Daily Republican., 1882-07-29
Partisan style Of servanss.


man, the subject Of dishonest servants
came up. 'Do you know, Tho asked
how 1t is that some OF the servant
girls are able to dress as we'll; or ever
better than their mistHesses ~ A meg
atiVe reply having been yiven, tht
gentleman proceeded rs follows:
II do not care how we'll people dress
whatever their station in life, provided
they can afford 1t; but how my cook
receiving only $3.50 per week, could
manage to have nearly as fine an AS
sortment Of dresses as my wife, with
J Jewelry, &C., to correspond, was q puz
zle, until one time we changed cooks,
and the new one revealed to my wife
the secret.
She had been sent out to certain gro.
eery to do some marketing, and, while
gone, was Aocosted by another grocer,
and offered by him a silk dress if she
would give him my trade. Being hon
est, she came straight home and told OF
1t. This set my wife to thinking, and
she asked the girl If that was common
practice. "Oh yes," she reptile "but
l never would beat my mistress that
way" The Inquiry developed the fact
that the servant girls, especially the
cooks, who do more of the marketing,
stand in with the grocers and meat
men, and carry their custom where
they can make the best commissions.
When lived in the city did my own
marketing, but when moved out ON
the Hills, / arranged with grocer TO
supply me, and took pass book.
gave this to the cook, with directions to
always buy the best of everything at
that place. The same was done with q
butcher.
Soon the tea and coffee became unfit
to drink, the butter was bad, and the
meat, from q place where had always
got the best, was tough and almost un-
ht for use. My wife complained, and
the girl told her that the grocer cheat
ed her, or did not keep first class arti.
cles, but she knew whereashe could get
the very best of everything. We accord
ingly withdrew our patronage from our
old places, and the change was imme.
diately apparent, for every thing ap-
peared on the table in first class Condi-
ton. How did 1 account for it? Why,
simply this way: The girl had been
hired by the grocer and butcher, by a
Of what she purchased, 10
spoil the tea and coffee from the old
grocer, and to get inferior meat from
The butcher, as a pretext for leaving
them, and she carried out the terms Of
the contraoU. We came to notice that
whenever we changed cooks we like.
wise changed grocers and butchers, un.
til we employed the honest one who put
US on to it.
"But how does the new grocer and
butcher get even ?"
"Well, you know everything is en-
trusted to the cooks, and as they carry
the book 1t is easy to cheat in weight,
prices, etc. My bills are invariably
arger than when 1 did my own market
ng, though we consume no more"
SIS the same thing done in other
,rades ?"
81 have no doubt 1t Is often with
,oal dealers and others. 1t is an impo.
'ition, and ought TO be exposed. Still,
don't know as, morally, it is any
worse than the brokerage system gen.
'rally. In all trades, now, the cDnsu,
ner has to pay brokerage on every
hing, even TO flour, meal, and all the
accessories Of life."
On wheat the farmer gets his profit
jhe wheat buyer his, the city broker
1is, the miller his, the wholesale dealer
MS, the retail dealer his, and, last, the
servant girl hers. But with her the
,aaa Ia 0iffprant fnr tho hrokar dnaa bia
business openly and depends upon it for
lis living, while the girl is paid by her
Employer, and resorts to this method of
Increasing her gains by connivance with
he retailers to absolutely cheat their
"Can 1t be prevented"
II don't know how, unless every man
r woman who employs servants does
ls or her own marketing, or unless
hoy discharge their servants the mo-
nent they begin to lay their ropes for
laying that game.