One of the great and selfish
objections to chattel slavery was the effect on the masters
themselves.
And because of the foregoing, one chief aim in the building of my
house beautiful will be to have a house that will require the minimum
of trouble and work to keep clean and orderly. It will be no spick
and span and polished house, with an immaculateness that testifies to
the tragedy of drudge. I live in California where the days are warm.
I'd prefer that the servants had three hours to go swimming (or
hammocking) than be compelled to spend those three hours in keeping
the house spick and span. Therefore it devolves upon me to build a
house that can be kept clean and orderly without the need of those
three hours.
But underneath the spick and span there is something more dreadful
than the servitude of the servants. This dreadful thing is the
philosophy of the spick and span. In Korea the national costume is
white. Nobleman and coolie dress alike in white. It is hell on the
women who do the washing, but there is more in it than that.
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