The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-02-23
from the New York World.l
The Servant Girl as a Detective.

1t will be seen by what we print of the
proceedings Of the Marsh divorce case, that
the servant girl is the chief witness. In the
Nichols divorce case, on trial at Bridge
port, the accused woman appears to have
been surrounded with cloud of witnesses,
all servant girls who were able to testify to
any desired extent.
These cases only illustrate what has long
been evident, that any family which pos
sesses spy. The servant girls of this
country are far the most numerous, corps
of private detectives that it contains
They are none the worse detectives for be-
ing amateurs; and their sex simply adds to
the necessity of finding out things, the in
capability of keeping quiet about it. In
court the accuracy of their observations and
the tenacity of their memories always con-
fuse and overthrow the employers whom
they swear about, and it matters very little
for this purpose whether they tell the truth
or prejnre themselves. If it were only in
cases of the class we have mentioned, the
presence of the servant girl might be deem
ed an incentive to circumspect behavior
But it is not only in court that the servant
girl appears as witness. Generally when
people part with their servants the parting
is not altogether in kindness, and malice
being added to the propensity to tattle, a
single servant girl is of far more avail for
the destruction of regulations than the
whole sewing circle of women who are not
servant girls. An ignorant and spiteful
woman encouraged IN court or elsewhere to
tell all she knows about household in
which she has lived for months, and which
she has left with a grievance, and to con-
strue what she has seen, is an awful social
l Al e a, ,ah- Il
sewing women there is almost always to be
detected certain zest or spite, as she tells
not only things serious and relevant, but OF
the little scandals and "taffs" to which even
decent and on the whole happy households
are subject.
It is idle to warn people to be discreet
before their servants. Invariably servant
comes to be as little regarded as piece o.
furniture by PEOPLE who are not conscious
of wrong doing or wrong intentions. The
servant girl, being detective or tattler
has come to be tremendous social nuis
ance, and what comes of public notice il
court is small fraction of the knowledge
she acquires and disseminates in privat,
circles. The Orientals preserve the fidelity
of their families by means Of special clas
of servants. 1t seems as if we needed
special class of servants to preserve the
privacies of our homes. The deaf duml
and blind asylums would give US servant
to secure against over much knowledge O
tattling. But deaf mutes, even if blind also
would have the defects of their qualitie
for domestic service. The "China boy" o
the Pacific slope may offer the solution o
this problem, since he is said to join incur
iosity to his other merits, and since, even
he were tattler, be has few of his own rae
to tattle to, and our ways are all equall
past his finding out. Our present domestic
social scourge in so many other ways, i
so particularly dreadful in her character O
private detective that it is high time
while few regulations are still free of he
blight, to think about how to diminish he
; knowledge or her loquacity.