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THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
Many an appeal have I read in Paris about the necessity of starting a school for young domestics; yet when I began this new work I met with what one usually meets, i. e., incredulity, indifference, and perhaps a little ill-will; I was advocating a new system; the Old World has not yet put off its old mantle of routine.
My fifteen years spent in the United States, teaching in the public schools, where I had the honor of being a principal, had given me ideas that could not always meet with a thorough understanding on the part of some of our best women in philanthropic and Christian work, because they bore in themselves a fragrance of independence perhaps too strong.
As I said before, I only began my work two years ago, January io, 1891. The incident that made me try it, with no help but my own modest resources, and a Guide that never fails whoever will follow Him, has been related in the report to Congress of Philanthropy; I will therefore only speak here of the advantages which I think can derive from my system: Homes and not Institutions. In P'rance our institutions keep the girls entirely away from the world in a great many cases, up to sixteen, eighteen and twenty-one years of age, letting them out exactly as unfit for the world as the young brood taking its first flight from the nest—unsteady, bewildered, as it meets the broad immensity for the first time. Many a fall is due.only to the insufficient preparation and complete ignorance of the dangers to be encountered.
Domestic training schools have been started in this country, as well as in others; but whenever they bear only the character of institution they prove failures. In spite of what many say to the contrary an institution will never take the place of the home;, each individual in a home can be morally and mentally trained with the greatest care. “Saving by guarding against evil,” will prove far better work than rescuing, even though rescuing must not be neglected.
The family training affords many an opportunity to point out all dangers to the young girl; she is not shut up from the world, neither is she allowed to go through it unprotected; she is made wise and strong by being shown the consequences that await all those who, for one reason or another, have not shunned the flattering words, the tempting gayeties that may be offered to the poor girl now fallen, through ignorance more than evil desire.
Can that be so easily pointed out to our girls shut up and trained between the high walks of tradition and conventionalities centuries old?
Certainly not; and as the number of the friendless and destitute increases with distressing rapidity in our large centers, I believe we must elevate the standard of domestic service by elevating the moral character of those who volunteer to accept that humble calling.
Let us remember the noble characters whose names have been synonyms of loyalty and devotions to their masters.
Every year the French academy delivers one or more rewards, “ Prix Montyon,” to some humble, faithful, noble hearted man or woman servant who will surely receive a still better reward at the hand of the Master who came here below to serve all mep
When domestic service will be better understood because better taught, then will those honored exceptions become a thing of the past, and the young girl will have a heart to honor both herself and masters by accomplishing her modest duties with a love that can only receive its impulse from above.
I expect to return to Paris and make most strenuous efforts toward carrying out my domestic work for destitute girls as a preventive work, and on the plan explained here; should I find resources and sympathy not answer my expectations, I want every Christian man and woman here to know that I am ready to do the same work wherever there are girls to be saved from danger. You only have to call on me at 38 Rue: Nollet, Paris, France, or until May, 1894, care of Mr. F. A. Booth, 19 east Sixteenth, street, New York.