The San Francisco call., 1896-02-09

to each other, and have forgotten that 1
was ever any use to them. Curious how
people forget"
l thought of my old nanny way down
South, who had nursed my father and
who, whenever there was. trouble in the
family, went to that one who was most
unhappy. We used to say of her. Aunt
Julie never knows of anything unpleasant
In the family except to those who are IN
the trouble. When she got to be very,
very old, we who had been her babies put
together and paid for house, and gave
her a little income. When it comes to
thirty or forty men and women to make.
up an allowance, nobody need give very
much, and when / went to my Southern
nome on visit it was my greatest de-
light to drink tea with Aunt Julie, for,
though she was half blind, she refused to
sit down with me-she had too much
pride for that-but her great-granddaugh
ter waited on me. There are no preserves
IKE hers nowadays, there is no such
golden corn bread. and don't believe any
body ever knew how to cook coffee as she
did.
Then when. the day of death came we
were ali there, and women and men who
hadn't seen each other for ten or twenty
years shook hands at her grave and re-
membered the years gone by. And she
was laid to sleep at the foot of her mis-
tress, and believe she hoped that when
the resurrection day came she would be
allowed to wait upon her, for that would
be heaven to her.
Where are theseS servants nowadaysP
Money cannot buy rLem. What is the
matter with the women in our kitchen
and the women who nurse our children?
They have no respect for the mistress who
cares for them, they have no love for the
children they nurse, and everything Is
matter of dollars and cents. Whose is the
fault? I cannot believe that it is entirely
with the mistress.
Not long ago dear friend OF mine hired
a maid; four weeks after she came to the
house she was struck down with typhus,
not typhoid, fever. During her long ill-
ness she was faithfully nursed by her mis-
tress; when she was able to go out in the
fresh air her mistress took her in her own
carriage; when strength had fully re-
turned to her she gave her mistress a
months notice.
The too kind woman looked at her and
said: "Why, Mary, how can you leave me
when | have cared for you through all
your sickness?'
''That is the very reason" she answered;
''lf you had been as much OF lady as l
thought you were when hired myself to
you, you wouldn't have done il"
A'less hagrant case was this: An Eng
llsh LADY was told by her own maid that
she would not come to America with her.
AS she had been very kind to her she dis
charged her, and took one who brought
good recommendations, into which she in
quired carefully. Before leaving London
she paid &5 to have her taught hairdress-
ing and E10 to make her an adept in mani
curing. All the way over the maid was
sick, and SO of no use to her mistress.
Her first month was up two days after
landing. When she was paid she said:
You will have to get somebody else; / am
going to leave this afternoon" An abso-
lutte cross-questioning brought out the
truth.
She felt sure that this lady would have
her properly trained for first-class maid,
and that it would cost her nothing to come
over. And the consequence was, as
Madame Fin de Steele saws, that lady
used to having maid wait upon her was
LETT without one in strange country.
Is gratitude an unknown quantity Just
among ourselves, you and that other
woman and me, we three women together,
l think it is. .sThank you'' is said as one
says .sGood morning" but it is usually
for nosegay, the picking up of fan or
handkerchief. 1t is not in appreciation
OF the real kindnesses of life. 1t is true
that when we do what is right and woman
ly we ought not to want THANK YOU;
but, alas we are only women, and we
like gratitude expressed in some wav.
Men. laugh at US for expecting it. The
best of them do what is right, and are sat
isfed because they have done it, but we
women, well, we are little weaker, and
when we deny ourselves some good thing
for somebody else's sake, when we give
the helping hand to somebody, or when
we aid somebody by making the rough
path of life little bit easier to tread, we
like to think that what we do is appre-
ciated. And we think so much of a little
bit of gratitude. A woman can nurse the
man she loves through long illness-she
may get no rest, she may get no change,
and the sickroom will be her abiding
place, day in and day out; but she is salts
fed, oh! SO thoroughly satisfied, if, when
that man is we'll, he puts his arm about
her and whispers some loving words that
tells of appreciation. But nine times out
of ten, men take the service of women for
granted.
a woman may take two or three of her
old frocks, brush them and freshen them,
make them over into one nice one and
hand them to that poor relation who needs
gown. And if the recipient will only
say. "I was glad to get the frock, fer L
know you put yourself to much trouble
about it, and / thank you," then the busy
days will be as nothing, and that woman's
heart will be full of happiness for many,
many days. 1t is true, suppose, that the