The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1884-02-01
The Servant Girl.

The current number of the Nation ha
a long article on the difficulties which
American housekeepers find in getting
efficient and trustworthy service in thu
kitchen.
There was time in this country whel
it could be said that honest labor of an,
kind was not only respectable in fact
but was regarded and treated as sucE
by people Of every social grade. Forty
years ago the farmers daughters il
New England went out as hired "help
in their neighbors' families without
thought of degradation, and the same
custom prevailed almost everywhere il
tie rural portions of the Northern
States. Yankee girls who were ambi.
tious to make higher wages than they
could get in the kitchen went to the
factories at Lowell and other places, anC
many a mortgage on homestead
among the hills was paid off by the aic
of the daughter who worked in the mill
Prior to 1910 there was no feeling o.
caste or of social inferiority which KEPT
native born girls from working fol
WAGES in factory or kitchen.
In later years came the influx OF
foreign maids who took possession o.
the places that were then open to the
labor Of young women. They were
mostly ignorant, unframed in theil
work, and not well fitted to shine in
polite society. Kitchen work became
9 disrespectable'' an occupation to be
followed only till something better could
be had-and the era of poor and waste
full housekeeping set in.
With all the inducement Of high
wages and a chance to make more
money at homework than at almost
anything else a woman can do, there is
an unceasing complaint that good serv.
ants are hard to find and hard to keep
Besides the event of matrimony e
which they all look forward as a finaI
deliveranee from the hardships oil
scrubbing and cooking and washing and
busting and sweeping, they are attracted
by the factories where they can have
more companionship and avoid being
perpetually reminded of their social in.
feriority. and SO away they go, knowing
well enough that the change will bring
them less money as the net result of q
years work.
Its sufficiently easy to exclaim against
the foolishness of the girls, butt does
not bring them back. The fact is thai
their mistresses, ninety-nine times in a
hundred, would do the same thing il
their positions were reversed.
Second and third-rate servant girls
are always to be had and there are
MANY most excellent ones who under
favoring circumstances retain their sit
uations for q long me; but the con
slant tendency of the better class is to
drift away into other pursuits.
Some Of the contributing causes to
this trouble are doubtless beyond reach,
but if any woman who has a house to
keep would know the most common
reason why really good servant is apt
to dislike service, she has only in i'm
az nation to put herself in the girls
place. The servant is the only person
in the house who is expected at all
times to be polite and respectful in be-
havior.. She must take the reproaches
of her mistress, however unjust. with
out talking back She must endure
the pranks and waywardness and irri-
tating words Of the children. She must
hear the man of the house grumble
over his dinner without the opportunity
Of saying word in explanation or self
defense. She must leave her washing
or cooking to bring a bod of coal into
the parlor the moment it is called for,
without the liberty of suggesting that
per work is sadly broken up by the in
terruption, and still be held responsible
for the proper performance of her
work. She is frequently subjected to
arbitrary and unnecessary rules about
going out, and to unnecessary restric-
lions about the times and places of re-
ceiving her company. She is, in short
not as a rule, but in hundreds of cases
subjected to the whims and caprice Of
a woman who is careless of the serv-
ants convenience, comfort and pride,
and who is often enough the servant S
inferior in good sense and good breed
ing.
This is the side of the case that pre-
sents itself to the kitchen girl, and it is
side that is sufficiently familiar to
make the service unpopular among a
great majority of those who are best
qualified to perform it we'll Taking
girls as they are-good, bad and IN
different the blame does not wholly resi-
with them. The employer can by consid-
crate treatment make the servant feel
that she and her duties come within the
pale of responsibility, and that minister
ing to the daily wants of a family is BY nc
means degrading to any woman. The
servant girl who may not be much ac-
customed to read newspapers has had
her full share of reproach and good adj
vice; it may be worth her while for the
other party to the housekeeping enter
prises to consider whether at least halt
the fault does not lie at her own door.
0stress Post and Tribune.