This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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CO-OPERATIVE HOUSEKEEPING
ROMANCE IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY
BY
Mrs. C. F. PEIRCE
EDINBURGH:
JOHN ROSS AND COMPANY
LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON & MARSTON
1870
PREFACE BY THE EDITOR
One of the most acute observers of American Society—M. de Tocqueville—maintains that it is only a development in advance of a condition to which Society everywhere is tending, and that through the impulse of irresistible laws. The effects of this tendency is an equalizing of the relations of Society, and is a necessary outcome of the progress of civilization. He allows indeed that this tendency admits of being directed; and he considers it to be the duty of statesmen so to guide its force as to prevent those shocks to Society which inevitably result from leaving it to be directed by the ignorant or the vicious. The policy of our own wisest statesmen for the last forty years may also be said to be a consequence of this philosophic conviction.
Our interest in the manifestations of the tendency of American Society is increased by the consideration that it is our own transplanted unto new soil, without those checks to its development which cling to a Society that may be said to have grown in the soil. To change the figure:—Society here may be compared to a machine of very complicated mechanism, a great many of whose parts seem to answer no other purpose than to act as drags upon its movements, while they are so intimately related to its essential principles that it is very difficult to estimate what might be the result of their removal. Society in America on the other hand may be represented as a machine of simpler construction, without the friction of unnecessary parts, and whose movements are quicker and more easily followed. These qualities render it specially adapted for the purpose of observing the action of social and political forces. And as might be expected, it has had a large share of attention by observers from various quarters—some of them men of great eminence. From an outside point of view few subjects have been better placed before us; and the openness and candour of the American character presented unusual facilities for the task.
The authoress now introduced for the first time to British readers, speaks from an internal standpoint, and to her own countrymen and countrywomen. The series of articles which compose this treatise first appeared anonymously in The Atlantic Monthly Magazine. They are not now republished to promote the particular scheme of social reform around which the authoress has grouped her ideas, nor even to promote the general principle of co-operation, which the editor coincides with her in thinking to admit of application only in exceptional cases and under favourable circumstances. It is questionable if she considers Co-operative Housekeeping practicable even in America. But we think no one will quarrel with the use she makes of it here, as a medium to give coherence and unity to her subject. Their chief value to us consists in the incidental glimpses they give of the tone and feeling of American Society, for though there may be an intentional exaggeration exhibited here and there, we doubt not that our authoress is a representative exponent of the thought and feeling of the best section of American ladies. As between the sexes, it is no small gain to have the women's side of the question placed before us with so much candour and ability by one of themselves.
Many will be surprised at the undertone of conservative feeling which she exhibits; and we in this country, at least, must feel gratified at the decided leaning manifested toward that which is highest and best amongst ourselves, in preference to the more attractive but less real graces of French Society. Those English ladies who are agitating for political rights will be surprised at the view she takes of that aspect of the question.
As Society here need not be expected to develop in all its issues in the same direction as that of America, such differences may be expected, and their value should be none the less to us that they run counter to our anticipations. The reason of our being at fault here is, that our expectations are based upon insufficient data; not that the laws of development operate differently, and hence the necessity of sometimes taking an internal standpoint for our observations—for from an outside view some of the modifying principles are either overlooked by us altogether or their influence is underrated. We shall best see this illustrated by looking at the mistakes made by Americans in their estimate of European Society, and our authoress has said a few things on this head, which form no exception to the general rule. M. de Tocqueville's words are the best exposition of this tendency, and they form the most graceful excuse for those who unconsciously manifest it. He says: "I have lived a great deal with the people of the United States, and I cannot express how much I admire their experience and good sense. An American should never be led to speak of Europe, for he will then display a vast deal of presumption and very foolish pride. He will take up with those crude and vague notions upon which the ignorant all over the world love to dwell. But if you question him about his own country, the cloud which dimmed his intelligence will immediately disperse, and his language will become as clear and precise as his thoughts." It is readily admitted that since M. de Tocqueville wrote many Americans have written to whom his censure is inapplicable.
