Page:Sheila and Others (1920).djvu/15

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SHEILA
3

in the dim twilight of the attic-stairs had been penetrated with a meat-skewer, the grooves in the hardwood paneling of the bathroom, ditto, and even the superannuated jelly glasses in the cellar's remotest depths had been investigated and "wiped down."

Relays of charwomen had been at work upon us for some time under the manipulation of this energetic lady and we were all worn out, particularly the instigator of these reforms herself, who was of the angular, nervous type, and in whose presence I experienced a sense of guilt, whether because of her pale cheek or the product of the skewer on the back stairs, I cannot say. I suffered from an uneasy sense that things weren't as they should be in Canada, and that I was implicated. Of course I was contrite, but I don't think it helped any

I had long entertained views, previous to this, on the subject of the dignity of domestic labor and had publicly expressed the conviction that ladies engaged in such work should not be debarred the privileges of ladies. Feeling obliged to live up to these principles, in the present experiment, I had a place set at the family board for the experimentee, who