The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 3,
September 1864, by Various

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Title: The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 3, September 1864
Devoted To Literature And National Policy

Author: Various

Release Date: October 8, 2007 [EBook #22926]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The

Continental Monthly:

Devoted To

Literature and National Policy

VOL. VI.--September, 1864--No. III.

OUR DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.

Not of those affairs which are domestic in a broad, national sense; not
of any of our home institutions, 'peculiar' or otherwise; not of
politics in any shape, nor of railroads and canals, nor of interstate
relations, reconstructions, amnesty; not even of the omnivorous
question, The War, do I propose to treat under the head of 'Our Domestic
Affairs;' but of a subject which, though scarcely ever discussed except
flippantly, and with unworthy levity, in that broad arena of public
journalism in which almost every other conceivable topic is discussed,
is yet second to none, if not absolutely first of all in its bearings
upon our domestic happiness. I refer to the question of domestic service
in our households.

The only plausible explanation of the singular fact that this important
subject is not more frequently discussed in public is, undoubtedly, to
be found in its very magnitude. Men and women whose 'mission' it is to
enlighten and instruct the people, abound in every walk of morals.
Religion, science, ethics, and every department of social economy but
this, have their 'reformers.' Before the great problem, How shall the
evils which attend our domestic service be removed? the stoutest-hearted
reformer stands appalled. These evils are so multiform and
all-pervading, they strike their roots so strongly, and ramify so
extensively, that they defy the attempt to eradicate them; and they