The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-04
A NEW POINT OF VIEW.
THE SERVANT GIRLS NOTION OF
THE SERVANT GIRL QUESTION.

Some Experiences Living cut" in
This Country Girls Like Their
Wages and Their Hours bat Not the
Treatment They Receive.
New York. June al have taken some
pains within the past fortnight to get at the
opinions of group of fairly intelligent ser
want girls on the servant girl question, and
venture to set down the statements Of half
n dozen as possessing at least the interest
OF novelty, in view OF the fact that the house
mistress, the funny man and the wise
man have hitherto monopolized the field of
debate. Domestic service is the only labor
which is endlessly talked about without
talking.
The servants whom have met and who
have in some cases written out their expert
ences for me are, with one exception, foreign
ers who have ''lived outn from two to
| twelve Years in this country. ] was able TO
| induce some little freedom Of conversation
on their part, through the good Offices of
one or two women physicians VINO have
| some practice among them, and one of
whom has considered project for neigh
| borhood guild to provide pleasant meet
| ing room and rational amusamentS for ser
| wants who are without relatives IN the city
| on their evenings ''out" The comments
made by the girls who as a rule have lived
| in average families, not rich and not poor,
are expressions of individual opinio1, but
| carry some weight as representing average
servants Vows of the average servants
| condition
| 81 have lived in four families and l have
| been In America four years said Swed-
ish girl of % or %, whose broken English l
| shall not try to reproduce but whose
| fences | have written out as nearly as pos
| sible as they were spoken. "You may give
| my true name, Tina Anderson, for am GO
| ing to Minnesota to be near my brother in
| few days and if it is in the papers | shall
not care We lived in the country at home,
| north of Upsala, and | was not strong
| enough to work i'll the field So mother
died and | though | would come to this
country and get better wages, and my
| brother drove two days in wagon before
| we came whore there was a railroad aud
cars. | was homesick and | worked first
for lady whose husband kept a saloon.
| They say Swedish girl won't stay any
| time in place, but [ had to go away be-
| cause it made me sick to wash all the towels
that was all over beer They brought them
home from the saloon every day. Then |
worked for lady that lived in fat
| There were only five rooms and the work
was easy and the lady was gooa, but there
was no room for me- So she put me in
| closet Off the hall aud there was just room
for my bed inside. If went into my room
| had to step on the bed. There was not two
inches of tioor So l could not breathe
And had nowhere to put my clothes. The
| next lady lived with died and the last one
| was cook for her. She had two servants
and | could make desserts, SO | got $l4
| month Bat she had dinner so late every
| day 1t was not on the table till most Z
O'clock every night. Then when [ had
| eaten mine and had washed the dishes and
| put things away it was $3.50 o'clock and |
| could not go outdoors one minute till then.
only once week and often not till after
| O'clock then. In the winter | never saw
| much of the sun. got sick and the doctor said
| it was too little air and would not get bet
| ter unless l was more out of doors. So |
| am going to my brother out West |
have sent home money to my father every
| year.
| II have earned much more than a girl
could there, but | would like to go back
| again. Girls that work for ladies can't as
| sociate with other girls here, and il you
have an afternoon you can't have any pleas
| ant time | have been to t,fo picnics one
summer and not anywhere else except to
| buy things with another girl or to sea 81 girl
| that was married. And you can't have
| folks come to see you. l know girl that
| lost her place because two cousins, and
they were both girls, came to sec her and
her lady found them in the kitchen one
| evening"
| A smart Irish girl with big blue black
Irish eyes, who looked fully able to hold her
| own in any situation in which she might
find herself wrote out the following for me
with considerable pride i'll her spelling and
neat penmanship:
II have lived out five years. l was the
oldest of a big family of children, and they
sent me over here to see if the big stories
the boys told about the country was true
have always had good wages. l don't
think any girl finds Iault with her wages.
| If she don't like them in one place she can
go to another and get more. She can get
SO he day she's out of Castle Garden, AID
$40 in two or three months, and $12 as soon
as she can do general homework, and $14 If
she's pretty good COOK and SIG if she's
real smart. Some girls get SIS, and most
girls don't have any trouble about their
time either. I've got a cousin in a factory
and it takes her all her evenings to clear up
her room and tidy herself up and sew. She
gets oil day Sunday, of course, but it amt
so very much more than we get after all
| A girl as lives out has every other unday
afternoon and every other Thursday after
noon from o'clock or half-past to 10 o'clock.
| It's hot working in the small kitchens, in
fats especially, but there's more variety in
it and less tiresome than running a machine
or being a shop girl, SO things is fairly even
| so far But living out with most folks is
| not SO pleasant as it might be. Folks mt
have any feeling for their girs. They don't
think any girl has any right to like pretty
things or pleasant things. I've never had
place yet where they didn't pack mo away
in bare room under the skylight without
much of any furniture but bed aud a
chair sometimes a faded carpet and some
times not any at all, hot as it could be in
summer and no way to warm it in winter,
the forlorpest place 60 sit down in any time
| OF course | can't ever feel settled, and |
keep thinking maybe I'll be better some
where else, and so | keep changing, though
I'd be glad enough to stay in one place if
ever got anything Of a home feeling any
where Girls as can do their work decently
don't like to move round, and if they keen
going there's some reason for 1t you can be
sure. Living out is lonesome because you
can't see company.
"Some ladies lets their girls have friends
come, but more don't, at least if the friend is
] a mau. II amt unreasonable, and | don't
| believe if was a lady and went down stairs
just before bedtime 20 tell the girl what to
cook for breakfast | should Ike il II | al
most ran over man with his fest up in a
GUAR and pipe in his mouth as like as not.
But that could be fixed if the ladies was
only mind Where tine house is big
enough they could mako the girls more in