Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-07-27
The SERVANT QUESTION.


, allowed to exercise, and how much
liberty the maid may be allowed to
have-how far to reconcile professional
skill with domestic subservience, and
superior knowledge in her work with
personal obedience-these are tue
| tongues of fame which make the ques-
ton "burning" and defy the efforts OF
the well-intentioned to put out.
The present day Is one of those
rapidly changing times when all the
old landmarks are being removed and
grand old temples are being destroyed
when the gods whom oar fathers wor-
shipped are cast down from their
shrines and burnt IN the common
market-place like SO much rubbish
when the cherished customs of our an
cestorssre discarded and decried. When
families had to bake and brew, wash
churn, and kill at home-when all the
standby supplies-the stores for winter
use, the fruit, preserves and PICKLES,
the hams and sides of bacon, the pre-
served eggs and stored potatoes were
matters of home arrangement and care
there was, of course, much more for
both mistress and maid to do; and the
intercommunication between them
was closer and more friendly rs we'll
as more authoritative on the one side
and more subservient on the other
than it is now. Then the mistress was
, the head and superintendent, who
knew better than her maid how things
ought to be done, and thus had the
| place of superior professional skill.
| Now domestic service has become a
profession, where the mistress is a
"duffer" and the maid is proficient.
Women, as a rule, are not logical.
They feel more than they reason, and
when things go contrary to their lik-
ing, they are more angry with results
than Ike n to search into causes. The
troubles lying round this question of
domestic service are, for the most part,
those which belong 10 human nature
free of class or education; aud our
whlte-capped friends are women be-
fore they are servants.
/ We cannot expect two irreconcileabIe
things-professional superiority aud
professional subservience. The SER
want is a free and independent worker,
and no mere serf to be brutalized at
| pleasure of his lord-no mere slave to
be punished at the pleasure of her
mistress. She has her rights like all
| the rest of us. The air is full of the
| doctrines OF rights; and while there
! are not wanting advocates for the
| rights of animals, we need not be u.s.
I tonished ut the higher advocacy for
| the right of servants.
The servant knows her worth. She
has her profession at her fingers ends
all the same as a goldsmith or mil
| liner, and If she does not like one place
she can find another. And she knows
that, wherever else the labor market is
congested, it Is sparsely peopled
enough in that corner gwen up to
domestic service. For one good place
! there used to be twenty applicants.
Turn 1t round the other way, and say
now that for one good servant there
are twenty eager bidders. Molly and
! Biddy know this; and act on their
knowledge to their own advantage and
the bewIlderment of mistresses.
| How unpopular private domestic
service is may be seen by the ease
with which hotels and large establish
ments fill up their vacancies. As a
rule, the servants in these places ARE
abominably fed, and not in the least
cared for. Still, with poor food, with
neglect and the absence of all kindly
consideration, girls will swarm into
these places where they have the ex-
citement of society and the absence of
C ose personal supervision. They have
no more liberty than when in private
service, but they have the sense of
( space and freedom and companionship
for which they are willing to barter the
more solid advantages of home. Their
tenure, too, is slighter, and this easy
holding tells as much for them rs
] against them. A weeks notice on
either side sewers a connection which
has not the faintest shade of personal
feeling in it. The 6 ri knows that she
can find another such place as this, the
housekeeper that she can find another
such servant. For the domestic popu-
lation of these mansions and hotels IS
eminently floating, peripatetic, nomad-
ic. In change there Is n certain ex-
citement which is not displeasiug; and
it is highly unlikely that Scrimp House
will be worse than Scrape Hotel
1t is of no use to font and fiounce
! over things we do not like. All that
we have to do is to recognize that they
exist, and make the best of tn m where
we cannot change them. The want of
personal feeling on the part of SER
wants for their mistresses and the fam
lies they servo is mot by the want of
the same feeling for them. Both states
are due to the altered economic aspect
Of life and the changes wrought by
natural conditions. We have then to
make our account with the residue.
For the close authority which came
with active participation and close sd
pervlsion We must accept the looser
rein belonging to professional skill
on the oro side and more distant rela-
tons on the other. For the family
| solidarity of mistress and rvants we
must acknowledge the merely COM
mercial value of the work rendered
and payment made therefor For the
feudal sense of fidelity we must be con-
tent to find the generalized feeling that
honesty is the best policy in the long
run. The whole thing has changed land
as little good as is to be had by crying
Jver split milk, so little shall We find
by lsmenting this inevitable CONVEX
SION. 1t is part of the Spirit of the
Times, and who can kill that spirit?
But we must always remember that the
LOVING nature creates love; that a good
i,istress has for tho most part good
servants; and that the woman who is
maternal Just, kind and firm will find
among her "Whitc caps" more than
one dear girl who will love her aud
(s-rve her with zeal as we'll as fidelity,
and who Sill repr 'duce for her bene-
ft AL the best traditions of the past.
Influence filters from above to the
stratum. II does not ascend. In these
words lie cause to ponder deeply