Morning journal and courier., 1891-01-17

| rleS MADE was In reverence TO the sources
of supply of females for this vocation.
Who were these bright, handsome, grace
| full womenl What manner of social con-
dition was that out of which they camel
How could two hundred Thousand women,
| apparently fit to grace respectable and re-
| fined homes, assume such questionable en-
ployment as this of their own volitionl
Of what stuff, in the guise of woman
| with all of woman's wit, self-poise and
winsomeness in physical graces, could so
vast and anomalous a class be createdi
These and many similar speculations along
with ceaseless personal inquiries resulted
in the following facts and figures being
scattered through my notebooks. I do
| not know whether these averages on about
seventeen hundred will hold true with two
hundred thousand. They at least serve as
basis for reputable conjecture; and bring
| the subject, in its entirety, home to all
| who give thought to sociological questions
with unusual impressiveness.
Daughters of farmers, villagers and of
various employees on estates of the British
| nobility, Deven hundred and sixty; daugh-
| ters of small t-adesmen, two hundred and
fourteen; publicans' daughters, sisters and
| other female relatives, one hundred and
eighty-seven; factory-girls, thirty -four;
seamstresses and milliners, eighty-three;
ulNOICcu WIVES, clcNen,
| seyenty-two; drapers', and other, clerks,
thirty mine; telegraph operators and pos
| tai employees, six: actresses, variety and
otherwise, thirteen; cashiers, twenty
eight; canvassers, fourteen; unsuccessful
| singers and music-teachers, forty-four;
| mission-workers, Sunday-school teachers
| and "Salvationists," ffty-seven; photo
graph colorists and artists" generally,
nineteen; ''iterary" persons-eight of
whom had written poems, six, pamphlets,
| four, ballads, and two, books, all of which
''had been published" the balance of
whom might be classified as ''human vari-
| ous"-thirty while thirteen had been
domestics; eighteen, scullery maids; sew
en-, governesses: and fifty-three, as nurse
| ry maids, originally had the molding of
| the minds and morals of the British youth.
/ took these figures to a very noted Eng
lish thinker, leader and writer, Q man
| whose name is a familiar one in every
newspaper and household throughout the
English world. He examined
| them carefully; seemed lost in reflection
| for a time; and gave his views regarding
the sociological study in rapidly PROFOUND.
| ed return questions, after our true Yankee
| fashion.
| You have great many women in
| America at the present time known as 'ag-
| itators' and 'reformers,' have you nots
"And has not each one a mission OF
| scheme, or a divine call, to gallop, plunge
and cavort about, shrieking out all man
ner of notes of warning regarding the en-
| slavement of her sex!
"And do not these females sound tim
| brels, beat toms-toms and override every
| thing established, tender and sacred, in an
| effort to attract attention to themselves,
| until the grand, true wives and mothers of
your country are whipped into partial en-
dorsement, the clergy bullied into silence,
and your editors, through forgivable
| chivalry, Influenced into lending them q
quasi support.
| "Well, sir, precisely the same female, OF
| rather unfemale, qualities, which, through
| these mental harridans, are accomplishing
| the gradual unsexing of American women,
| and the revolutionizing and destruction of
| the American home, are at the root of our
cursed barmaid system. 1t is simply a
| different form of expression of the same
| original eyil-a femal passion for some
manner of notoriety. Your over shrewd
and under -principled American female
who cannot endorse home making, through
the pretense of some heaven-indorsed mis-
sion, at once enters upon a career of home
breaking. She poises and poses, higgles
and wriggles along gamut of 'isms' and
lists from female suffrage past score of
| reforms to Christian science, theosophy
| and spiritualism into the capacious bosom
| of the over-soul ITSELF meantime pausing
anywhere just SO long as she may continue
| disturbing element: ever thrilled and &C.
| static over any manner of notoriety con-
ducing to what she Historically imagines
has become career Our barmaids are
just that sort of male females; proud of
| tap-room publicity; eager for tawdry no.
| %, al with 60 a
public career But we are the most fortu-
nate nation. With us rigid and healthful
| social limitations force these characters
| into their proper place at once. Your fe
male birds of prey defile and fatten upon
| your tenderest and most sacred social and
domestic institutions. Ours impinge only
upon our lowest national weaknesses"
Many will consider this British compari
son and estimate of our suffering sister
| hood as a very severe one. Some will bt
ungallant enough to regard it as an unjs
classification of British barmaids thenf
selves. AS a rule 1 have found them hard
working women. Few ever know a holi
day. They are on their feet from twelv,
to sixteen hours per DAY. Whatever thei
natural tendencies, they are perforce hon
est. The British bar system is entirel,
different from ours, and still retains mucl
of the flavor of the old custom of the pub
lican and his wife sitting in their own pri
vate room and serving customers with Ii
quors through little shelf -bottomed win
dow; while the publican, his wife, or som
member of his family, is never absen
from the bar during business hours. Thi
is much protection to the personality o
the barmaid. Though you may regard he
as lost to all moral sense, and the signif
canoe of words, through the endless repe
tition of infamous language in her pres
ence bp drunken brutes, brainless cads an,
| clever roues, in the main she remain
measurably free from rough treatment
The modern British bar is practically
walled extension of the ancient Britisl
bar-window. There is no access to i
from the public room. 1t is as high a
your chin The barmaid herself, benin,
her silver beer and ale pumps, stands tw
feet above you, a charming study in black
white and carnation-a black perfect fl
ting gown, a dainty white apron, the glor
of the rose in, or on, her cheeks and lips
She is, in fact, just as most men love t
see woman: suggestive of domesticity i
her raiment, charming in figure and face
But after a day and evening of banter an
wiles, through which scores of pocket
have been emptied, brains beclouded an
her master further enriched, the highes
and lowest are remorselessly shut fror
. sight of her smiling face. 1t is a SAD
wearied, tired face now. She is practica
ly a prisoner there. She lives with th
publican's family. She goes to a room nc
, fit for dogs keeping, snatches a fe'
hours sleep and is again at her post b,
bind the bar to cheer and wheedle th
trembling drunkards of the early mornin
hours. Her meals are snatched betwee
, ferocious rushes of customers at the bal
She must know everybody; be cognizar
of something about everything; have
soothing word for rum-bedeviled temper,
7 placidly listen to discussions of herse
: like those upon an animal; accept diret
and infamous insult with invitation in ht
eyes and honeyed words upon her lip
J sympathetically receive condolences of Il
u most sacred or damnable character;
. brief, to the end of her days, remain
), marble Venus for the worship and slayel
Q of Bacchus' crazed and maddened victim
!, For all this she receives from six
= twenty shillings per week and ''keep
Some masters provide gowns and apron
i The inconceivable degradation of her cal
Z ing can only be hinted at in the statemel
of fact that there is but one place in Gre
n Britain-at the refreshment-bars of leat
8 ing railway stations-where refusal
d serve one who insults her would not lea
r to her immediate discharge without
If character" The lowest grade in her voc
ss ton is among the sailors Pubs" in Il
Is slums of Marylebone, Liverpool, and Ea
Y; End, London; the highest in the gorgeol