The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-29


be applied to all servants; but it is
now very seldom used. The servants in
America, then, are all foreigners-Irish in the
East, Germans in the West English and
Scotch are more scarce, and are always sure
Of commanding better places and higher
wages. Germans are preferred to the Irish,
because they know more about domestic
duties and are generally neater in appearance.
They have, however, proponsities for lager
beer, lovers, and waltzing at late balls, which
test the temper of the most patient mistress
very severely. The Irish go from the
emigrant ships to the Intelligence
Offices" or servants agencies; and
often they have places-that is to say, are
hired-the next day after they leave ship
board Poor girls The wonder is, not that
they know so little, but that they learn 80
quickly. Coming from homes destitute of
every comfort-frOm straw-thatohed cabins,
where the only housekeeping consists in piliug
peat upon the fre--from novels where all the
meals are cooked in the same pot, and gaunt
Poverty casts its curse upon the scanty fare
they are transferred in moment from the
horrors Of the steerage to what seem to them
palaces, and are transformed in twinkliug
from emigrants to "culinary drtisteS," or
''frst. class general servants They have
never had any money before, but they are too
sbrewd to squander their large wages. With
generosity to which one cannot do too ample
justice, their first thoughts are for their poor
relatives in Ireland their first savings are
sent to bring these wretched sufferers to the
promised land.
These Irsh servant girls, whose devotion to
their religion shames many Christian in
higher stations, subscribe immense sums of
money for the Roman Catholic Church, for the
support of priests and for charity. They have
always tIiile left, too, for Fenianism or any
other 'ism" that assumes the garb of the
champion of old Ireland. Thinking of all
their devotion and their patriotism and their
sacrifices, their faults appear trivial; but they
have most vexatious faults. They soon learn
their independence; their selfrespect takes
| the form of unbridled insolence they are,
almost without exception, virtuous while in
| service, but they are very fond of drink; they
assume unservantlike tinery, despise those
caps which English maids wear so auntily,
| and make frequent drafts upon
their mistresses' wardrobes. Cou-
sins are always coming to see them
and as every Irishman is their cousin, thief
or burglar often turns up in well-regulated
! household. Funerals are their delight; and as
| some Irish friend is always dying, and as
| they are invited to every wake, a considerable
portion of their time is devoted to the dead
rather than to the living. They domineer
over the real mistress of the house, order her
out of the kitchen, and give her the full
benefit of q temper spoiled by early brutality.
They reserve all their affection for their own
country people, and never have the slightest
attachment to the families with whom they
live. Regarded philosophically, they are ex-
cellent patriots; but regarded practically, they
are very bad servants, in every way inferior
| to those of England and Europe.
But there is such a calamity as
TOO MUCH OF GOOD THING.
The English have too many servants. The
labor is divided into very small portions, and
there must be a man or a maid for each por-
tion. Butler, housekeeper, cook housemaid,
| parlor. maid, nurse, nurse-maid, laundry
maid, lady y's.maid, footman, valet, scullery
maid, and page, or buttons" they muster
in a diversified but formidable array, and each
one is pledged by some secret bond of the
| fraternity never to do anything that is as
signed by custom TO the departments of his
coadiutors. At least three or four servants
must be attached to moderate household in
London.
In the country have known fifteen SER
wants engaged to wait upon family of four
persons. / do not speak Of noblemen's fami-
lies, for these maintain an immense retinue
! of dependents and undeIliDgs, but OF quiet
country house, with no game e-preserves to
look after, and no stud of hunters to require
extra stablemen. English ladies are, as a
rule, better housewives than American women,
and they have need to be SO. To manage so
many employees satisfactorily demands talents,
labor, and experience enough to fit man for
the rank of drill l-sergeant, or even that of
general. In many English houses the SER
wants form household within household.
They must have a separate table, not furnished
| forth with the funereal baked meats from
their masters feasts, but with everything
cooked especially. Even in the plainest
houses there is fixed extra allowance tor the
servants beer. In great houses the upper
servants have a third table in the housekeep-
er's room. All this draws heavily upon the
income of the head of the family. Wages
are not very dear, but not much cheaper than
in America. Perqnisites are about the same
| in both countries. Walls, or gifts from visi-
tors to servants, are not thought of in Ame-
rica; but in many parts of England the custom
is continued in all its ancient force. During
the dull season last summer, there was q de.
termined attack upon it in the newspapers,
! but very little effect was produced.
Gentlemen furnished statistics to show
that it would have cost them less
to buy their own shootipg-grounds than to
accept invitations from friends and pay
pounds to the gamekeepers. Other gentle
men Ciphered up the amount of money of
which they had been mulcted by the under
strappers at houses which they had honored
with visits. The journals, in long, logical,
and learned leaders, protested against such
| impositiOns upon guests. But when the SER
wants, aggravated beyond endurance, at last
rushed into print, and, with homely pathos
! but bad grammar, recorded how much extra
work the visitors made for them, almost
! everybody felt that the servants had the best
| of the discussion. At any rate, to tip Eng
| lish servants is the custom, and Americans
should not venture upon an exception. 1t is
/ I.aI,s ,N