The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-01-18
PRETTY ENGLISH
barbados" IN INNS
There Are Two Hundred Thousand Of
Them Serving Liquids.
Wakeman Tells Of the Young Women Of En-
gland Who Wait on Those Frequenting
British Pubs" Pictures From Life.
Special to The SUNDAY CALI

men. women and children OF Great Britain
is served by women.
There are nearly 200, 600 women thus en-
gagged every day of the year. These are, as a
class. the pretuest and tidiest women in the
three kingdoms. Whatever their relations
t. society at large they have characters good
or bad, manners and morals, interesting OF
otherwise. and souls saved or unsaved,
though the clergy, church societies and mis-
sionareS never seem to have troubled
tLemSelye, about the latter.
During the first half of the past ten years
l had opportunity for frequent study OF
these British barmaids. During the last
five years l have been able to closely OBJ
serve them nearly every day ami evening OF
my lie. At first thought many may regard
them as hardly mertiug serious cUnsidera-
ton. 1t seems TO NE they are really worth
talking about.
English literature is full If the barmaid'
Prose and poetry are redOlent Of her Those
rare old fellows who lived, OF rather slept,
in chambers" and dined and wiued in
pubhc-houseS while making most of the
books which last, all along down through the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and
even as near TO us rs the first third of the
present century, seem TO have drawn their
inspiration largely from The tap-room fOunt.
Indeed, if we will be wholly honest about
it, English literature, the sweetest and
gIandcst on earth, and the spisot have ever
known close fellowship. And even if
little stress should be laid upon the matter.
we owe TO the very presence of the bar
maids OF those days preservation of the
sweetest 1auc.es, the most sparkling humor.
the most charming situations. and no
mean number II the most chGste and pa
thetic incidents known 10 ballad, poetry
and uctl Il. This Is not defensive of the bar
maid. Il IS merely historic Of her effect on
and presence
N LITERATURE.
And l have often thought because it was so,
because the puOHc-huuSe of old and the bar
maid Of old lecame British institutions,
un-OnsCl1usly though universally grounded
in the human heart, they have survived
civilization and decay.
On this liUe, there are two things about the
British people which we in America utterly
fan To comprehend. One is the Brton's
passionate loyalty to anything sanctioned
by prestige and sanctifed b. precedent into
the status OF an LtuIiOu-a British insti-
tuition. In general, all the more honor to
hun Tor that, tor IN SteadfastneSS aud loyal
" 10 a nations own are preserved all 90 d
things, II few bad ones happen To remain.
Another Is, the average Briton, high or low.
Is a Otlug WHO VIII retain ana sustain all
'[Ishts, gocq or bad, which literature, Sc
clety, precedent and Government have
marked cut Tor him, with pertluacIty and
bravery which puts to beggarly shame the
indifference Of most American people TO all
manner OF Government mOlopOlistiC and
other enCroachmeut
This may seem going a long way for
trivial sequence. But 1t is undeniabIy true
that because the barmaid was long ago
elevated into a British institution through
English literature; because the older any
sentiment oil thing, barring the barmaid her
sell, IS III Britain the more endearing 1t is
prIZei and because your British nobleman
or workman Will have his VINE or bitter
II III tie hand OF a tap-room divinity.
whether all the world ike II or Mt, the
prototype OF the American bartender" is
here unknown, and 200, 900 W omen serve
2i.renu50 British people with their brews
au4 spirits to-day. There are other effects,
such as the rapid national increase in the
C assumption Of liquors; the increasing
power IN politics and legislation of the
liquor interests; and, worse than all, the
startling Increase in liquor-drinking by all
classes OF British women; upon each Of
which vast and sad volumes might be writ
ten Blu, the great host of British barmaids
IS what
THE BRITISH PEOPLE
Like and VIII have; and, being accounted
for, X only remains to speak Of this particu-
lar class As 1t Individually and collectively
exists.
Rural England Is a thing of the past: and
there never was rural Scotland or a rural
Ireland, where the sweet old inn and the
SWEET y uug baUmaid were Ravens aud
objects Of material and ethical delight,
WIKI tie end of the coaching DAYS was an
end uf Tie inns, and with them, long after the
old London type had gone, faded away the
cheTry-cheeked Hebe Of the rural hOstelrv
To be sure, If you are genuine tramp who
" Al iu1
and Scotland for the very love Of adventure,
You VIII now and then still find gentle
being IN cap and apron, whose very presence
behind the cupOOarG-llke bar fills your mind
with all manner of chivalrous fancies until
Inc whole locality takes on magical SEEM
Ing IS Of sunshine and flowers. But if you
remain long enough, you find that even this
rural rarity is already tainted BY modern
unrest. A farmers daughter, the child OF
some castle game-keeper, OF a widow
ludge-keeper or Of same underling Of the
manor demesne, she has already her ambi-
ton fixed on Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liver
DoOl or London, or even the bright, busy
railway efreshment-rooms; and a year
thereafter you Will find her saucy and pert,
straight and lofty, sage and calm, one of the
great army OF public-hOuse barmaids, at
IA bob a week and found" Probably one
hall Of Tie whole are recruited from this
source. The other half are from the over
plus OF city-D0rn girls, who, without positive
immoral tendencies, have overborne re-
StrG!nt and with much yigOr, without sex
III sentiment and that saving Consciousness
Sprlnglng from tie true virtue of the glory
oil sex, have forced their way into this man
ner Of lie ard employment.
some curious facts have developed, on
certain Interesting lines, in my five years
study OF those people in England Ireland
and Scotland. As rule. in my wander
ings, have sought
THE HUMBLER CLASS OF INNS
For housing, not only from motives of COM
1o!I but as best furnishing various and
yaEarOus forms OF character study; inns on
a par, as nearly as can be compared, with
cur American hotels of the second class"
coming again and again to many of these, |
have secured such friendships and conf
dfnceS as gained for me in many instances
tie agreeable position of zone of the family"
with the inns host or hostess. Not being
llted by inclination or habit for honoTS in
lrent Of these bars, which | have always
lOuhd gains respect from even those who eX-
ist by them, | reached many a snug corner
Wlthn them. There, in the landlords or
Iandlady's chair OF honor and state, while
apparently reading my mail or scanning
me papers, l lave been favored at all
hours OF tie day and night with
pictures Of lie in British "Pubs"-as the
Dar-rooms attache ed TO inns or restaurants
are here universally called; and. during
their moments OF rest between customers
demands, have received from British bar
MAIDS themselves innumerabIe kindly, hon
est, and altogether wOmanly revelations as
TO Their previous condition, with the mode
and motive OF their lives
One OF the first series Of careful inquiries
made was in reference to the sources of sup
ply Of females for this vocation. WHO
were these bright. handsome, graceful
women? What manner Of social condition
was that out of which they came? How
coulu zVO,oU women, apparently fit to
grace respectable and refined homes, assume
such questionable employment as this of
their own Toiition? or what stuff in the
gnise Of woman, with all of woman's wit,
self-poise and winsomeness in physical
eraces, could so vast aud anomalous class
be created? These ana many similar spec
ula tons along with ceaseless personal in
quires resulted in the following facts and
hg ures being scattered through my note
books / do not know whether these aver
age On about 100 viii hold true with 200. 600.
III ey at least serve as basis for reputable
~ mcclure, and bring the subject in It's en-
~ rely home to ali who give thought to So
u lolugical questions with