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about, to be found at our doors, the better. Those are seldom the most needy who ask assistance in this way, and happily for our benevolence, there are innumerable channels now open, through which we may at least endeavor to do good with less probability of doing harm.

In the exercise of kindness to the poor, care is often necessary to avoid falling into popular mistakes with regard to the merit of certain cases, which after all frequently consists in nothing more than a few circumstances of interest attaching to them. The tide of fashion, when it takes a charitable course, will sometimes pour a perfect flood of benefits upon certain individuals, to the neglect of others equally deserving, and perhaps more in need. But the mistress of a family, whose mind is well governed, will be her own judge in such matters, and not allowing either indolence or self-indulgence to stand in her way, nor even deputing the task to others, she will, as far as it is possible to do so, examine the case for herself, in order that she may not be led away by the partial statements or highly colored representations of her friends.

For all the purposes of benevolence, she will also keep a separate provision, and separate accounts, in order to ascertain at the end of the year, or at any particular time, what has been the exact proportion of her resources thus distributed. Without this kind of record, we are apt sometimes to fancy we have been more generous than is really the case; or, on the other hand, we may have been liberal beyond what was just, for it is not the number of cases we relieve, which has to be considered, so much as the due proportion of our means which is bestowed upon charitable purposes.

When the duty of benevolence, extended through offices of charity, is considered in this light, as being no duty in some cases, and in others one of serious extent and responsibility, and thus bearing, through all the intermediate degrees between these two extremes, exact reference to our pecuniary means, to our situation in life, and to the

number of relative claims we have to fulfil, it will easily be seen, that to lay down any precise rules for the amount of money which ought to be expended in charity, would be presuming upon an extent of knowledge which no single individual can possess. Besides which, there are so many ways of doing good, that benevolent feeling can often find free exercise through channels which could scarcely be considered as belonging to what is generally understood by charity.

But while perfectly aware that little can be done in the way of benefiting our fellow-creatures, without regard to their spiritual welfare, I own I am one of those who would wish that the bodies, as well as the souls of the poor might be cared for; nor can I think they would be less likely to attend to instruction, for being comfortably clothed and sufficiently fed.

The mistress of a family, when truly benevolent, will not rest satisfied with merely giving to the poor. She will visit them in their dwellings, make herself acquainted with their habits, characters, and circumstances: and while urging upon them their religious duties, or recommending such means of religious instruction as may be within their reach, her own experience in the practice of economy will enable her occasionally to throw in a few useful hints on the best method of employing their scanty means, so as that every thing may be turned to the most useful account. Assistance of this kind, judiciously and kindly given, is often more valuable than money would be without it; and those who have but little to give, may often, by such means, extend their influence to as wide a circle of usefulness, as if they had thousands at their disposal.

The indigent and the suffering are often good judges of what is real, and what is pretended sympathy, or of what is meant for kindness, without sympathy at all. Thus the most sincere and fervent zeal for their spiritual improvement often fails to produce any effect, simply from the fact of little attention being paid to their temporal affairs, or only such as they can perceive at once to be un

accompanied by any feeling of sympathy.

It is a happy constitution of mind, therefore, which has been given to woman, no doubt for holy and benevolent purposes, which enables her with a quick and sensitive feeling to enter into all the minutiae of daily experience, without interruption to those higher aims which must occupy the supreme attention of every Christian woman in her intercourse with those who are brought under her influence or her care.

The advantages of adaptation are never more felt than in our association with the poor. By a look or a tone, they may be attracted or repelled. Yet how little do some worthy people think of this, when they speak to the poor in an authoritative, or disrespectful manner! It is good to bear about with us the remembrance of this fact-that we have no more right to be rude to the poor than to the rich. Even as regards household servants, so strong is the feeling of that class of persons in this respect, that I believe mistresses who never deviate from a proper manner of speaking themselves, have seldom occasion to complain that their servants speak improperly to them.

In every mistress of a family, the poor of her immediate neighborhood should feel that they have a friend, and where the principle of benevolence has been strongly implanted in the heart, such a mistress will esteem this consideration too high a privilege to allow any regard for mere personal interest to interfere with the just discharge of so sacred a trust. Yet to befriend the poor substantially, and with reference to their ultimate good, all who have made the experiment will allow to be a difficult, as well as a sacred duty, requiring much patience, forbearance, and equanimity of mind, with much confidence in a superintending Providence, and faith in Him who chose his own disciples among the poor.

That benevolence which commences its career with high expectations of reward in this world, is sure to be withered by disapFointment. Indeed, there is so much to dis

courage the exercise of charity for the sake of producing great and conspicuous results, that most persons who begin upon this principle, end by having their temper soured, their confidence destroyed, and their minds embittered by uncharitable feelings towards their fellow-creatures in general. "The poor are so ungrateful," is their frequent remark- “ so dishonest, so requiring; there is no pleasure in doing any thing for them." But how dif ferent is the spirit which prompts these complaints, from that of the Bible, where the poor are mentioned in almost every page, and where the duty of kindness and consideration towards them is enforced upon the simple ground of their being poor, without regard to any other merit or demerit what

ever!

