Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-11-09
copyrighted 1883 by the Author

Next to ivy covered ruins the American
travelling in England admires those eff
Gent servants by whose trained labor an
English home Is kept up to the highest
level of domestic science. Always on the
lookout for the best article in every de-
partment, the American eagerly imports
English servants into the United States,
only to find in the generality of cases, that
his venture has not been crowned with
success, and that the foreign servant is
quite as faulty, in many if not all respects
rs is the home reared competitor.
The English servant, like everything
else English, is an accretion of many cen
turtles. The common saying in England
is, that it takes three generations to make
a gentleman. But the truth is, that the
gentleman, like the poet, Is born not
made while the English servant comes
not Of three generations only, but of q
long line of ancestors in servitude. Thest
servants also receive individual training,
TO fit themselves for the work they engage
to perform. Organizations for the tuition
of duties necessary in house and home
work are exceedingly numerous in Eng.
land, and every humble cottage is the
scene of daily drill of children by a moth
er ambitious to see her offspring installed
as permanent, if humble, members of the
household of well to do people.
English domestic servants have a Ger
tain social status which is a matter of ell
Wy among themselves. Readers of Thack
cray are acquainted with the ConseQuen
tial humor of Jeems Yellow-plush but
Americans find it difficult to understand
how any man-especially a tall, heavy,
fine looking man as these servants usually
are-can be PROUD of occupying the posi-
ton of a servant. 1t is all a matter of how
the community in which one lives regards
these thin IS. In England the upper SER
want, male or female, ha' a higher social
rank than that OF a male or female arti-
san. The life Of servants in wealthy fami-
hes is an exceedingly comfortable one, in
which almost ali the pleasures of wealth
are enjoyed, without any of its carking
cares However they may be looked down
upon by their employers, the servants OF
families of title are the potentates of their
own social world. The butler or valet of
duke meets with the same social defer
ence In the world of servants, as does his
master in the exalted sphere in which he
individually moves.
Why is it that these excellent English
servants are not equally satisfactory when
transplanted to American soil The rea-
sons a." various. In the first place he or
she Il ger feels the sense of humble
ness " .lch is cultivated SO assiduously by
the upper classes in England in the minds
of those who serve them. There is q re-
ligious acceptance of servitude III Eng
land. From every pulpit every Sunday all
over the land IL preached the lDJunctlon
to "obey your pastors and your masters"
to endure in a spirit OF devout content,
the position in life "to which God has
been pleased to call you" Congreve says
Mature to each allots mis- proper sp' ere. u
thus religion, custom ana poetry are all
agreed that he OF re who Is once ser
want should so continue all through life
making no effort whatever to change
their lot. The respect for "mast err" or
"mistress' is inRraned IN the character
or the British servant. No matter how
worthless morally such an individual may
be, his right to his servants respect aud
honor is never questioned, at sny rate By
the servants themselves, Those who have
travelled in the South Seas and visited
the little island where live the descend
ants OF the mutineers OF tine Bounty
tell us that, bad MS was the ships officer
who led these people originally from the
right path, change as is the meuta condi
ton OF the children OF the men and wo
men he wronRed, nevertheless his name Is
always mentioned with respect never
without the prefix "Mr." sucn are theil
English munitions he was gentleman
they, born to the position of selvitude
In America Of course, nous aUOns
chdHge tout celia. On arriving in the
United states. what does the English ser
want hear Why, admonitions in every
way opposed to those he has hitherto had
preached to him Instead of feeling that
1t Is the right hing to be satisfied with
his position of servitude, he learns that
such sentiment is considered opposed tC
all true progress in this country. Abra
ham Lincoln was II railspitter Andrew
Johnson was tailor Up! Up strive
Cultivate the demon of unrest and discon
tent Get on y He sees very likely that
his own employer is bit q common unedu
Gated man like himself. The only differ
ence between them is what is made by
money and that, there is chance OF any
vigorous man acquiring, by energy or luck
II TINS wonderful country. So why should
he pass his time being a servant espe
clally as the mere title Servant" is about
the only one which really carries a socia
stigma with it in America
with women servants it is Just the
same. The nice prim girl who was quite
perfect" IN England, soon becomes ''de
morallZed" by certain American infiuenc
es. leader of New York society is
pointed out to her As girl who was q
chamhermaid at hotel when her rich
husband married her. Think of that now
ii may be her luck to repeat the expert
ence, who knows? The cheap story pa
pers are full of romances of mill hands
marrying mill owners, and barefooted
farmers daughters capturing the heart9
of railroad kings. Naturally such q Cir
no longer has any head for her work She
becomes listless, and her employer impa
tlent A rupture is the inevitable conse
quence, and the verdict goes forth from q
jury of matrons, "Englsh maids are nc
better than any other servants in Ameri
ca"
English servants who have lived with
Americans fluid it difficult to get places
again with English families. Naturally
these latter dread the more free and easy
ways into'which such servants have fall
en-, and prefer to hire persons who have
not been brought under democratic influ,
ences The impression prevails, even
among Americans themselves that Amer
leans do not know now to treat servants
being at once too lax and too eXactine
with them. There is great deal of truth
in this. Not within the limits of n book
much less single article, would it be
possible to explain the many forms IN
which English haught1ness and pride OF
position manifests itself towards its servi-
tors, and succeeds in maintaining its pow
er when wealth has gone and even social
disaster has supervened. Great affection
often exists between employers and their
in a.