The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-02-22 00:00:00

LETTERS ON FAMILIAR SUBJECTS.—No. I

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD

S IR,—Tbere are various subjects which occupy the attention
of the English newspaper press, each of them possessing a con-
siderable share of importance, and occupying, in a correspond-
ing degree, a large share of public attention. Politics, the
Church, the Law, Education, Crime, the social and moral Im-
provement of the Population, Sanitary Regulations, Taxation,
the Government of the country, the sayings and doings of
public men, Colonial affairs, the Agricultural, Shipping, Com-
mercial, and Manufacturing Interests, Scientific Discoveries,
popular Amusements, &c., by turns come under public review
and form the subject of conversation. There are, however,
several other subjects which, though considered not sufficiently
dignified for editorial notice, are still not without importance—
as eating, drinking, and sleeping are necessary portions of the
duties of a minister of state—and, with your permission, I
propose to treat on some of these minor themes, in the form of
occasional letters on familiar subjects, and I commence with
that of

DOMESTIC SERVANTS,

I do not know whether Liverpool and its neighbourhood is
an unenviable exception to other towns; but few will deny
that there is almost a general complaint of the difficulty of
getting a good domestic servant, or at least such a one as we
can remember in our childhood, or our progenitors have told
us of. I do not mean that such beings do not exist; but the
great majority of families in the middle class of life, who are
obliged to be content with one, or at the most two, of these
domestic helps, find themselves in the disagreeable position of
repeatedly changing, in the vain hope of getting a better ; or of
putting up with discomforts, for which remonstrances bring no
remedy, and disputes in which a threat of discharge operates
ineffectually. I will take the case of a small family in want of
a servant. Application is made to the various tradesmen in
the neighbonrhood who are likely to hear enquiries for situa-
tions, and perhaps in a short time there are several candidates
for the vacancy. One had her last place in a public-house ;
another refers for her character to a distant place; and then
it is very dubious as to those qualitieswhich are most desirable;
a third cannot undertake to do any washing; a fourth has an
objection to young children; and a fifth is dressed in tawdry

-.,, .
finery, as though in emulation of her mistress. The majority
of them are Romanists, who must go to mass and confession at
most inconvenient hours. Almost all ask wages which a short
time back were considered high for good servants; and now
there is a further stipulation for a weekly allowance of tea,

sugar, and butter, and perhaps beer in addition. Then comes
a demand for part of the Sunday out, though it may be directly
opposed to your own notions of such a day being well spent,

and sadly interfere with your own arrangements. But what,
in such a case, is the poor housekeeper to do? The mistress
has the only alternative of herself turning household drudge,
or putting up with a domestic which she confesses to her
acquaintance requires more trouble to look after than it would
be to do the work herself. This is no extreme case, but one
which is in the experience of almost every mistress of a house-
hold in Liverpool. She must put up with dirty habits, ill-
performed duties, and accumulated discomforts, for which
a comparatively high rate of remuneration is paid, or
try again with the same results, by being compelled
to take another who has been discharged for the same
faults. But, supposing that, in despair of choosing aright from
the number who seem occupied in finding situations, she re-
sorts to some public institution where young females are trained
and at a certain age sent out to get their living in domestic ser-
vice, she is not much better off. The new maid is, perhaps,
too young to do all that is required, and never having been out
before requires much teaching. After all, she may prove of
bad temper, and vicious disposition ; the terms of the hiring
may preclude the ordinary remedy of discharging her; and the
slightest attempt at what should be wholesome coerrction may
result, as was the case a short time since, in a prosecution for
ill-treatment and cruelty, supported on the sole evidence of a
girl, whose great fault may have been the very vice which is
directed to the disgrace and ruin of those who have been so
unfortunate as to have taken her as an inmate. Much has been
said by sentimental writers about the intimate relations of a
domestic servant with the family, as constituting a member of
the household, and the mutual good feelinzs and confidence
which ought to exist between them ; but how is it possible to
preserve this amiable state of things under such circumstances
as now prevail• to so great an extent? It is clear that there is
something wrong in the system, and it is full time that some
attempt was made to effect an improvement for the mutual be-
nefit of both employers and employed.

It is by many believed that the class of domestic servants
has been considerably deterioriated since the alteration in the
Poor-law, by which the system of compulsory apprenticeship
was abolished. Then the agriculturists were compelled to take
all the poor children who had a settlement in the parish ; the
boys were brought up as farm labourers, and the girls, after the
regular habits of a good farm establishment, formed, when out
of their time, good domestic servants for the dwellers in towns
and private families. Now the children of poor parents—by the
facilities for obtaining employment in manufactories—acquire
habits of independence while still but girls, and resort to do-
mestic service as a mere change of occupation. Having bad
none of the discipline of regular training, they are of restless
disposition, spending their money in finery, to display on their
Sundays out, and, reckless of consequences, do not hesitate to
leave a situation rather than amend a fault, although the result
may be a resort to a life of infamy, of which their imperfect
education conceals from them the misery. The blame, however,
is not all on their side, for many housekeepers have themselves
to thank for the inconveniences which they suffer. They are
not sufficiently firm in imposing restrictions; they too readily
consent to stipulations, which they feel theyought not fairly to
grant ; and concede indulgences which were better for both
parties to be withheld.

It is difficult,in sucha a state of things, to suggest an adequate
11 remedy; but something might be done by the establishment of
an Institution, similar to the Sailors' Home, where female ser_
vants out of place might find a shelter under matronly surveil-
lance, and their character be correctly ascertained. With such
a resort, housekeepers could not have so much difficulty in ob-
taining a 'good servant ; and this might operate as a check
against the conduct of too many of the latter class, who•do not
hesitate to leaveone place and take the chanceof findinganother.
If the employers made it a rule to resort to such an Institution,
the good servants would have the preference, and it is probable
that this fact might of itself •operate beneficially by proving an
incentive to rood behaviour. I lawe thrown out these few
inin the hope that the4uestion, of.which few will deny the
importance, will be taken Alp .by•thosembo possess sugficient
ie.lluence to give it a practicatbeatingland am,Sir,yours,kc.,

XPLIRA.