Nor is it to the poor alone, but towards her fellow-creatures in general, that the woman who undertakes the superintendence of a family, should cultivate feelings of kindness and benevolence. Men, engaged in the active affairs of life, have neither time nor opportunity for those innumerable little acts of consideration which come within the sphere of female duty, nor are they by nature so fitted as woman for entering into the peculiarities of personal feeling, so as to enable them to sympathize with the suffering or the distressed. But woman, in the happiest exercise of her natural endowments, enjoys all those requisites which are combined in a real friend; and as such she ought always to be regarded at the head of her domestic establishmenta friend with whom all within the reach of her influence may feel that their interests are safe-a friend in whose sympathy all may share, and in whose charity all may find a place. No one, however, can be such a friend as this, without having cultivated benevolent dispositions towards the human race in general, without feeling that all are members of one great family, only differently placed for a short period of their existence, and that all are objects of kindness and care to the same heavenly Father.

CHAP. XI.

TREATMENT OF SERVANTS AND DEPENDANTS.

Ir, as soon as a woman marries, she has the services of domestic assistants at her command, she has also devolving upon her the responsibility of their comfort and their general welfare; and it is a serious thought that she cannot, by any means, escape from this responsibility, whatever may, in other respects, be the privileges and indulgences of her situation. Neither the affection of her husband nor the kindness of her friends can do any thing to relieve her here, except only so far as their advice may aid her judgment; but as the mistress of a house she must be the one responsible being for the habits, and, in a great measure, for the circumstances of those who are placed under her care.

By the thoughtless or inexperienced it may be asked how this should be, since servants are expected to care for us, not we for them? Such, however, is not the language of a Christian woman, with whom it will be impossible to forget that her influence and example must unavoidably give a tone to the character of her whole household; and if there be no solicitude for a bias to be given towards what is good, it must unavoidably be towards what is evil. It is morally impossible that it should be neither one way nor the other, because the very time which a servant spends beneath a master's roof, will, of necessity, be confirming old habits, if not spent in acquiring new ones; and thus while fondly persuading yourself that because you are doing nothing you cannot be doing harm, you may, in reality, be guilty of the sin of omission, which, in cases of moral responsibility, is often of the most serious consequence.

It is too frequently considered that servants are a class of persons merely subject to our authority. Could we regard them more as placed under our influence, we should take a wider and more enlightened view of our own responsibilities with regard to them. And after all, it is influence rather than authority which governs a household; not but

that every mistress has a right to expect implicit obedience, all neglect of which is injurious to both the parties concerned, and in order to enforce which, her orders should always be given in as clear and decided a manner as possible, leaving nothing, except where it is absolutely necessary, to contingencies, and nothing to the choice of the servant herself, unless good reasons should be adduced for a change of purpose; and then the orders of the mistress should be so worded as to make the purpose her own, and not to allow the servant an opportunity of feeling that she has overruled the plans of her mistress, and in reality substituted her own.

Where the mistress is an ignorant one, these points of observance are very difficult to maintain, and the habit of giving foolish orders, inconvenient or impossible to be executed, and of finding that her servant is capable of proposing what is at once more reasonable and much to be preferred, will, in all probability, reduce her to a mere nonentity as regards authority in her kitchen, and may ultimately be the cause of her withdrawing from all interference there.

But necessary as it is that a stress should be implicitly obeyed, I repeat, that it is not by mere authority that a household can be well governed; because there are innumerable ways in which servants can deceive without being detected, and carry on their own schemes while they appear to be adopting those of a mistress; it is, therefore, by no other means than by the establishment of mutual feelings of confidence and respect, that we can hope to be as faithfully served when absent, as when inspecting our affairs in person; and as I have already said that a kitchen can never be the proper element for an enlightened woman to live in, the greater confidence she feels in a right system being carried on there, the more leisure she will possess for other avocations, and the more happiness she will enjoy.

The question then arises, how is this right understanding, and this perfect confidence to be attained? I answer, first, by respecting the rights of servants, and secondly, by atten

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tion to their interests. There are certain any extraordinary occasion, which seldom duties which you have a right to require of meets with a refusal, or even with an unwilthem, and among them is implicit obedience; ling compliance. but there are also many things which even though they might greatly promote your convenience, you have no right to require. You have no right to require a reduction of wages below what you first agreed to give, or indeed, any deviation from what was stipulated for in that agreement. And here it may be well to observe, that all particular requirements with regard to dress and personal habits, should be mentioned at that time, so that no disappointments or disputes may afterwards arise. Notes should also be made of such arrangements, with the time of hiring, and the rate of wages: and when all these things in the beginning are clearly stated, and fully understood, it may tend greatly to the prevention of unpleasant consequences.

