Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students

Work Not Degrading

It is a popular error with a large class to regard work as degrading; therefore young men are very anxious to educate themselves to become teachers, clerks, merchants, lawyers, and to occupy almost any position that does not require physical labor. Young women regard housework as belittling. And although the physical exercise required to perform household labor, if not too severe, is calculated to promote health, yet they seek for an education that will fit them to become teachers or clerks, or they learn some trade that will confine them indoors to sedentary employment.... CT 291.2

True, there is some excuse for young women not choosing housework for an employment because those who hire kitchen girls generally treat them as servants. Frequently the employers do not respect them, but treat them as if they were unworthy to be members of the family. They do not give them the privileges they give the seamstress, the copyist, and the teacher of music. CT 291.3

But there can be no employment more important than that of housework. To cook well, to place wholesome food upon the table in an inviting manner, requires intelligence and experience. The one who prepares the food that is to be placed in the stomach, to be converted into blood to nourish the system, occupies a most important and elevated position. The position of copyist, dressmaker, or music teacher cannot equal in importance that of the cook. CT 292.1