The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-01-14 00:00:00

EMPLOYERS AND SERVANTS.

In connection with the letter from "A French
Lady," on " Englhh H mrs and English House.
wives," which recently appeared in Lb. Laudon p sperm,
nri which induced several English Wises and several
English Husbands to give their opinions also on that
subject, "A Servant" has sent the following to The
Tinza, for publication 1—
An" A French Lady" hos mae certain remarks on English
servants, may I be allowed, also, to do the same/
As a servant, I hope your readers will make every allow-
ance for me, should my views, grammar, eicr , rot be up to
tie mark. I must also state that I dld not see the letter 011
this morning, and now I have seen it I have other things to
think about But my ohj,ct in writing is this—l don't like
to -ee ..gt.glish servants as a body" spokeu ill of without
Just cause, and I don't consider therein lust cause.
Fr my own p irt, I think the saddle might be pet ripen
the other horse very frequently. From my experience as a
servant in large establishments, I am convinced there is
Ninny as much fault with employers es with scum:de; in
tact, there are a great many who don't know a good
dinner from a had one: any dinner being a bad one
II they are out of temper To take the matter further,
there are a great many who don't know a good servant
from a bad one, and, unfortunately, nine times t ut of ten
Ivan to the latter. lam sorry to say honest, conscien-
tious tenants are seldom appreciated they are wanting in
"cant." I have no hesitation in saying, as a rule, servants to
get on must be deceitful and cunning : of course they "get
bowled out" sometimes, hut they bowl out the straight-
forward more often by other means, simply becanie the odds
are In their favour. 0:d servants, as a ru:e are rarely good
ones, In many miles they never lived anywhere else, and hove
never:learnt their business thoroughly, rosver do anything
theroughly, anti don't kimw the routine of service, never n-
Titre a thorough under servant; if they happen to get one,
they are Immediately at variance wall him, awl drive him
away again by picking him to pieces, simply because it won't
answer their purpose to allow their employers to think well
of him, cons,: tautly the establishment is always in want of
under servants.
To return to "A French Lady's' letter. I regret lam on.
able to give any decided opinion on French servants, being,
like "• French Lady" is in England, very little acquainted
with them. I once did live in one of the largest establish-
ments in Paris satin upper servant, where all the servants,
strange to say with the =option of the cook and his nun),

1 1 -

even the kitchen maid, were English. How can this be aC-
COlllited fat if the French are such good servants? Even the
cook had lived with English noblemen in England the greater
part of his life.
From what I saw of French manners, life, cleanliness, ttrc.,
give me Old England. I will give you one or two instances
why scrubbing brush and a flannel I to.ver saw during
my whole stay. I think I Old see a broom. I saw a great
many sponger, with which I mw them wipe oil any water
that might be spilt with their foot. ' I also saw dusting
brush, s and feathers, with which they dusted their staircases,
which were air's; s painted a dark brown colour to hide the
dirt. I rover saw any clean deal staircases or floors, which
can be found even in England, with all her faults.
I have no wish to contradia "A French Lady,' ball must
admit, as an English servant. I that tbink Co mutt go to
France for improvements in general still I must admit
that " A French Lady " Is quite right in stating we are
open to Improvement, but not more, in my opinion, than the
French.

One of the Improvements necessary is that employers
shout.' be more careful In engaging npper servants who know
good under servauta from bad ones, cud treat thorn accord.
gly. An upper servant should be thoroughly conscientious,
thorough y experienced, knowing right from wrong, always
willing and happy tc speak the truth, having lived in dif-
ferent situations, commencing as under servant, and working
his way up till beget. to he an upper servant.

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Unfortunately, many upper servants at the present
thee, don't know the A g C of servize, having never been
undvr good experiei.ced upper servints in their here,
neither have hey worked their way up, consequently they
know nothing of the routine. Tin.se who have worked their
way up have frequently done it In the same estaldistiment.
Toe; form ignorant ideas and zustonis of their own, which
are at variance with the times and the ordinary ideas of the
people they have under them, because they are not in keep-
ing with the ordinary routine of service, but are frequently
arbitrary and unjust. I don't mean to any there is ally
great difficulty why averse,. cannot be an upper tervelit
• arty in lite On the contrary, it Is like everything else ;
where a person gives his whole time to it. it It easy enough,
but it require common senee, consideration and ability.