Page:Meta Stern Lilienthal - From Fireside to Factory (c. 1916).djvu/12

 being a middle class or upper class housekeeper means something entirely different from being a housekeeper in a farmer's cottage or a workingman's fiat. On the one hand we have the woman whose housekeeping means actual, domestic labor: cooking, washing, scrubbing, etc. On the other hand, we have the woman whose housekeeping consists exclusively of directing the work of one or more other women, and who may be utterly unable to do the work herself. But in colonial days every woman, regardless of social status or wealth, was industrially employed within her home. The wealthy colonial dames of New York and Boston, the wives of Southern planters, in their stately mansions, had their domestic servants and their slaves; but that did not exempt them from spinning the yarn and weaving the cloth and plying the needle and performing many other household tasks. Even the wealthiest women were proud of their skill in domestic labors, proud of the fine household linens they had accumulated through long years of toil, proud of the beautiful embroideries that decorated their parlors, proud—last but not least—of their culinary art. When a colonial mistress of the house entertained guests, she had to spend much time in the kitchen before receiving her guests in the parlor; for, with the aid of her daughters and servants, she was obliged to prepare everything in connection with the meal that was served. No kind of work pertaining to the duties of a housekeeper was regarded as being beneath any woman's dignity. There was a general approval of industry and thrift. The severe ethics of the Puritans especially were relentless in their condemnation of idleness as the source of all sins. The fair maidens of Boston gave public proof of their diligence and skill by holding spinning matches out upon the Boston Common, and Martha Washington, mother of our country, was so industrious that she was known to ply her busy knitting needles even while entertaining guests. All the mothers of the country, who were Martha Washington's contemporaries, spent much time in plying the knitting needles, for all the colonists—men, women and children—wore home-made stockings and socks, and women exclusively supplied this important article of clothing.

Thus we find that under the domestic system of