The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-05

missions With the Cook-After Mid
day, Sleep.
From the New York Sun.
If you know Of any mistress of a house
in this town who thinks her servants are
not what they should be. perhaps it might
smooth matters little for her to let her
know what they are in the West Indies.
Yes, come to think Of it. l am sure it
would make her feel better 10 know how
very mucn worse they average there than
they do here. If you feel inclined I'll tell
you some more about those West Indian
servants"
A Sun reporter was talking again with
the New York banana dealer who re-
Gently returned from the West Indies. II
was the reporter who always feels in
clined to hear good story, and at this
invitation he took out his mental tablets.
You must remember" the speaker
continued, what I've told you before
that household that would need one or
two servants here at home must have at
least six down there in the tropics.
There's the butler and the cook, the
cbambermaid and the laundress, the
gardener and the kitchen girl, that's six
accounted for already, and, besides, there
must always be two boys; but boys don't
account for much, as they can be had in
shoals for about s. par month. Then the
laundress may want an assistant, and I'M
less YOU are careful the gardener will
soon have an assistant too.
How does a stranger find all these
servants perhaps you wonder. He
doesn't have to find them; he only has to
select them. They come to him in regi-
ments Just let them learn that an
American family is about to begin house
Seeplng on any of the islands, and they
apply by the hundred They are all
colpred, of course, and they nearly all
want work, provided the work is not
hard.
The butler is supposed to be the head
man, but 1t always seemed to me that the
laundress is Of most account; at least. she
IS the one who is always in evidence.
/, You hear either her machines or her voice
going from Monday morning till Satur-
day night. She is pretty sure TO be the
most stylish-looking of the lot, done up in
starched white dresses and high-heeled
shoes. You notice the shoes at once, be-
cause she and the butler are the only ones
who wear them all the others go in their
bare feet. ! call her the laundresS be-
cause that is familiar word but she is
never Iaundress down there she is de
lady wat does do de washin'' Forty
times day she sends into the house for
some article she requires, and the mes
sehgef never ventures to shorten her title
and call her the laundress or the washer
woman it is always de lady wat does
do de washin', she want mo- soap
ma'amn
at is your wife, of course, who enga-
ges this important person, and l will tell
you about how that is done. Twenty or
thirty applicants for places are gathered
about the kitchen door, and the maid is
directed TO bring in some one who is able
to wash the clothes. She returns in a
moment with your future laundress. who
says that she has washed for such and
such great families of the island She
gives your wife little surprise when she
intimates that she washes for one family
at time, and no more.
" Why says madame, / should think
you would wash for as many families as
you can get, to make more money
This brings out the fact that "a
washin' in the West Indies is supposed to
occupy the entire week. Her ladyship is
not sure that she could do the work
alone; she does most gently have some
one to help her do the heavy work,
ma'am' but she is willing to try it for
So week, aud, as this seems reasonable,
she Is engaged, for, of course, you do
of that
THE new servant soon begins to make
the premises lively One of the row of
Outbuildings must be set aside for her use.
and in her own little building she is not
TO be interfered with But what is she TO
wash with,-there is nothing ready. You
show her the new washing machine YOU
have imported and the clothes wringer.
and some other laundry appliances, but
she turns up her nose at them all She
knows nothing about such newt tangled
notions. What she must have is cask
to pound the clothes in, and big FOUNDER
with handle six feet long, and brazier
to keep wood fire in to heat her irons
These things must be procured before she
can do a stroke of work.
Now look out for music The FOUNDER
has wooden head about the size of
spittoon, and when it strikes the cask you
are reminded of dull thud. The laun-
dress pours in some cold water and plenty
OF soap and soda, drops in an armful of
clothes, and the pounding begins. Whang,
thump, bang! She must pause sometimes,
| suppose, but you didn't notice any let-up
in the pounding for three days On Mon.
day, Tuesday and Wednesday she washes
your clothes with the FOUNDER; on Thurs
day, Friday ana Saturday she irons them
On Saturday afternoon she marches into
ttiS nUuSG III triumph Will u D1S DhSkeG Oh
snowy linens on her head
s Yes, she does them beautifully; l
must give her credit for that But IL is
atsome sacrifice TO your nerves and your
clothes. For the first three days she has
been continually sending to the house for
things. She must have more soap. more
soda, more starch, more bluing, more of
everything. In the last three days, while
she irons, she sings continually But no
matter; your clothes are washed, and
there is not single button left on any
thing.
"Of course there isn't How could
there be after three days of such pound
ingl That's the reason West Indians
rarely use buttons on their clothes but
use studs wherever they can. studs can
be taken out before the washing, but but
tons cannot. My first experience of this
was with some duck trousers | ordered
down IN town. There were three or four
pairs of them, and when the tailor's bow
brought them home there was "a buckle
at the back of one pair, but no buckles on
the other pairs. pointed this out and
the boy said, OATS all right; OATS de
way we does always make EN- You see
when you puts one par in de wash, you
des put de buckle on de mex pair
-" l4e was right enough, too for if the
buckle had gone through the wash il
woald have been pounded out Of shape
Bat my host had funnier experience
than that He was going past the laun-
fAtaEr. a a..