Morning journal and courier., 1884-01-21
Domestic Service in England. From the London World.l

An evening newspaper some weeks ago re- published forgotten essay of George Eliot, in which 1t was argued, with some humor and point, that masters and servants, mis- dresses and maids, were not of the same clay that the standard of truth, of probability, and of fact in the dining room was not that of the kitchen, and that the cook took view of tine laws of nature entirely different from that of her employer. There is some truth in this. but 1t Is not the whole truth. The real season why servants and their mas- ters or mistresses show such stubborn mutu- al incompatibility of temper-vhy 1t is so difficult for the latter te win the confidence of the former-ls that the inferior has come to recognize in the superior natural enemy The servant regards the master or the mis- tress in the same light that the urchin school boy does his master, or the juvenile under graduate his examiner-as a fee against whom any strategy is fair. This was not the case, and was indeed impossible, in the old days. when loyal sense of service bound to gether employer and employed in a harmoni- ous tie. The employed was then untroubled by any misgivipg that he was the victim of circumstances over which it was incumbent on him to assert his predominance. The or dinary maid servant of the present period regards every place which she takes 8 stop gap and makeshift. Ambition has whispered in her ear that by the medium of the sewing machine, or some other agency, she will
 
 herself from the meniaI state In other words servants have become, to a large ex- tent, and perhaps unconsciously, imbued with the idea that the objects which they and their employers have in view are diametrical Iy different. Nor does the result of this sub stitution of class rivalry for class tranquility for the acqniescence, that is to say, of the inferior in the will of the superior-end here. Gratitude tends to become almost as effete quality as truth or honesty. How could it be otherwise !? The old notion was to make every one satisfied with his lot The modern gospel is to make every one dissatis fed, and to use this dissatisfaction as lever by which to rise to some higher level. A hundred years ago our social state was one of peace; now 1t is one of scarcely disguised civil war. There can be nc gratitude where there is no sense of favor voluntarily con- fsrred. The latter feeling is out of the question when the chances are that the reel Pient of a kindness looks upon it not as spontaneous, but as wrurg from the person who bestows it by fear. If the dependent sees-as he is taught to see-in the individu- al on whom he depends not friend or ben efaetor, but an opponent, kind of natural enemy, in fact, who, owing to the malignity of fortune happens now to possess the ad vantage but with whom he may hereafter be able to cope upon equal terms how is it pos sible that he should be really grateful for any favor he may receive? The employed has learned to see in his employer not friend, but 8 foe-a foe, too, over whom he will some day triumph He may not perhaps be capable of expressing his notions in clear and logical formula the facts are as they have been stated, and what is called want of gratitude is really due to the circumstance that vivid sense of injustice causes many of our humber fellow creatures, whom we do our utmost to oblige. to see in the favors we lavish upon them the concessions of terror.
 The relations which thus subsist between different orders of the community amount to a yelled war of classes. Only the modera- ton and the regard to expediency innate in the English character prevent the secret struggle from declaring itself outwardly in more or less violent shape.