The American social critic and author, Harriet Spofford was a solitary advocate for the rights of domestic workers. She wrote of the “warm and sympathetic Irish heart,” referred to Irish immigrants as “a blessing to this country”, and openly admired their fortitude, kindness, resilience, and grit. To Spofford, the servant problem was the consequence of a failure of partnership between employer and employee, or what she called “the principle of mutual obligation”.