and, therefore, includes a few old servants about sixty. If each decade had been recorded, the curve would be more gradual, perhaps crossing the other between forty and forty-five. The excess of sixty-seven points on the forty-five-year line is almost equal to the excess at twenty-five years, and is, therefore, probably in need of modification, though there is little doubt of its indicating a real condition of Negro labor in cities.
The fact that the highest point of excess of youth in these three diagrams is reached at twenty-three to twenty-five years is significant, and suggests the query why it is that domestic service so clearly attracts the young of both sexes and of all races. It is safe to say that one of the most prominent determining causes is necessity for immediate income. Many young men and women are obliged by circumstances to undertake some form of work which, while requiring no capital and no particular course of training, still yields an immediate return, which is certain to provide them at least their board and lodging, with a small amount for living expenses. This is the chief reason why the first employment of young men and women just beginning to support themselves is so often "going out to service."
