The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-02-11 00:00:00

MISTRESSES AND SERVANTS.
Audi alterans parte*.

Some twenty yean ago there wee published a very
clever book, "The Greatest Plague in Life." The
Ineoine was a lady who never weld pt a servant
to stay with her, through her own folly and illtreat-
ment of thou that came to live with bet; and this
went on for some time, until her husband, aware of
his wife's folly, gave up housekeeping in despair, and
went into lodgings. A lady, of whom the heroine
might have been taken as a portrait, read the book,
and when she had finished it, she uprooted her
opinion that 'it would be a most useful book to lend
to servants;" so utterly unable are some people to
see their own failings. Nothing is more oomtuonly
heard than complaints about the servants no ear..
yenta to be had; no servants worth having;
servants won't stay in their plum as they used to
do. Now. as this is an Important social question,
and as it has been suggested that a training sush-
i .liment for servants should be opened in Dorchester,
it will not be out of place to offer a few suggestions
about this difficulty, which, without doubt, does
exist ; and perhaps wo shall find that employers
lave the remedy in their own hands.
There are three things necessary if we would
obtain and keep good servants; kindness, coon.
Rdences, and respect. Without
.theee, high wages,
good food, indulgence, will all fail to secure them.
Rot where these are chew°, hard work, and even
ill temper, will not easily drive them away. When
we us what the life of some servants is, the only
wonder is that any one can be found to endure it for
a month. Take the came of a single servant in many
of our town houses; a dimly lighted kitchen under
ground is her room, and her place of rest when not
actually at work' she bean no voles from owe sad
of the week eo the other, ezoept gut of bet wine

