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    TWO CHAPTERS ABOUT CHARWOMEN. 193

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    Chapter I. My Experiences Of The Class.

    be having necessary to tramp for the into house some -mother dirty , court to app in search ly at The of it Home , it would , or refer only

    to Then the page too s of if the the reg charwoman ister . ' s employer would , after a fair trial ,

    g _o- ive uidance her , assistant of , others a who character miht , wish or permit for occasional a reference help to , many her for others the g

    ¦ would , avail themselves of a daily servant ' s services ; because there would be less cause for hesitation about taking a stranger into the

    house were she recommended by respectable individuals . Again , a lady wishing to engage a servant would often be glad to

    test her qualifications before closing with her for a lengthened period ; valuable and , perhai to _^ an s , in occasional many cases employer the th dail at y a more worker lastin would g contr become act might so

    be the result . And , if testimonials as to character and qualifications were duly and regularly inserted in . the registerf , would not the very

    fact of their being so conspicuously placed excite a wholesome degree of emulation amongst the various workers who availed themselves

    of the advantages offered by The Home ? But within the limits of a short paper it would not be easy to

    enumerate all the benefits , both to employer and employed , * wliich . would be the certain result of such an establishment as I have

    endeavored to suggest . Still I must say one thing more . Many a poor girl who has inade

    just a single step on the wrong path has been almost driven headlong downwards , because of the difficulty she has experienced in obtaining

    the means of earning bread . Would not a Daily Workers' Home furnish to such a oneerring , yet penitent , a chance to retrieve her

    , position ? From my own actual experience in the case of Elizabeth , and from having been an eye-witness of the manner in which four

    others similarly situated , have , by patient perseverance , won their way back to confidence and respect as simple daily laborers at the

    washing-tub , I feel convinced that a Female Workers' Home might be made an agent in reclaiming some poor girls who , though erring ,

    are not vicious or debased . And truly commiserating those who , like myself , have need of

    occasional assistance in their homes , and find great difficulty in procuring it without the expenditure of much time , which they can ill

    afford , I would commend the above plan as a remedy for the evils they have to contend against .

    Even in small towns , where a Home could not support itself , a register of eligible charwomen , as well as servants , would be easily

    kept , and prove a great convenience . I leave these hints to those persons who have means and leisure for carrying out the suggestions

    of others , who , having neither , yet feel the necessity for something * to be done to encourage still further the doctrine of self-helpfulness

    and to reduce mere doctrine to _practice . , R . B .

    vox v , o

    Two Chapters About Charwomen. 193

    TWO CHAPTERS ABOUT CHARWOMEN . 193

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1860, page 193, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051860/page/49/