A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School

much wiser and more Christianlike 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 unconformed 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 cannot secure. One of these, is, securing good domestics, 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