Letters to Persons Who Are Engaged in Domestic Service

by Catharine Esther Beecher

I now wish to point out some of the reasons why it is very important, both to employers and to domestics, that this employment should be raised, in general estimation, to that honour and respectability which really belongs to it.

To understand the subject properly, you must bear in mind these things. This nation is now more prosperous than any other in the world, and almost any man of intelligence,

industry, and honesty, can, after a few years, gain so much wealth that he can afford to hire a domestic to help his wife. Such men, when young, are frequently marrying persons who are domestics. In this way it comes about, that the number of domestics is diminishing, and the number of those who wish to hire domestics is increasing. Domestics are constantly changing to be the mistresses of families, who wish to hire domestics themselves.

At the same time, women can be hired so much cheaper than men, that it is becoming more and more common to hire women to do what in past times was done by men in shops, stores, and manufactories. And though, in many cases, no greater wages are gained than domestics secure, yet as these places are considered superior in respectability, many who would otherwise go to service in families, prefer such places, even when they work longer and for less wages. But in some cases, women have far higher wages offered than are ever given to domestics.

These causes are operating constantly to

diminish the number of domestics, until, in some parts of the country, many ladies cannot hire any person to do their family work on any terms, and though they are very wealthy, they are obliged to do all their own work. And the more prosperous this country grows, the more this scarcity of domestics will increase, unless something is done to remedy the difficulty.

And this will be the greater misfortune, because most young women, who have wealthy parents, are brought up in such a way, that they have a delicate constitution that cannot bear hard labour. When, therefore, they are married, not being able to hire domestics, their health and strength fail under the care and labours that come upon them; they lose their courage and spirits, life becomes a burden, and often, they drag out a weary life, or sink to an early grave. This brings anxiety, trouble, and care on husbands and fathers, and when the comforts of home are gone, the road to vice is near, while children, turned off for want of time, are still greater sufferers. Since I have travelled so much in this nation, I have been

greatly distressed at the amount of care, anxiety and sorrow that oppress so many thousands, for want of proper aid from domestics. It is therefore of the greatest consequence to employers, that the station of a domestic should be so raised in comfort and respectability, that it will be regarded as a desirable situation by the thousands that are now employed in work injurious to themselves.

It is quite as important to all who must labour with their hands for a livelihood, that the station of a domestic should be regarded as a respectable and desirable one. I have shown how much superior this situation is to that of a shop or a manufactory, and it would be a great blessing to the young women of this nation, who earn their livelihood, if they so regarded it.

It is a matter, then, that equally interests all classes in society to inquire, How shall the station and employment of a domestic be raised in public estimation, so as to be regarded honourable and respectable, as much so as it deserves to be?