New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-01-24
A FOREIGNERS SORROWS.
HIS EXPERIENCE WITH A MUSICAL HOUSE
HOLD.

TO the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: Il He who increaseth knowledge increaseth
| SORROW is one of the proverbs of King Solomon re-
corded in the Holy Scripture; and my present
experience convinces me that no trucr axiom
ever uttered by that wise and farseeing monarch
II is possible that the Jewish sage was led to make
the remark in question by some premoniton of the
establishment five and twenty centuries later Of
| board schools, commissioners of education and
| compulsory instruction If this he so. we can only
congratulate ourselves that he did not live to see
the fulflment Of his dreams, since in that case
his provcrb would inevitably have partalcn more
the character of an oburgation than of Scriptural
verse.
! My objections TO the increase Of knowledge
| not so much on the score of the quantity as on
| That of the indscrimnate dissemination Of that
which your public men and ours are accustomed
TO describe AS popular progress and enlightenment.
! II would he we'll if this so-cacd popular en-
| llghtenmcnt' would stop short of the incubation
OF musical tastes to persons who possess neither
the ear, the voice the refinement necessary
for the purpose. In the English and Continental
board and free schools piano lessons are being
given 10 girls whose only available career is that
of domestic servant, and here in Ncw-Yor<.
your educational authorities add to. the agony
by teaching part-snging to the pupils of the
same class in life
The result is that new torment has arisen on
the horizon IN the shape of singing and piano
| paying servants Servants even before they
became possessed of musical inclinations con-
| Stltutcd the bane OF domestic life
| In America, and now with this new
form of torture superadded to all the
Others organized and devised in the servants
hall, existence has become intoerable
There may appear to the readers of The Tribune
an unwonted warmth and an uncalled-for prcju-
dice in my remarks. But let them picture me in
the act Of writing, while the French cook in the
Kitchen is singing in peculiarly shrill and irr-
tatlne soprano, n very dancy gavotte. Every
and then she stops singing and begins whstling.
and to Judge by the catter Of the high heels of
her shoes upon the kitchen floor | am led 10
| believe that the whistle is nothing more nor less
than the accompaniment Of brilliant and pecu-
larly Gallo pas seu If she were the only person
in the house melodiously inclined, the disturb
ance would he more or less b,arabe. But
| alongside the kitchen, in the furnace room.
there sits the page boy, who. anxious To show his
| manlincss, is groaning forth in preternaturally
bass and exceedingly fiat voice the paintve strains
Of Silver Threads Among the Gold. lnasmuch as
| the pipes from the furnace. room extend all over
| the house, inhamOnlOus fragments Of Johnnie
| | am Growing old arise from every register, and
| | have 10 choose between shutting off the heat
from my library or submitting TO the unearthly
strains from that dreadful boy. lie used, when
| | first engaged him. to whistle away the entire
day. and when first gently. then authoritatvcly,
| and finally with violence. urged him 10 dcsist. he
declared to me that it not his fault, since
the whistling was nothing more nor less than the
wind escaping through the aperture in his mouth
| left by the loss Of his front teeth. He informed
| fsfn hlS
would bc by providing him with set of false
teeth In sheer self-dcfcncc ! submitted TO thi,
imposition and now he no longer whlstles,-but he
sings, and that is worse.
| Then Their, il the new Swiss parlor maid, who
suffer, from homcsckness. the effects of which
she can only counwract and remedy by the singing
NJ Anime songs Consequently she spends her
entire day in "yodelling,' and inasmuch a. 'ne
Swiss vodcll" j. very contagious. am in hourly
dread Of all the other servants catchihs Tue
disease
I'ps,airs next 10 my library is the nursery
Tho rursc is an elderly English woman, OF great
pcty. which takes the form of singing hymns all
dav long She has borrowed No'u"c u,
| HYMNS Ancient and Modern from me- ana
from carly in the morning until late at night she
| j. engaged in doing what she calls practising
sucb sacred melodies as Onward Christian Sol
dier." and Awake Ny SOUL with view to per-
| fection AT Sunday church. As propose to Keep
| this number of The Tribune from coming into my
| honsc for reasons that are obvious. ! may add III
strict confidence that she sings very fiat, so much
| so that | am afraid she will end by vitlatlng
| the ear Of my little boy entrusted to her charge.
| Like NV canarics he deems II necessary 10 DC
| Gin ,hirping the moment that he hears any one
| oIse ALTERNATING 70 sing and the higher his old
nurse-thc rclict of an English policcman-rals's
| her voice in fiat but pl0us praise to Heaven t'
Iouder does the little fellow pipe forth his shrlli
| treble ON the two days OF the week wheh the
colorcd laundry woman is in the house there is
| an aggravation of the evil She being the leading
member of the choir of the Baptist Church
| 70 which she belongs. The groom.
| thanks be to Allah. spends most of his time IN the
, stables and therefore | do not hear much OF ms
| voice i'm the DAYTIME In the evening. however.
when the servants are all assembled in the Kitchen,
after dinner, they, the groom included, commence
| what they call part singing. They are every one Oh
them of European birth; but since reaching ihls
! land Of liberty they have become lmbucd with
| the true American spirit Of independence Wheh
| is never more strongly manifested than when they
are engaged in what they call part singing
| When i'm addition to all this, | mention likewise
| sub rosa that my stcnognpher - learning the
| banjo and my dear wife cndcavorlng 10 pick her
way over a quaint and beautifully carved 'hinesr
| ouitar which an enemy in tine gulsc OF friend
presented TO her the other day, AMI when moreover
fine sad fact is taken into consideration that there
| * a cottage organ and piano in the house, both
| Of which instruments in use all the day long.
| il will readily he understood that the cup of my
| sorrow is filled to Overlooking.
| Nor let il he for one moment imagined that
| nigbt brings relief to my tired ear and troubled
| brain | 90 10 bed late, and often write far
away into the early morning. But 1t requires
strong nerves. in this house at any rate, to do
Everybody here appears to DC addicted to either
talking or walking in his or her sleep Walls of
mamma mamma proceed from the room of the