Page:Live and Let Live.djvu/80

 the same accomplishments. Great pains were taken to make us attractive in a drawing-room and amiable in our domestic relations. But, as to the actual business of life, we were as little trained for it as if we had been born in the royal family of Persia, instead of being American girls, who, whatever their fortune and condition are, will be sure, in the progress of life, to be placed in situations that call all their faculties into requisition."

"Oh! some are and some are not."

"All—all, Anne. The women of this country, of every grade, are independent, self-directing beings. The employers have certain untransferable duties and the employed certain unquestionable rights."

"Do you mean mistresses and servants by employers and employed?"

"Yes."

"That is too absurd for such a sensible woman as you, Sara. You got that flummery living up in the country."

"Perhaps I did get it sooner there than I otherwise should. How can a person who contracts to perform a certain labour under your roof, who makes her own stipulations, and may leave you with impunity at any moment, any more be called your servant, in the old sense, than the builder who builds your house, or the engineer who constructs your roads?" "How can they? Why they always have been called servants—my servants do the same work my grandmother's did, who were slaves—the same work that servants do in other countries."

"Yes, but is not their condition changed, and