The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-06

glasses When glasses are broken by
customers who will mot pay for them
Cor who. II pressed TO pay, would trans
fer their patronage TO another house,
in which latter case the barmaid is not
held blameless) she must pay. Fancied
careless attention to business, the COM
plant of some wretched masher, whose
clumsy advances have received prop
er rebuff may be made, and frequently
is the subject of fines and deductions.
There is a public house doing thriv-
ing business near the end of Black
friars bridge whose proprietress boasts
that she has not paid a barmaid one
pound in wages in four years. This
mise rable old skinfiint even complains
that some OF them are in debt for the
fines. She has five and sometimes six
barmaids. and for three years has
never been absent 20 minutes at one
time from the bar when any maid was
there. She knows barmaids, thieving
wasteful hussies," she says. What a
life those poor girls lead under the
baneful. suspicious eye of such a mis-
tress. Surely they are not duchesses
or even ladies of the shades.
II seems at first blush that the quar-
ter of a million sterling that is paid
to barmaids as weekly wage in Great
Britain is a vast sum. 1t has a more
a year. Oh! yes, these barmaids have
a stake in the country. They get as
much in a year as all the police and
constabulary. one-half of what was
voted for the increase of the navy and
a trifie more than is paid in England
for board (pu'blic) schools. But a great
many divide. and no one gets more
than she earns OF this vast sum. Little
enough to supply her with the necessi-
ties OF life. so turn from the contempla-
tion of such magnificent totals and let
us inquire how the average barmaid
distributes her modicum. She's In
London and f35 a year and no incum-
brances. no family to aid, only her own
dress to provide. This is copied from
an account kept: Shoes. co; frocks FL
1Sc.; gloves and hosiery, FL 15s.; lin
gerie. f5 10s.; millinery. fl S.; sun
shade umbrella, and fan, fl U.s.; jacket,
fl 13s. 3d.: sundries, including omni-
bus (no cab, flowers, writing material,
stamps. books and toilet articles, FL
us; short cash. f2 AS; trip one week
to Brighton. e. Is; doctors bill, e. As;
dentist, u.s.; in bank, "a rs. Sd. That
does not look an extravagant list, does
1t? 1t would appear that this favored
duchess got a weeks leave and pay.
for the account just completes the
balance. Her sisters may envy her,
and so. too. in one respect may those,
who. unlike her, have claims upon
them. and most of them have an in
valid parent or even parents. younger
sisters and brothers or older ones sick
and out of work. Her small pittance
just helps them over. No matter II her
shoes be broken and the dampness of
the bar floor sends a chill of cold to the
very marrow: no matter IL the under
wear be thin and altogether insufficient
TO protect her from the always open
ing and closing doors and from drafts.
1t doesn't matter IL death Is knocking
at the door at home or IL gaunt hunger
is there. unrelieved pain or unnursed
sufferers, her face must wear a pleas
ant look. smile must play upon the
lip that trembles upon the verge of a
sob. and the kindly word must be
spoken to every customer. No, she
does not always have good time with
her share of the ten millions divided
among her and her sisters.
What becomes of her? Say 1t not, we
uncharitable ones. 1t is not true. The
ranks of wickedness are recruited
from some source or another, nay,
from many sources, but the barmaid
contributes only her proportion-no
more. There are many barmaids high
in the ranks of society. One wears
with honor the coronet of a duchess.
There are a score or more in the peer
age. An artist whose pictures are
sought for by connoisseurs once drew
mild and bitter in Greenwich. A
singer upon whose liquid notes en-
thralled audiences linger served the
students of Oxfords in the bar of the
Mitre. A distinguished London actress
once helped the thirsty patrons of the
Alhambra to their choice, and thou
sands and thousands of virtuous wives
and faithful mothers give testimony
to the fact that even the bar may be a
stepping stone TO the domestic hearth.
Indeed. 1t is the barmaid who has some
advantage of selection 1t wouldn't be
a venturesome thing to say that there
are not a hundred barmaids in London
who have been in one place a year
who have not had at least one offer of
marriage. some of them half a dozen.
Many of them were not made in real
earnest. though. But persifiage apart
on this serious. sacred topic of matri-
mony. the bar is a very favored place
for courtship. The bashful swain who
would not make a call upon a lady ac-
quaintance who, out of very diffidence,
could not say two words to aid a con-
versation in society, finds his way
smooth enough with the barmaid. To
her he says "A drop of Irish. cold. II
you please. Thank you. 1t looks like
rain, and you are fortunate not to be
out. Has Tom Jones been in yet? No?
He promised to meet me and we are
going to row. Your like to get out on
the river2 Why. what follyl and It
going to rain in torrents" and so he
rattles along with that sort OF twaddle
to write down. but which after all
forms the staple of conversation, really
very enjoyable TO those who conduct
Il, and her nimble hands meanwhile
ply the napkin till the glass fairly
shines again. After awhile he begins
to pity her. and presently TO dislike
that other fellows have a chance to
talk to her so much-and then-well-
the jig's up. and the duchess of the bar
becomes the happy fairy Of the fire.
side.