It would be unjust to our authoress to overlook the practical purpose of her book, which is the noble and humane one of trying to improve the condition of woman, and through her to raise the whole scale of social and domestic comfort and enjoyment, and to remove the obstacles that prevent her attaining to the highest development of which her nature is capable. If the manner in which she has attempted this have any success in promoting so desirable an end, it needs no other justification.
Since these articles were first published (1869), we read that "there are now sixteen ladies studying in the Medical Faculty of the University of Michigan, twelve in the Arts Faculty, and one as a law student. The University was opened to women less than a year ago, so that prompt advantage has been taken of the facilities offered."
But it is to be hoped that women will not rest content with the higher end only of their programme attained. The need of systematic training for the duties to which the great proportion of them are by nature destined far outweighs in importance the higher education. How little does the happiness or comfort of Society depend upon whether a few hundred, or it may be a thousand women can practise medicine compared with whether several millions are competent housekeepers?
The Editor has only further to add that the Articles are reprinted as they first appeared, with such slight modifications as are not worth specifying.
Edinburgh, 1st November 1870.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. - The Young American Housekeeper,
1 - The Old Fashioned Housekeeper,
2 - The Influence of the Age,
3 - The Problem of the Hour,
4 - The Housewife in History,
5 - Society as Classified by Political Economy,
8 - Place of the Historical Housewife in Political Economy
9 - Feminine Producers of To-day,
9 - Feminine Consumers of To-day,
10 - Men's Prejudices on this Subject,
12 - State of Society in Europe,
13 - The Retail Trade Woman's Sphere,
18 - The Rochdale Pioneers,
21 - The Weak Side of Co-operation,
22 CHAPTER II. - Preliminaries of Co-operating Housekeeping,
23 - The Author's Attempt at a Constitution,
24 - Rules of Association, with remarks upon them,
24 - Natural Divisions of Co-operative Housekeeping,
38 - The Laundry and Sewing-room,
38 - Meals and Health of the Workwomen,
40 - Business and Working Hours,
41 - Stock in Co-operative Clothing House,
42 - Officers and Employées in the Sewing-room,
43 - The Costume Artist,
44 - How Dress-making may become a Fine Art,
46 - The Co-operative Kitchen,
47 - Organizing Committee's Report,
50 CHAPTER III. - Probable Effects of Co-operation on the Retail Trade,
52 - Probable Effects on Agriculture,
55 - Where Co-operative Housekeeping will suit best,
59 - The Servants,
61 - Reform of the Mistresses,
63 - The Present Housekeepers,
65 - The Co-operative Housekeepers,
65 - Effects upon Unskilled Housekeepers,
68 - Effects upon Unmarried Women,
69 - Influences that Determine Woman's Present Development,
69 - Obstacles to Woman's Independence,
71 - How Independence may be Attained,
71 CHAPTER IV. - Co-operation would free Woman's Intellectual and Artistic Energies: A Lost Genius,
73 - Bad Economy of Present Feminine Standard,
75 - Woman unable to assert her Individuality,
76 - Doctors versus Doctresses,
77 - The Sphinx must Speak for Herself,
80 - The Primal Feminine Necessity,
82 - The Effects of Combination,
86 - Womanhood Suffrage,
87 - Public Morals the Care of the Senatus Matronum
91 CHAPTER V. - Womanhood Suffrage a Moral, not a Controlling Force,
92 - Law
94 - Charity: Health,
96 - Education,
98 - The Press,
102 - Fine Arts: Painting, Sculpture and Architecture,
103 - Horticulture,
105 - Music and the Drama,
106 - Society Reformed: its Religious Aspect,
108 - Man and Woman Face to Face,
112 - War : its Effects on Woman,
113 - Two Final Considerations,
114 - Man and Woman Intellectually and Morally Different,
115 - Conclusion,
117