories of our Lord the prominent
place given to the care of the sick. When he first sent out the
apostles, it was to heal the sick as well as to preach. Again, when,
he sent out the seventy, their first command was to "heal the sick,"
and next to say, "the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you." The body
was to be healed first, in order to attend to the kingdom of God, even
when it was "brought nigh."

Jesus Christ spent more time and labor in the cure of men's bodies
than in preaching, even, if we subtract those labors with his earthly
father by which family homes were provided. When he ascended to the
heavens, his last recorded, words to his followers, as given by Mark,
were, that his disciples should "lay hands on the sick," that they
might recover. Still more directly is the duty of care for the sick
exhibited in the solemn allegorical description of the last day. It
was those who visited the sick that were the blessed; it was those who
did not visit the sick who were told to "depart." Thus are we abundantly
taught that one of the most sacred duties of the Christian family is
the training of its inmates to care and land attention to the sick.

Every woman who has the care of young children, or of a large family,
is frequently called upon to advise what shall be done for some one
who is indisposed; and often, in circumstances where she must trust
solely to her own judgment. In such cases, some err by neglecting to
do any thing at all, till the patient is quite sick; but a still greater
number err from excessive and injurious dosing.

The two great causes of the ordinary slight attacks of illness in a
family, are, sudden chills, which close the pores of the skin, and
thus affect the throat, lungs, or bowels; and the excessive or improper
use of food. In most cases of illness from the first cause, bathing
the feet, and some aperient drink to induce perspiration, are suitable
remedies.

In case of illness from improper food, or excess in eating, fasting
for one or two meals, to give the system time and chance to relieve
itself, is the safest remedy. Some-times, a gentle cathartic of
castor-oil may be needful; but it is best first to try fasting. A safe
relief from injurious articles in the stomach is an emetic of warm
water; but to be effective, several tumblerfuls must be given in quick
succession, and till the stomach can receive no more.

The following extract from a discourse of Dr. Burne, before the London
Medical Society, contains important, information: "In civilized life,
the causes which are most generally and continually operating in the
production of diseases are, affections of the mind, improper diet, and
retention of the intestinal excretions. The undue retention of
excrementitious matter allows of the absorption of its more liquid
parts, which is a cause of great impurity to the blood, and the
excretions, thus rendered hard and knotty, act more or less as
extraneous substances, and, by their irritation, produce a determination
of blood to the intestines and to the neighboring viscera, which
ultimately ends in inflammation. It also has a great effect on the
whole system; causes a determination of blood to the head, which
oppresses the brain, and dejects the mind; deranges the functions of
the stomach; causes flatulency; and produces a general state of
discomfort."

Dr. Combe remarks on this subject: "In the natural and healthy state,
under a proper system of diet, and with sufficient exercise, the bowels
are relieved regularly, once every day." _Habit_ "is powerful in
modifying the result, and in sustaining healthy action when once fairly
established. Hence the obvious advantage of observing as much regularity
in relieving the system, as in taking our meals." It is often the ease
that soliciting nature at a regular period, once a day, will remedy
constipation without medicine, and induce a regular and healthy state
of the bowels. "When, however, as most frequently happens, the
constipation arises from the absence of all assistance from the
abdominal and respiratory muscles, the first step to be taken is, again
to solicit their aid; first, by removing all impediments to free
respiration, such as stays, waistbands, and belts; secondly, by
resorting to such active exercise as shall call the muscles into full
and regular action; [Footnote: The most effective mode of exercising
the abdominal and respiratory muscles, in order to remedy constipation,
is by a continuous alternate contraction of the muscles of the abdomen,
and diaphragm. By contracting the muscles of the abdomen, the intestines
axe pressed inward and upward, and then the muscles of the diaphragm
above contract and press them downward and outward. Thus the blood is
drawn to the torpid parts to stimulate to the healthful action, while
the agitation moves their contents downward. An invalid can thus
exercise the abdominal muscles in bed. The proper time is just after
a meal. This exercise, continued ten minutes a day, including short
intervals of rest, and persevered in for a week or two, will cure most
ordinary cases of constipation, provided proper food is taken. Coarse
bread and fruit are needed for this purpose in most cases.] and lastly,
by proportioning the quantity of food to the wants of the system, and
the condition of the digestive organs.