husband and son has thus been driven to temptations and snares, that have drawn them and their families to misery and ruin.
Another power for doing good given to domestics is, their opportunities for comforting and relieving the sick. Sickness always makes a great deal of work, and were it not for domestics, the sick would suffer greatly for want of nursing and many comforts. No persons owe more to domestics than those who, by sickness, are deprived of all power to take care of themselves. I might point out other particulars in which domestics have it in their power to do great good, but surely enough has been presented to show, that if great power to do good is what entitles persons to be called honourable, then domestics have a pre-eminent claim.
But it has been shown, that it is not only the power to do good, but the actual use of this power that entitles a person to honour and respect. Here, also, domestics will be found to have a claim equal to that of any other class of persons. It will be found, that there are individuals in every class of society, who do not use their power well. There are bad kings and
bad governors, bad rich men and bad learned men, and sometimes there are bad ministers of the gospel. So, also, there are bad domestics. But, as a class, I believe domestics use their power for the benefit, rather than the injury of society, as much so as any other class. Most of the work, that is necessary to sustain the family state, is actually done by them, the sick are taken care of by their help, children are nursed and taken care of by them, and the comfort of a family is promoted by their services, to a degree never realized till their help is gone.
No class in the community do more in promoting the comfort, health, and prosperity of society than domestics. It thus appears, that they are an honourable and respectable class in society, not only because they have great power to do good, but because they actually use this power beneficially, to a very great extent.
LETTER VI.
The reasons why the station of a domestic is not regarded as so honourable as it really is.
My Friends: