Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-08-06
How to Get Good Servants.

The people OF the Eastern Shore OF
VIRGINIA ere sorely vexod by inability TO
secure good bouse-servnnts. 80 great ~
their suffering la this respect they have
wcll-nigh determined TO hold q pubho
meeting at tho county-seat OF Accomac
and give loud voice TO their distress and
organize to bring into the county white
servants for whole neighborhoods at
time.
Their want Is no uncommon want. We
hear mighty Rroans Of the same sort rs
theirs proceeding from Richmond house
holds. aud We read In the comic papers. as
we'll "a in industrial journals. that neither
New York nor New Orleans, neither Chi
cago nor San Francisco, is exempt from
the scarcity of good servants. The sup
ply OF good masters and mistresses seems
TO be inexhaustible, bat the supply OF
skilful. good-tempered, and trustworthy
servants Is largely deficient.
In the old country there may lie such
things as trained servants serving one
family generation after generation, with
mutual affection and satisfaction. but
there il nothing OF the sort here now. In
the North. and in the South as well,
" CHANGE ia the rule. Most servants
seem TO have entered into combination
10 try TO see how many situations they can
get and yacate In tue course of year.
The northerners arc SO dissatisfied with
their white servants-mostly recently
arrived foreigners--that they are con-
stsn:ly sending South for negroes. OF
whom they have high hopes--until they
have tried them. And now and then
southerners, quite exhausted OF pa
tience by the lack of cleanliness, re-
lableness. and integrity on the part
of negro servants. send North for
white servants. In neither case is any
great satisfaction achieved. The truth IL
that the halcyon days Of master and
servant are passed 20 far as these United
States are concerned. The servant OF to-
dav not only believes that he is as good as
his master or mistress, but takes pains to
advertise his faith by showing himself
recklessly unreliable and by contemptu-
ously ignoring his contracts.
We pay servants low wages down hero
IN the South. but we rarely stint them in
table SUPPLIES or fuel. and tho conse-
ouence is that the average southern
kitchen IL q soack-house for unemployed
negroes. This is an onerous tax which
each householder bears-because he can
not help il.
1t is our women who suiier most by rea-
son of the uniaithfulness and reoeliious-
ness of servants. TO them is largely left
the hiring and Diminishing of female ser
wants. and because of this vexatious duty
many wives who would otherwise be hap
by women live lives of misery and tor
ment.
What is the remedyf Where shall we
get good servants? Whittier shall we turn
for comfort?
We can't certainly cay. Perhaps we
would better form joint stock company
and put in our experience az capital stock.
| Dividends would, Of course. have to be
declared in kind. Then (each rich in the
experiences of alb We might conclude to
meet the question-or rather dodge it-by
resolving to do without servants.
We trust TINT Epson and oil other in
ventive genuses will unite TO minimize,
if not to cxtin2uish. the need OF servants.
In no other way can they so successfully
contribute to human happiness. How
| ever. until that era Of freedom comes we
must stock ourselves with money and pa
thence and do our best to recommend our
selves to the favor of those whom we en-
ploy.