1. Based on the passage, "housekeeper" is being used to represent the woman of the house. According to Beecher, an "equable and cheerful temper" is important because the 'housekeeper' needs to be able to lead by example, and needs to set a calm environment for the children to be able to follow.
2. Beecher's list of considerations include;
- A woman with a big family should regard her duties as "dignified, important, and difficult.
- A woman must hold her duties to a high level and must be "elevated above petty temptations".
- A woman needs to be prepared for her plans to be disrupted, so that when they are, she will be prepared for it.
- A woman needs to make her plans/arrangement around her family.
- A woman, not only should create a neat and orderly environment, but also one that's comfortable for her children to grow up in.
- A woman should maintiain a calm tone of voice no matter what the situation is.
3. Beecher creates an assumption that there are different types of housework available in her story at the end of the passage about the girl who was cooking in the kitchen. The girl who is having to cook in the kitchen plays a different role that what the 'mistress' does. These assumptions complicate Beecher's definition of a "housekeeper", because I originally felt like she was labeling the women of the house as a housekeeper, but towards the end of the passage, she makes it clear that everyone is not the same.
I agree with all of your considerations those were all of the ones I picked out with the exception of one. The one I included was about how women should rememember that everything happens by God's hand and should not complain because that would be complaining about God. I liked that you said in the beggining a houskeeper "leads by example", that was a good way to summarize what Beecher was saying.
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