The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-08-17
THE ENGLISH GIRLS.
DUTIES THAT DEvoLvE ON MOST
HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS.

tion--Titled Young Women In the vari-
ous Trades and How Their Actions May
Affect Poorer Girls.
There are tourists and tourists. Some
will come home and be able to tell only
that they have seen the Alps and been to
Paris, while others will have "done" Rome
In day, and as an English lady wonder
inRly narrated of one such American who
had performed the feat got wonderfully
clever idea Of it at that" Nevertheless
the most persistent and observant tourist
would find IL herculean task to penetrate
into the English home unless furnished
with exceptional letters of introduction or
possessed of exceptionally fascipating man.
ners and exceptionally rare advantages Of
meeting people who are exceptionally un-
prejudiced.
IAN Englishman's house is his castle" il
O phrase familiar TO us all, but to those un-
familiar with the survival Of feudal ideas
the full force Of the saying Is lost. From
the noble lady who graciously accepts
American hospitality on this side Of the
water and then forgets to extend an invita-
tion for return visit to the slovenly wife
Of the green grocer who slams the door Of
her back parlor when she enters the shop
TO serve customer, the privacyl Of the
home is jealously guarded.
Novelists have introduced us to the draw
ing rooms Of the great and the sitting rooms
Of the humble, but a discreet silence has
been maintained concerning the house
holds Of the shopkeepers, and it may be re-
membered that England Is q nation Of
shopkeepers. So, after all, the stranger
forms an idyllic conception Of the English
home, which, while it may hatter the Eng
lish and satisfy those who never learn to
the contrary, by no means represents the
true state of affairs.
1t may be well before entering further
upon the subject to explain exactly what is
meant by shopkeeper. The entire bust
ness of the country is divided into three
classes and is conducted in warehouses,
which is the name given to buildings de.
voted to wholesale trade; Offices where
goods are sold from samples, and shops,
which last is synonymous with our retail
store. A man keeping either a warehouse
or an Office is a tradesman, but he is not
a shopkeeper, though a shopkeeper is q
tradesman, petty" or otherwise. A shop
girl is not factory hand; neither is she a
'saleslady." Her highest title Is that con-
ferred upon her by act of parliament in re-
cent enactments, ''shop assistant"
These young persons" lead very differ
ent lives from those in similar positions in
this country. In the first place, for the
most part they leave home and live in the
house Of their employer. This is of course
q survival of the old apprentice system.
Even in warehouses 1t is quite common for
those learning the business to live "in-
DOORS" and many prosperous tradesmen
hav . fhot. a{- eA, Il %
fees in rooms fitted not for family COM
fort, but the idea of accommodating a small
army of assistants.
The kitchens and larders of such estab-
lishments resemble those of our hotels
When 1t is remembered that the trades
mans wife has to superintend such house
hold, the life of an American boarding
house keeper looms up as elegant leisure in
comparison with her lot, not to mention
that the American woman has the handling
of money, whereas the tradesman's wife
receives no reward save the consciousness
Of having done her duty. Men who have
incomes ranging as high as $40, 900 year
do not employ housekeepers, but impose
households of 20 or more strangers upon
their wives. These "young people" have
to be lodged, fed and in many cases uni
formed, and the mistress must see that no
waste takes place in any direction; that
the health and morals of her charges are
carefully guarded, and if conscientious
woman she frequently performs the duties
of nurse in serious illness for those who are
far from home or who have no home save
that of their employer
1t would seem impossible with the strict
surveillance to which all those in respect
able house are subjected for serious evil to
creep in, but there are sad tragedies con-
tinually taking place in those vast house
holds which only show that the gentle, red
checked English girl is no stronger moral
ly than her American sister, who has more
freedom, but possibly no greater tempta-
tion.
Much has been said and written about
titled ladies going into trade, and recent
articles in the English press declare that
the daughters of professional men are now
entering west end establishments and
taking their places behind the counters and
In the workrooms. All this tells sad
story to those who read between the lines.
While we admire the pluck and energy Of
woman who puts pride behind her and
works bravely to earn her living, one can
not but remember that the entrance of
titled milliners and dressmakers has ruined
many respectable shopkeeper whose mod
est bank account would not pay for the ar
tistic signs and expensive fittings of her
noble competitor. And as to the daugh-
ters of professional men going behind the
counter, what is to become of them when
the upward pressure" bursts all boundsP
That pressure is increasing with every
class that leaves the board schools. God
help those who seem doomed to be caught
beween the upper and neither millstones.
We, as Americans, must rejoice that
England is fast becoming a democracy
Nevertheless, those of us who know the
feudal system only through poem and ro-
nance, who have never suffered from the
tyranny arising from the survival of the
idea that the sovereign owns the lord, the
lord owns the knight, the knight the
squire, and so on down to the beRgar, may
be permitted one little sigh over the loss of
chivalry, but sober second thought makes
us rejoice that England is becoming "Amer-
icanized," that the rights Of the individual