Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-03-31
THE BRITISH BARNARD.
She Is Apparently Not Such Badly Abused
Mortal as Has Been Supposed.

She Is Apparently Not Such Badly Abused
Mortal as Has Been Supposed.
There is in reality no reason why q
barmaid's should be less respectable
situation than that of any other class
of working women, says the Pail Mall
Gazette. In the low public houses and
country inns, indeed, where barmaid
is kept the situation is different, but it
is mostly girls from very low class
who enter such situation, while the
great majority of young girls who serve
in restaurants and refreshment bars
come from the middle class. They are
generally the daughters of tradespeo-
pie, railway officials, and restaurant
keepers, and are, in the social scale,
considered one degree below the young
ladies who teach in elementary schools
and hold places as nursery governesses.
A girl who wishes to take situation
as BARNARD should not be under IS
years old. On applying for place she
is required to produce one or two
references as to her responsibility. She
has then to pass short examination in
writing and simple arithmetic, her pro-
ficiency in the latter being one of the
chief requirements. The examination
satisfactorily passed, she is engaged on
months trial, during which time she
earns nothing besides her board and
lodging. If, at the end of the month
she has satisfied her employers, she is
permanently engaged, and begins her
work at once. 1 should, perhaps, say
here that this manner of training is
only adopted in establishments where
large numbers of barmaids are kept,
while In small places the rules and reg
ulations are less strict. What the
work consists of need hardly be ex-
planned, for it is apparent to every
body who casts glance at public bar
Besides serving the customers, The bar
maid has no duties but those of keep
ing her department neat and tidy. But,
although 1t may at the first moment
appear very easy to provide hungry
visitors with refreshments, the attent-
i've, civil young lady must nevertheless
have keen eye to business.
The hours of work can hardly be
fixed. At some refreshment bars, such
as, for instance, those at large railway
stations, work begins very early in the
morning; at others, again, very late
hours are kept; but, as a rule, nine to
ten hours day, with the usual intervals
for meals, make up the working day.
One evening week is generally free,
and one Sunday every month The
wages vary from 8 shillings to 10 shil-
lings week. There is no doubt that
only strong and healthy girls can be
successful in this kind of employment
in which they are exposed to draughts
and cold. The monotony and drudgery,
of which SO many women complain in
their work, are entirely absent from
the barmaid's life. The temptations to
which she is said to be exposed, though
they are not altogether fictitious, are
exaggerated-a steady girl finding no
difficulty in keeping a proper distance
between herself and her customers
without becoming rude, and girl with
tendency to Irritation being, as rule,
no good business woman, and therefore
apt to be discharged. To many girls
the bustling, hurrying life, the new
faces, and the many topics discussed in
her hearing are of great attraction, and,
as rule, barmaids are not discon-
tented class of women After they have
served for some years they may, if they
do not marry, which, however, they
often do, aspire to the post of res
taurant manager, who has the super
vision of the establishment. As such
they earn from 20 shillings and upward a
week, and if at the head of large
restaurant they are sure to be able to
put by some savings. Many woman
who has begun life as barmaid has,
as hotel-keeper, later on made little
fortune, and if she has any power of
organization and understands house
keeping, no woman with a small capital
to begin with will find it difficult to
make a good living in this way.