St. Landry democrat., 1885-04-11
THE HIRED GIRL.
Her Traits and Priyileges-How Much 1t
Costs to Keep Her.

The discovery was made by a news
paper Photographer some years ago that
it takes three to make q pair-he, she
and the hired girl. This truth was sus-
pected for a previous decade or more,
but no mind had been discerning
enough to formulate it. Since it has
become an axiom of family life, it
raises the party of the third part to an
important rank in the domestic circle.
That she is important no one who has
ever hired her has failed to find out
Happy are they who meet in her a
treasure. Twice happy are those who
can get along without her. Here in
Springfield the servant girls are Irish,
and form two distinct classes, the ma
tives of the realm of St. Patrick and
those of American birth. As rule,
the latter, having had at least the rudi-
ments of a common-school education,
are. to q marked degree, more intelli-
gent and capable than the former. Ihe
wages paid these domestics range from
two to four dollars q week, the former
sum going to the least experienced and
efficient, and the latter to the favorites
of wealthy families and cooks in
restaurants, whose work is especially
hard. The average pay OF the girl
who can wash and iron and do part or
the whole cooking OF a family OF rea-
| sonable size is three dollars; and it IS a
price which makes these girls one of the
most independent classes in the com
munity. Some business men would be
Glad in these times, after paying all
their bills for food, fuel, rent, washing
and liohts. to have three dollars a
week left for clothing and other purely
personal comforts.
When the average domestic appears
on the street in her Sunday clothes she
carries about her an air of comfort and
responsibility which is often painfully
| lacking among a crowd of shop-girls.
And there aresome kitchen maidens of
whom it can truly be said: "She is very
much OF a LADY, 1t is common to ac-
cuse this class OF putting every cent
they a earn on their backs, and that,
too, is a fashion which will cause the
most possible display. Still there are
Springfield hired girls who are realizes
tate owners and ''fore-handed'' in other
respects. Many of them have money
laid by in the savings bank, and one
| local institution d count up more than
a thousand depositors from this class.
The amounts invested are also consid-
cradle, some of the books bearing
credits of one thousand dollars and even
twelve hundred dollars. The usages OF
society are as firmly established in the
kitchen as in the parlor. Calls are made
and returned with due Formally. AS a
general thing the domestic does not as
sociate with the shop-girl, thefeeling OF
superiority of one over the other being
mutual. And the domestic has a set OF
her own, into which not every servant
need apply for admission. The stand
ing of the employers family is general
" considered when 8 newcomer seeks
to ming1e in the highest circles, educa,
ton, ability to do fancy work and a few
similar accomplishments being also re-
garded. Some of the Springfield do.
mestics have married very well and
maintain orderly and attractive homes,
to which they welcome their unmarried
associates. Others, who were carefully
brought up in our best families. have
married poorly, and the places where
they live are as untidy and feVer-breed
ny as any IL 'ne oe o.Iy ~ - +hio aIas,
peG"geH sne k4oMieuge " stls ~ i" =
a anI .n9 ~ use seo ot h ~ !. : P@ln ,,nion er ro1;ef VIC
3lchen t tle 1aud h9 NV b ollon th go 4,e
ttos - ~, ne laa = 10y hn n ~ nb;a n1s5 tbeS
~ ssI + i ~ dny nous n,os - $3.50 "a ~ =
n LIZ ~ " 3 caheu ,1 III a. - - ai ~ az -
up 1la Mol h, "n wa 4saL ~ lnay IT. 10; - e "a =
5 1zoe ~ s da 4, anu anss t = oon a;ldle,;a
p p,'a 10 ~ she, $3.50 III ot 4sor a @,.,