Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-20
DUTIES OF LADIES' MAIDS.
What New York Society Women Require
at Their Hands-Their Compensation.


New York letter to the New Orleans
Picdyu1ae: The duties of lady maid,
says one of them, are almost constant,
if seldom heavy. One may have leisure
for half day or scarcely get breath
ing spell of ten minutes in twenty-four
hours. There is not a great deal Of
variation. l get up at in the morn
ing and am through my bath and toilet
in time for breakfast at s. Immedi-
ately afterward I take pot of choco-
late and the morning papers to my
mistress and while she drinks the choco-
late | read from the papers aloud.
Her mail is brought up at 9 and |
manicure her hands while she reads it.
Then I prepare her bath and afterward
arrange her hair and dress her for her
10 o'clock breakfast.
While the chambermaid is doing up
her room | arrange her toilet brushes
and boxes and get out her afternoon
dress. have my dinner at noon. If
my mistress feels like mapping after
luncheon | read her to sleep. If she
goes shopping [ usually accompany
her. At dress her for her afternoon
drive, and at 6 for dinner have sup
per at z, and the evening is generally
my own, but l go to bed early when
my mistress is out, because when she
comes home | have to undress her,
brush out her hair, give her cup of
hot bouillion, and read her to sleep.
Brushing, mending, and making over
her dresses, attending to her laces, and
looking after her linen take up most of
my spare time. Sunday afternoon I
always have to myself, and altogether
l am very well satisfied. Ladies who
require the attendance of maids have
to treat them with a certain degree of
consideration in order to keep them.
Once [ lived with a woman who
would not open her eyes in the morn
ing until / had bathed them with rose
water, and who compelled me to brush
her feet for her. / found out that be-
fore her marriage she did all the house
work for her father and family of
several children, and the discovery so
irritated me that / soon con ured up a
preteXt for leaving her.
The lady's maid in most households
ranks with the housekeeper and butler,
and is not required to eat in the kitchen.
Her average pay is $25 month, but if
she fulfills all requirements the very
wealthy often give her $50, or even
more. If she is capable dress-maker
and milliner it is a positive economy to
retain her at high wages. English
maids who have lived with the aristo-
cracy are the first choice with New
York women at present. They are
able to give points. All the Wander
bits have maids who have lived in the
families of English noblemen, and as
much may be said, with slight limita-
tons, of the Astors, LorilIards. and
other families. Mrs. William Waldorf
Astor's personal attendant formerly
waited upon the queen of Italy and
Mrs. w. X. Vanderbilt had one who
served Lady Churchill.
Recently a lady's maid was dis
charged because she was mistaken for
her mistress when the two were out
together Another was sent flying be-
cause she accidentally pulled her mis-
tress' hair while brushing it, A third
discharged herself because her mistress
insisted that she should administer a
hypodermic injection of morphine
every niOht