Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-11-07
Housekeeping i'm Normandy

Misery loves company. and if anything will
comfort American housekeepers it is to know
that they are not alone in the cares and worries
OF housekeeping. From an article on 'House-
Keeping in Normandy" are taken these ex-
periences of a housekeeper, which will prove of
interest:
1t may surprise some Of our own newspaper
and domestic grumblers. who are forever crying
down our servants and extOlling those of Eu-
rope, to learn that the servant question exer-
clses the Norman mind quite as much as it does
the Transatlantic one. With robust women and
girls itllng and begging every day at our gates
we are frequently as servantless in our chateau
as II we lived in one room at Five Points. And
it sometimes seems as if the arch mischief
maker himself must be often perpeXed to sup
ply faults enough for those who serve within
our walls.
There was Elise so low spoken and blushing
that our artist declared she should pose for his
Madonna, but who developed an extraordinary
genius for yrOS ntOtS and was
FINALLY DISCHARGED
for general INSTRUMENTATION and insolence. AL
phOnsine, so pretty in her dainty cap and ker-
chief did not wait to be discharged but left in
the midst of her busting to take place in town.
Angelo holds largely frequented conuersazoni in
tie kitchen. with large consumption of viands,
whenever we leave the premises. Victoire pre-
While the ghost comes back and taps mystic
riously in the darkness upon the window, where
upon Louise suddenly disappears and is seen no
more until morning. Delphine mixes the uses
of kitchen towels and pocket handkerchiefs,
and sends US in snuffy custards. Jeanne threat
ems us with the majesty of the French law if we
do not pay her doctors bill; while Desree
whose pdtOis is ear-rending, does exactly as she
pleases, however contrary to orders, declaring
by way OF excuse that she cannot understand
our foreign drgOt
We have many friends from our native land
who come every summer to visit and to envy us
in our Norman chateau. And the universal tes-
timony. in view OF the rack and turmoil which
the servant question creates in our souls and
kitchen, is that, after all that has been said of
the
SUPERIORITY OF SERVANTS
in Europe those OF rural France are if possible
even more trying to soul and body than those of
our own country. Never shall we forget the
last of our countless Elises-middle aged,
decent. armed with recommendations impressive
even if of origin in a remote corner Of the de-
partment. who succeeded a procession Of her
voorhees, namesakes as our cusiniere. How
tidy she was How scrupulonsly neat and
respectful. What a perfect Gordon blen! How
we all laughed and grew fat during her epicur-
can administration! She lived with us four
weeks in Sybaris. One day of the fifth, return
| ing from walk. horrible apparition greeted
US upon our own lawn. A wild shrieking
| figure, capless. in masculine blouse and
trousers and with scant long locks streaming
around a distorted face. cried a frantic welcome
| to us we came in sight. And we knew from
that spectacle that the last of our Elises was as
drunk as drunk could bel
Not only our own experience but that of our
French acquaintances, assures us that the
French woman servants in the rural provinces
are too often light in character and therefore
totally unreliable in youth, and given to wine
bibbing, snuff and uncieanliness in middle age.
| Out OF the innumerable multitude Of BONES
who have favored us with their evanescent
presence since we have dwelt in our chateau, an
alarmingly large proportion have been mothers
ALTHOUGH NOT WIVES,
some of them mothers number of times while
| no less than four have been discharged in view
of q circumstance which our stricter morality has
been taught to consider disgraceful Certain
| peculiaritles Of the French law, framed by men
for the protection Of their own sex and the utter
sacrifice of the weaker One explain the fact that
| pretty bonnie is as natural prey to French
man as bird to a cat both cat and Frenchman
| being equally irresponsible before the law, and
| only bird and bonnie the sufferers.
The French law fOrbids to search for or declare
the paternity of an illegitmate child. 1t, how
| ever, makes an allowance of ten francs a month
| for each unlawful child-when the mother
chooses to claim that allowance Most of the
wretched beggar women who call constantly at
our kitchen door are numerously lowered with
olive branches, and We know one chronic npi-
sance who all summer long sleeps every night
a la belle etoile and spends every day dragging a
| huge baby wagon from chateau to chateau and
farm house to farm house, who claims an allow
ance Oftwenty francs month for the two
YATHERLEss LITTLE wRETCHEs
she drags behind her. Thus the French law puts
a premium upon immortality!
Another sickenng result of French moral leg
islation is the motherhood of the mere children
who beg at our doors. One girl who came to
US one year, laughing. frolicsome, almost baby
| like, came to US the next enriched at fourteen
with an allowance of ten francs month for the
! baby she bore in her arms