Shall we allow to this nonpareil the wages of an ordinary seamstress who “cannot undertake cutting and fitting,”—one dollar a day? Or, is she entitled to the pay of a dressmaker’s assistant—half a dollar more? I do not want to be hard with you. We will set her down for $450 a year. And, again, we conclude that you have made a good bargain.
Next, the nursery-governess, and perhaps the most important functionary in the household. She must, you stipulate, have charge of the children, by day and night; guard morals, health and manners, besides teaching the youngerlings the rudiments of reading and writing; must superintend the preparation of the elder ones’ lessons for school-recitations, and look to it that catechism and Bible-lesson are ready for Sabbath-school; that musical exercises are duly practised; that home is made so attractive to the boys that they shall not be drawn thence by the questionable hilarity of engine-house and oyster-cellar. A lady she must be, else how would your girls be trained to modest and graceful behavior, and your friends be entertained as you deem is due to you and to them, in your house? A responsible, judicious person is indispensable to the comfort and health of you and yours; one who does not regard the care of a young baby as “too confining;” nor sleepless nights on account of it, a valid reason for “bettering herself;” nor a brisk succession of measles, mumps and chicken-pox cogent cause for informing you that she “didn’t engage for this sort of work, and would you be suiting yourself with a lady as has a stronger constitution—immediate, for her trunk is packed.”
Would a thousand dollars per annum provide you with such a hireling? I knew a wealthy man who offered just that sum for a nursery-governess during the protracted illness of his wife. She must be intelligent and ladylike, he stated, qualified to undertake the education of the three younger children. There were six in all, but there was a tutor for the boys. The governess’ bed-room adjoined that of the little girls, the door of which must stand open all night. The baby’s crib was to be by her bed, and a child, three years old, was also to share her chamber. She would be treated respectfully and kindly, and every enjoyment of the luxurious establishment, compatible with the proper discharge of the duties appointed, would be hers.
He could get no one to take the place.
This is simple fact, and it is pregnant with meaning.
Nevertheless, what if we put down the wages of your nursery-governess at the same sum you are willing to give your housekeeper—$700? Oblige me by adding up the short row of figures under your hand.
| $700 |
| 450 |
| 700 |
| $1,850 |
This you will please consider as the amount of your wife’s salary, due from you for services rendered, exclusive of board and lodgings, which are always the portion of resident employees in your house. There is no charge for “extras,” you observe. We have said nothing about the bill for nursing you through that four weeks’ spell of inflammatory rheumatism last winter, or the longer siege of fever, three years ago, when this servant-of-all-work sat up with you fourteen weary nights, and would entrust the care of you to no one else. By her skillful ministrations, the miracle of her patience, love and prayers, you were rescued, say the doctors, from the close clutch of death. You cannot see the figures very distinctly while you think of it, but we agreed, at the outset, to keep feeling in the background.
You “have tried to be a kind, affectionate husband,” you say, in a very unbusiness-like way.
I believe you, and so does the blessed little woman whom I have shut out from this conference, lest her foolish fondness should spoil the effect of our matter-of-fact talk. I would have you and all husbands be just, no less than loving. Let us return to our figures. The estimate is for a man of moderate means and modest home, one of the middle class which is everywhere the bone and muscle of the community—the class that makes national character, the world over. If you are wealthy, and put the care of a large and elegant establishment upon your manager, the remuneration should be in proportion. For a fancy article you have to pay a fancy price. You misunderstand your wife and me, if you imagine that we would inaugurate in your household a debit and credit system and quarter-day settlements. She would be the first to shrink from such an interpretation of your mutual relations. I should, of all your friends and well-wishers, be the last to recommend it.