prod,

tying her orders. Under ths best of enipioyers this _ Ootrwmt. Poutis,. Friagy._ipeyoge B. g
re wPss brought ughdo—p I
no vie" enjoyable ',wax* hue where there is tease_
D..ivaun labourer, wee
family. Kr. I
DO mammy. It is little better thee eehterY °°l%;
Wipte, of lig to
pwey, relievln officer of the Weymouth I
linemen% with hard labour. If scything can cheer
and encourap a young person ta Union, said that on the ISt:ult. prisener'm wife applied
to him for relief, being without food for hereelf and five
life, it a sense of responsibility and importance. children. Be gave her au order for six loaves of bread.
This can only exist where there M confidence plead
persevere in such a
The eve was brought before the Board of Ouardians on
'in her ; but when she sees that she is, in addition to the ?let, whoa they directed that she strould be
her solitude, traded as dishonest _that even article eiloe•d 1,. Ed. and six loaves of bread
epu..week,
of food is kept under look and key, that -the eery that • warrantehould betaken out against the
thaai
Potatoes doled out from day to day are ociuntetd,
ilisesetrittlato wifa
because
prin ;the had no
that her own food is apportioned to her, is i she
fod to give to the &Log officer,
ll she bad received
wonder that she takes no interest in those who
hum her husband for re
weeks before sus since
evidently take no interest in her! that her whole
than he had giveti her 4s. ..a Thai was all the had
with the few hours holiday
lii from him for ix wale. In defence, prisoner said
tallowedhrghte three,.
.taiwk taken vitro
a.
contrast between the ,
12s.a wed. was the meet he had lied slime Chriromee ;
denial kitrhen end the holiday fun Leads her too the other eelm lie tot ler, fie had had work all slang
ofte`A to hate all h..host work etc pt wet sutler. He WAS SalliCOMI to ..evr n days
But if ire 0n.... • step higher we find the same toad -- MONDAY.,-Before S. Pau-es, E.- :-
plaint. Whin there are two servants kept there George Read, • tramp, Waa charged withestroTinikis
Is not that dreadful solitude; why then is the cues clothes in the Dorchester Union on the sight previous.
so little improved' The prevailing weakness of the where be was admitted for a night's lodgine.—Mr.
Corso the muter of the Union proved the charge.—
present day is • desire to sppear greater than we
l'ri r stated in auwer to tdr. Pearce, that his clothes
really are. Where one servant is kept the mistress
were so bad that it was no use asking for a job of work
necessarily does part of the work; where there are
in that dries, and be thought by destroying it he should
two this is seldom the case; but what is sufficient
Pt better SO that he eight be able toobtsiu i-coneeniploi -
for the ordinary work of the house is not sufficient ment.--to` emitted for 14 days' herd labour,
for a continual round of visiting and arecing parties. Ooorr roe iftvoece AXI) MATRIMONIAL Cat it',
What is fun upstairs is death below; nod thus the Tbeggibiy,—Before the ygdge Onlinary.—Bothatuley
comfort of termite Is sacrificed for the sake of v. itothamley and Farrar.—Mr. Searle appeared for the
appearing I little richer and better off than is redly petitioner, and Mr. Pritchard for the respondent.
the case. There are some who try to make op for This WWI a petition by a husband for dissolution
of
these thing. by excessive liberty granted to their marriage on the ground of adultery. The respotirlerit
servants; they go on the principle that as long as and co-respondent hail tiled answers denying the c
they do what I want, Ido not care where they go, `P'l :?"!°&t4C4, a",,1 °°i!ni,Vani.7l The Iwti"
alter
or what they do at other times. Such recklessness tnioner.gles, awidcairlatir
papa r
lace itnrutirut;ry,
180
-, he 1.ve.1
the
se to the highest interest of those who form part of with the respondent first at Dorchester, awl afterwards
our own household, invariably brings its osan at Chatteris, in C bridgealiire, rind they bail three
disappointment and Punishment. Servants in toot children. The co-respondent is a surgeon. irractising
case quickly perceive that they are aot oared for, gt chatteris and he beanne on intimate terms with the
and feel no attachment or respect towards those petitioner and his family, and frequently visited at
with whom they live. If, therefore, an institution their house. Mr. Farrar was a married man, but was I
for training female Fermate is to answer, there must living apart hem he wife. In Mar, 1865, Mrs.
be one along aide of it for training mistresses, other- Bothamley left her home for the pup °,
her
rf psayingc:
wise it will be found that girls will not avail them- eisitunto..h.c.rc aster, &tot Ne
her huteiwniPstogowlerlge which
selves of it. At the primed time smelling is chosen Mud his "nr.
.ind he caused inquiry to be
rather than service; the poor and precarious earn- ei,oe,te which tt'emei in the digeog.., that she
lags of needlework is infinitely preferred, which had t:egteg two or arse night, at an hotel ar Notting-
would not be the case, if service itself had • better ham with the co-respondent. She begged forgiveness,
character. and he was induced to condone her offence. At the
We remember a lady in a neighbouring county, end of he discovered that she was again carrying
where girls all work in the fields, making an on an improper and clandestine intrreounie with Mr.
attempt to get them out to service. She began by Farrar, awl he then instituted this suit. An applica-
takinti one into her own house; but she was obliged tion was made to postpone the trial, as the petitioner
had not aid the respondent'. outs of the hearing.
to take the very worst girl in the school, for no
but ir appeared that no order for their trayment had
other would come. Having placed her in a good teen obtained. His Lordship took the erirlence pi mimed
situation, where she was cared for, she proceeded to in support of the petition, lAA suspended his decree
take the next worst: by and bye these young in order that the respondent and co-respondent might
women cents hoie tO see their friends, and gave so have an opportunity of producing their evidence
good an account of service that what was at fielt the if they weld satisfy the Court that they had any to
last resource of the worst girl, now became the • -lute.
highly prized reward of the hest. But then care
was taken only to send them to families who would
be kind to them.
Our own conviction, after long experience, is,
that although housekeepers may at their find ocrin•
mencement of housekeeping meet with disappoint-
menta, yet that, as a ruk, those who never can get
servants to suit them, or to stay with them after
four or five years, have no one to blame but them-
selves.
The relation between parent mil master or
mistreat is one of great social importance; full of
comfort or disoomfort ; of mutual creditor disetedit
What more creditable to a family then to see
aged servants still clinging to the old house, who
were there before their present owners were born!
and such things may be seen even now ; to see them
I sharing their master's broken fortunes, and willing to
receive lees wages, and harder fares, rather aan
break off • lifelong connection; and sea instances
, are not rare. And how it is managed'
Remember that your servants are human beings'
that they have the Name feelings as yourself. Trust
them if you want to make them faithful. You like
to be trended, and so do they. The dishonest servant
is, nine times out of ten, the distrusted on.; like •
dog chained up that seizes everything it WA, when
it gets loose. Remember that they are immortal
beings, and have souls ; and let them see that you
remember it by taking an interest to their inner
life. Exercise a lite° self done: on purpose thaL your
" maidliervant may rest as well as thou," on a
Sunday ; nothing is so surely and quickly appro.
Mated by them as that : nothing, we fear, is no rare;
too often the only difference between Sunday and
any other day is, that they have the same work to
do, but lees time to do it in, and therefore no heart
to improve the short time allowed them for the
church or chapel.
Remember that they have family ties, and affections,
and interests, and if you would have them take an
interest 'tt what concerns you, show them that you
take an interest in what concerns them. The reason
why in former days servants lived all their lives in
one house was, that while they had plenty of work
te do, they were treated as friendcrrespected in
health, and eared for in old age, nursed in sickness.
As we write theme lines, our minds are involuntarily
carried back to the comfortable house of an old
country squire, in or about which you might see
sertante of every age, male and female. Coachman,
long since too old to mount the box; groom, who
, bad not touched • horse for years; each provided
I with just; as much employment as he could do, but
all with wages sufficient to keep them in comfort.
When nearly ninety years of age the old gardener,
who had scarcely ever in his life been absent • whole
day from the garden, told his mistress, in confidence,
that be thought he mule look out for another place,
as be oould not do his work as he once could, and
was overwhelmed with gratitude when told that be
need do no more then be liked for the rest of his
life. In that house it would have been thought •
degree if any servant had left it. And were not
the omelet and mistress as happy as the servants?
The fact is their must be less pride on the one
side' and then there will be lase indifferent's oaths
odes. There are plenty of servants to be had, and
hoes who deserve good servants can usually get
hem. If hitherto any have failed, lee them try the
lan sketched out above' and they will never cease
po thank the writer for his suggestions. Withoutthis,
raining institutions will not remedy the evil; with
his, they will not be required.