Whatever your own circumstances may be, it is the right of your servants to have a sufficiency of rest, and of wholesome food; and even in cases of sickness, or other exigency, you have no right to require that either should be given up; to request it as a kindness, is the only proper manner in which a servant should be brought to make such concessions; and we have often a beautiful example for imitation in the perfect willingness with which, when thus treated, they will deny themselves personal indulgence, more especially sit up night after night with the sick, without in the intermediate times neglecting their daily work.

It is a delicate part of good management, but a very important one in maintaining influence, to keep always clear distinctions on these points, and not even to demand the pillow from the servant's bed, remembering that all things essential to their daily sustenance and nightly rest, have been stipulated for in your first agreement, and that your servants are consequently under no greater ok. ligation than other members of your family, to give up what may be classed under the head of bed or board. But I must again observe, that there is a manner of requesting these things to be done, when required on

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A certain degree of care of your servants' health is a species of kindness which they always feel gratefully, and which is no more than ought to be shown by the mistress towards every member of her household. Indeed it is impossible to imagine a kind-hearted woman neglecting the pallid looks, and languid movements of those who are spending their strength in her service; and if she be at the same time a lover of justice, she will remember that the bodily exercise necessary for carrying on household labor during the day, requires a greater interval of rest than such occupations as are generally carried on in the drawing-room. Instead of which, how often do we find those on whom devolves the burden of this labor, required to rise two or three hours earlier than their mistress, and kept up at night as late as any of the household !-kept up perhaps to wait for the return of visitors, when another member of the family, allowed to rest longer in the morning, might as well have done so in their stead-kept up on a cold winter's night to warm a bed, which the indulgent occupant might more properly have warmed herself, unless she had chosen to retire earlier-or kept up perhaps until a late hour for family worship; a practice which requires no further comment, than to say, that except on very extraordinary occasions, or where great allowance is made in the morning for rest, no servants ought to be expected to attend family worship after ten at night.

By allowing, and even requiring your servants to retire early, you have a right to expect their services early in the morning, without which, no household can be properly conducted; for when the day commences with hurry and confusion in order to overtake lost time, the same state of things, only aggravated by its unavoidable tendency to call forth evil tempers, impatient expressions, and angry retorts, will in all probability continue until the end of the day. And here we see, as in thousands of instances besides, the

importance of making ourselves acquainted with what belongs to nature, and especially that of the human heart. We may compel an outward observance of the laws we lay down for our own families, but we cannot compel such feelings to go along with their observance, as alone can render it of any lasting benefit either to our servants or ourselves. Thus by rendering our service an irksome one, or in other words, not attending to what the constitution of human nature requires, we effectually destroy our good influence; and if by bringing religion into the same hard service, we render it an irksome restraint, the mischief we do by this means may be as fearful in its extent, as it is serious and important in its character. But of this, more in another chapter.

The same care which is exercised with regard to your servants' health, should be extended to their habits in general, and even to cases in which their good alone is concerned; for it is an act of injustice to complain of the habits of this class of persons, without doing your part to form, upon better principles, those which come within the sphere of your influence. It is often objected to this duty, that nothing can be done for the good of young servants, so long as they are encour aged at home in what is foolish and wrong. The mothers then are clearly to blame; and certainly the mothers in many poor families are bad enough. But who made the mothers what they are, or helped to make them so? Unquestionably the negligent, injudicious, or unprincipled mistresses under whose influence their early lives were spent.

And have you not then sufficient regard for the welfare of future generations to begin a new system, by which the errors of the last may be corrected? For the little thoughtless girl just entering beneath your roof-the young nursery-maid-she of whom nobody thinks, except to find fault when she has done wrong-she who perhaps never thinks herself, except to contrive how she shall manage to purchase a ribbon like that upon her mistress's cap-this very girl is gradually experiencing under your influence, and, nom

inally at least, under your care, that great and important change of thought, feeling, and habit, which is not improperly called the formation of character; and this girl will consequently take away with her whatever bias she receives either from your neglect, or your attentions, first into other families, and then into her own, where she herself will probably in her turn have to train up children both for this world and the next.

Will the wives of England then think me very extravagant in my notions of what is due towards servants, when I propose to those in the middle class of society, that as Christian women they should consider such young servants as placed peculiarly under their care; because it is only by beginning early, that that great and radical change can be effected in the habits and character of servants generally, which all unite in considering as so urgently required.

If a mistress would really do this, and I cannot see how any responsible person so circumstanced is justified in neglecting it, she would consider that some oversight of her servants' wardrobe was absolutely necessary; and as they grow older, and come to be intrusted with money of their own, the same oversight should extend to their manner of spending it. It is an excellent thing when servants are allowed time for making their own clothes, and it is no mean occupation for the mistress of a house to teach them how to do so. I speak on the supposition that she is acquainted with this art herself, for I cannot imagine the education of an English woman in the middle class of society complete, without her having become familiar with the art of making every article of dress she wears. Not that she is under any obligation to continue the practice of making her own clothes; that is a totally different matter; but as this class of women are situated, and taking into account all the probabilities of change of circumstance, failure of health, or failure of pecuniary means, I am convinced that no one could have to regret, while thousands might have to rejoice, at having acquired in early life an art so capable of

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