New-York tribune., 1895-02-10
THE MAIDSERVANT.
WHO MAKE TIE BEST sERvANTs-THE FASH
ION IN HELP-TRIALS OF THE AGENT
BOGUS BUREAUS.

ION IN HELP-TRIALs or THE AGENT
BOGUS BUREAUS.
| Have you anything nice in maids? Anything
very nice?' asked imperious-looking woman
or the clerk in uptown employment bureau.
! The inquiry was made in the manner in
which she would have asked in drygoods shop
Tor something nice in cambrics or embroideries.
Ihen she sat down with bored and much-endur-
ing air as II anything nice in maids. at that par
| tcuar greeting, was almost too much to hope for.
! french maids are very scarce now. except those
awfu.ly old women that nobody wants says the
head OF the establishment. coming forward.
wei. ! want one that looks WE'LL stpulates
| the customer. 81 care more about that than
anything else. or can't control the way
| they dress on Sunday when they are of on a
holiday, but shall want this one to accompany
| my daughter to school. and certainly don't want
her TO wear big nat and feathers. a fringe OF
hair all round her face. and be dressed UP like
| shop girl"
| THE matter OF dress is ofttmes a stumbling
| block In the way OF adjusting servants and mis-
tresses and the matter of company is another
| great and much vexed problem" observed the
mistress OF n select agency" to one interested in
| the servant girl question. People who know what
Is what she continued, require their parormaids
10 wear black dresses and white collars and cuffs
| In the afternoon. They neat print dresses
| IN the morning. but they must have black
dresses I'm the afternoon Moreover they don't
the girls TO those black dresses on holiday oc-
casions. or have them all trlgged off with trimming.
The dress must be simple and nice and kept as n
sort OF uniform. have tried to reason with girls and
make them understand how out OF taste 1t is TO
ape the costumes OF their mstresses. but while
some take he hint AMI dress differently in the
future the .arge majority go making them
selves ridiculous. One Swede girl OF my acquaint-
ance. who had become almost Indispensable to a
family owing to her Intelligence and Industry lost
n real good place because she had this mania for
copying the garments OF the ladies OF the house.
Some member OF the household would get
dress and almost before she had worn 1t twice.
the girl had initiated II In cheaper material adopt
Ing the same co.ors and style.
There is sIways a great contention about COM
pany also" added this experienced authority I'm
very few antilles in New-York now are the
servants permitted 10 have their men friends visit
them. great many very excellent cooks and
chambormails and second girls refuse to take
place under such restrictions They hold out as
long tis they can. persstlng that they must see
their friends. and then when they find that they
cannot gct placed in firstclass private houses
until they give up on this point. they make a
virtue Of necessity. 1t used to be a general custom
to allow the help to have company. but the prac
tice was so much abused TALL sorts Of orgies beer
drinking and car1playing going on below stairs
which premises the mistress could not possibly
supervise all the timeJ that 1t killed itself. Any
| I
prevail In n household where there are five or six
girls in the kitchen and each one receiving com
pany
What New-York needs IA good training school
for servants. There IS such project on foot
among certain philanthropical organizations, and
It Is to be hoped that 1t will ma,erialize There
have been various training schools OF the kind
started from time to time. but they were short
lived and OF little benefit For thing they
took only very young girls OF from fourteen to
sixteen years old. and after those gir.s had had
their four 1--WE six months training. desirable
positions could not be found for them simply be-
caus" no housckccpcr In her senses would want a
girl of that age Girls are. naturally. too nghty
and unstable when they young AS regards
the much-neeIcd Improvement IN cooking a
servants tralning-school would be OF nestimabic
. benefit They are. many OF them. perfectly ignor-
ant concerning the principles OF the art. and cook
ng schools a, s. - lesson. the learners furnishing
tAelr own materials. not likely TO advance the
good cause
Another great Improvement In the servant
problem would be 10 do away with the time
established -ustom OF hiring a servant on a weeks
trial so servant ought to be Judged on so short
an acquaintance The time should be extended
20 tWo weeks. Say cook has been living in A
family whose members liked their meats entrees.
saucef. gra@cs and the Ike prepared In certain
way She takcs new place without tho slightest
knoa edge of how her new patrons Ike things
prepares the dishes in the accustomed way. ana
meets Attn the anathemas % the household. Again
the range she may have been accustomed To IL "A
high French range. and she finds herself called
upon TO use "A low - B range. Ii would take
much more brains and much more tact than the
average cook possesses 20 solve successfully such
Problems IN few days. Then az regards baking
bread The making and baking OF good wholesome
light bread IN a lost art almost. many OF the so
called nrsi-cass cooks who satisfactorily I'LL re-
sponslblc places being unable 10 concoct decent
LOAF because so many families buy every bit OF
bread they usc."
As regards the colored race. this experienced
observer pronounces them to be born cooks. ana
says that they season better and altogether seem
more AT home with the gridiron and the stew pot
than any other people. Bat nobody wants colored
servants In Ncw-York. that Is. nobody but board
Ing house restaurant and hotel keepers. There Is
no demand FOR colorcd female help In private
houses They are too careless and unreliable. ana
they AT least will give In to the law forbdding
company. The darky Is naturally of a social DIS
| position. and does not flourish when ostracized
| from his kind.
People may try Swedcs. they may try Germans.
| English darkes anything but when they want
real good workers they must fall back on the irsh
| the honest, hard-working. church-going lrish Is
| the generally expressed opinion at the uptown
| bureaus But let the quesioner visit an East side
intelligence Office and al the testimony IL in favor
| OF the Germans Sober. steady, reliable girls,
| strong and sound. IL the character they bear
and their attention Is directed to the fact that there
| is always 'crta.n simplicity about the dress ana
| department OF the German girl
There Is constant demand for Engish ser
wants and as regards male help there Is more
| call for competent English SECOND men than
| the bureaus supply This Is an fngish
| cook" says the mistress OF agency introducing
| a modcst-looking young woman to two women VINO
| are in need OF that most Indispensable factor In
oil rb.v INT Xipyy
| her fitness and the wages she VIII want, ana
| pretty soon It Is made manifest that the English
cook will not take the place at t' a month because
| she will not have a kitchenmaid. I'm used to a
kltchenmaid." she announces "and can't do with
| out one. Six In the kitchen and four upstairs IS
mann. cnnr fnr uif helm ="