The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-04
SERVANTS.


R,ri0g has the following concerning servants
Our ancestors were harasssd as much as we
bv the difficulties of domestic service. In q
country where land might be had for the ask.
ing IL was not easy 20 keep hold Of servants
brought over from England. Emanuel Down
ing, always the hard, practical man, would
6nd a remedy in negro slavery. "a war; with
the Narragansett," he writes to Winthrop in
l645, sis verie considerable to this plantation,
flor doubt whittier IL be not synne in us,
having power in our hands, to suffer them 70
maynteyne the worship OF the devill which
their paw waves often doe; 2ie, II upon
a lust ware the Lord should deliver
them into our hands, we might easily have
men, woemen & children enough to exchange
for Moores, which WILDE more gaynefull piiadge
for us than wee conceive for | doe not see how
wee can thrive until wee gett into stock Of
slaves sufficient to doe all our buisenes, for
our children's children will hardly see this
great continent filed with people, soc that our
servants will still desire freedOme TO plant for
themselves, & not stay but for verie great
wages. And l suppose you know verie well
howe wee shall maynteyne 20 Moores cheaper
than one Englishe servant" The doubt
whether it be not sin in US longer to tolerate
their devil-worship, considering how much
need we have Of them in merchandise, is de-
icious.
The way in which Hugh Peters grades the
sharp descent from the apostolic TO the praoti-
cal with an ct ceterd, in the following extract
has the same charm:-'Sir, Mr.. Endecot q
myself salute you in the Lord Jesus, &c. Wee
have heard OF dlvidence Of women q chill
dren in the bay & would bee glad of a share
viz: young woman or girle u a boy, il you
thinke good" Peter seems to have got what
he asked for, and to have been worse of than
before, for we find him writing two years
later-'My wife desires my daughter to send
to Hanna that was her mayd, now of Charl-
fOU-na IN know If oh Uould dtUa11 with ma
for truly wee are so destitute (having now
but an Indian) that we know not what to doe"
Let any housewife OF our day, who does not
find the Celtic element in domestic life so re-
freshiSg as to Mr.. Arnold, in literature imagine
a household with one wild Pequot woman,
communicated with by signs, for its maid OF
all work, and take courage.
Those were serious times indeed, when your
cook might give warning by taking your scalp
or chignOn, as the case might be, and making
off with it into the woods. The fewness and
dearness of servants made it necessary to call
in temporary assistance for extraordinary oC-
casions, and hence arose the common use OF
the word "help" AS the great majority kept
no servants at all, and yet were liable to need
them for work to which the family did not
Suffice as, for instance, in harvest, the use of
the word was naturally extended to all kinds
of service. That it did not have its origin in
any false shame at the condition itself, induced
by democratic habits, is plain from the fact
that it came into use while the word SERVANT
had much wider application than now, and
certainly implied no social stigma. Downing
and Hooke each at different times, one OF
them SO late as 1867, wished to place a son as
servant with one of the Winthrops
Roger Williams writes OF his daughter that
'she desires to spend some time in service u
liked much Mrs. BrentOn, who wanted" This
was, no doubt, in order to be well drilled into
housekeeping, an example which might be fol-
cti M ad bT
self the Servant or steward Of the second
Winthrop, makes use of the.word help in both
the senses we have mentioned, and shows the
transition of the word from its restricted to its
more general application. "We have fallen
pretty deal of timber and drawn some by Good
man Rogers team, but unless your worship
have good team of your own and man TO
go with them shall be much distracted for
help X and when our business is most in
haste we shall be most to SEEK"
Again, writing at harvest, as appears both
by the date, and by an elaborate punt re-
ceiyed the s'thes you sent, but in that there
came not also yourself ii causeth me to stgth,"
He says;-"Help is scarce and hard to get,
difficult to please, uncertain, etc. Means rum
meth out and wages on, and cannot make
choice of my help"
1t may be some consolation to know that the
complaint of a decline in the quality of ser
wants is no modern thing. Shakespeare makes
"Orlando" say to "Adam:''-
"Oh, good old man, how well in thee appears
The constant service of the antique world,
When service sweat for duty, not for need
Thou art not of the fashion OF these times,
When none will sweat but for promotion"
When the faithful old servant is brought
upon the stage, we may be sure he was get
ting rare. century later we have explicit
testimony that things were as bad in this
respect as they are now. Don Manuel Con
Zales, who travelled in England in 1870, says
OF London servants:-'As to common menial
servants, they have great wages, are well kept
and clothed, but are, Notwithstanding the
plague OF almost every house in town They
form themselves into societies. or rather con
fedeTacies, contributing to the maintenance of
each other when out of place, and if anv of
them cannot manage the family where they
are entertained as they please Immediately
they give notice they will be gone. There is
no speaking to them, they are above correction
and If master should attempt it, he may
expect to be handsomely drubbed by the crea-
ture he feeds and harbOrs, or perhaps an action
brought against him for it. 1t IS become a
common saying, if my servant bent thief, II
he be but honest, l can bear with other things,
And, indeed, it is very rare in London to meet
with an honest servant. ."-NOrh Amer'can
JteOiee for October.