The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-05-05
Master and Mnn-Relatiou OF the TIVE
In England.

III EB<t@n0
General Badeau. writing on the
relation of master and man In Eng
land. SAYS: / was staying once with
a young nobleman who had crowd
! of peers for guests. We had been
dinning some miles away and drove
home rather late at night in whal
is called an omnibus. The valet OF
one of the visitors, a lad of 19 or 20,
stood on the steps outside. By q
Jolt Of the carriage this youth was
thrown off into the road while we
were still some distance from the
house, and the whole party alighted
to look after him. He was unable
to walk or endure the motion OF the
carriage, and couple of Vieounts,
an officer of the army and a Baronet
carried the valet a quarter of a mile
up a steep hill, then bore him into
the room of the master of the house,
and one tore open his shirt to look
for the wound. There was no sur
peon, SO they bathed his breast and
forehead themselves, and the youth
Law on the ~nobleman's bed till it was
certain he was not seriously injured.
Not till then did the gay young roi-
lickers assemble for their late ca
rouse.
/ know of another nobleman
whose eldest son was standing for
Parliament. The contest was keen
and the excitement in the family
extended TO the servants. Finally,
the heir was elected, and the news
was brought to the Earl and Count
ess as they stood on the steps OF the
house in a crowd OF friends and fol-
lowers. The butler, u very respect
able man OF 80 Or more, who bad
been in the family all his life, was
unable to conceal his delight. He
rushed up to his mistress, threw his
arms around her and kissed her,
and the salute was forgiven by the
lady as well as the Lord. | did not
witness this demonstration OF fdel-
ity. but | was told by an English
man who was present and pronoun-
ced it unusual, but not inexcusable.
The Queen, 1t is well known, sets
the pattern in this consideration for
personal retainers. She not only
visits her gillies in the Highlands,
but the servants on all her estates
she attends their balls and their
christenings and their funerals she
invites them at times to entertain
ments at which she is present in per-
son an honor she never pays the
nobility; and her affection for her
devoted John Brown she has been
anxious to make known to the
world.
Twice | was present at country
houses where the servants joined in
a dance with the family. Once it
was after a servants wedding, which
was, of course, an event. On the
other occasion, at a well-known
lodge in the Grampians, a highland
reel was proposed, but there were
not enough ladies TO go round, so
the best looking OF the housemaids
were brought in and placed in the
line with Warehouses; and the
daughters of Earls. One was by far
the prettiest of her sex in the room,
and the heir of the mouse didn't like
it at all if any of his guests danced
too often with his maid. But none
of these young spinsters presumed
on the favor that was shown them
the distance in rank was too great to
be bridged by any transient famil-
iarity. 1t was the very conscious
ness of the gulf that made the con
descension possible.
At the house of a nobleman who
had a crowd of sons, and these al
ways a crowd OF boyish visitors, the
whole frolicsome party was sent off
nightly, after the ladies had retired,
to a distant tower of the castle where
they might make as much noise as
they pleased. They drank and they
smoked, and they played cards, and
they had two or three of the foot
men told off TO them who stayed up
half the night with their young mas
tiers, to walt on them and amuse
them. The young men were all of
the same age, and the gentlemen of
ten invited their servants to a cigar
or a glass and not unseldom to a
turn at the gloves, for most young
Irishmen box. They played fair
the lads and the lackeys wrestling
together on an equality. The SER
want might get his own master down
if he could, and if the valet struck
out from the shoulder the gentle
man took his punishment like a
man.