8 14 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



was hard upon a poor wife, and the Legislature gallantly enlarged the 

 rights of married women, so as to enable them to conti-act for their 

 services, and receive and keep the pay for them for their sole and 

 separate use, and to invest the same.* 



Then take the case of minor servants. In general, a child's earn- 

 ings belong to and are recoverable in the name of the parent. In the 

 absence of an agreement, express or implied, that payment may be 

 made to the child, the parent alone is entitled to the child's earnings.f 

 The father, if living, can claim his child's wages ; but, if he be dead, 

 they belong to the widow so long as she remains unmarried. J The 

 law puts upon her the support of the children, and so, if they go 

 out to service while under age, gives her the right to their earnings, 

 and to collect them. But if she marries again presto ! her legal ca- 

 pacity is gone. She is no longer herself, but has merged her identity 

 in another, and she can no longer control the property or earnings of 

 her children.* 



If in general there is an express or implied agreement that the 

 child may receive the wages, that agreement supersedes the common- 

 law rule. For instance, if a minor makes a contract for her services 

 on her own account, and the father knows of it and makes no objec- 

 tion, there is an implied assent that she shall have her own earnings. || 

 If, again, the parent resides in the same place, and neither receives nor 

 claims any wages for the daughter's services for a long period, the infer- 

 ence would be strong that he or she intended that the daughter should 

 receive her own earnings. Or, if the parent is absent for several years, 

 and leaves the child to shift for itself, the presumption is that there 

 was an intention to emancipate the child. A In New York State the 

 Legislature has taken a hand in this matter, and provided that pay- 

 ment of wages to a minor in service shall be valid unless the parents 

 or guardians of such child notify the party employing the minor 

 within thirty days after the service begins that they claim the child's 

 wages. Q And, under any circumstances, if it appears that the child at 

 service has no parent or guardian entitled to her wages, the mistress 

 must pay them to the servant.^ 



Such are some of the rights of those who serve us. It would be a 

 difficult task in the limits of a magazine article to treat of all their 

 rights. Being human beings, and performing their lowly duties by 

 contract only, the law clothes them with rights similar to those pos- 

 sessed by other persons, who are not compelled to undertake what we 

 call menial work. Their property rights, for instance, are as sacred as 

 those of princes. To steal a dollar from a cook is as wrong as to break 

 open the safe of a banker. Their rights of life and limb also are just 

 as inviolable as those of their employers. To kill a waitress is murder 

 as well as when a queen is put to death violently. To chew up the 



* L. 1860. f 5 Wend., 204. % 5 Lans., S39. * 5 Barb., 122. 



| 10 Barb., 300. A 8 Cow., 84. L - 1S5 - $ 29 Barb *' 160, 



