442 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and in-door work is calculated to develop nerve-tissue rather than 

 the muscles, to impair the power of digestion, and reduce the vital 

 forces of the system. That a course of physical degeneracy to some 

 extent has thus been going on with New England men must now, upon 

 thorough examination, be generally admitted. 



But a change more marked and serious in its character has been 

 taking place in female organization. Formerly all kinds of house- 

 work and domestic duties were performed by New England women. 

 Before foreign help could be obtained, our young women were gen- 

 erally employed as domestics in families. It was customary for the 

 more wealthy and many families of the middling class, w T here there 

 were no daughters, to employ one or more domestics. 



In many families all the house-work was done by the daughters 

 and mother, without any imported help. It was considered becoming 

 and praiseworthy for all females, of whatever age or family connec- 

 tions, to engage on hire in domestic service. 



All such employment was then considered respectable. Skill, fidel- 

 ity, and success in domestic duties, were the best recommendations 

 that any young woman could possess. Practice and public sentiment 

 in these respects have entirely changed. Very few Yankee girls can 

 now be persuaded at any price to engage in domestic labor. Such 

 service is generally considered by them menial, and every kind of em- 

 ployment or business away from the kitchen and domestic hearth is 

 preferred. In families where there are daughters, the hardest portion 

 of the house-work is now performed by the mother or hired help. 

 What are some of the effects of this change in domestic life ? No 

 kind of exercise in the world is so well calculated to develop all parts 

 of the body in the female, and promote good health, as house-work. 

 No study or employment whatever can fit the young girl so well for 

 housekeeping as practical training in such duties. 



In this way home and the family are pretty sure to secure a strong 

 attachment. By these means all parts of the body are harmoniously 

 developed ; a sound constitution, good health, and long life, are se- 

 cured. Instead of educating the girl in accordance with the laws of 

 her ^>hy steal system, and training her for the great practical duties of 

 the family, from the age of ten to eighteen she is kept at school 

 nearly all the time, so that the brain and nerves are developed, at the 

 expense of other organs. This partial and one-sided development of 

 the body is increased and intensified in the female, by being thrown 

 out of her natural sphere in domestic labor and family relation. 

 Hence great multitudes of young women from fifteen to twenty-five 

 have nothing to do, are everywhere seeking employment, and are con- 

 stantly exposed to an excited or morbid state of feeling. 



The ill-health of New England women is proverbial. It is less 

 than half a century since it attracted public attention. A careful ex- 

 amination will show that its history and extent run almost parallel 



