The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1897-11-10
GERMAN SERVANTS.
SLAVERY That AN AMERICAN CALLS
lDYtuC CONDITIONS.

urkCr IL sun man Il need not 90
into the details Of all saw in Gormm
family economy during my year abroad
TO convince you of this would not
even try to explain the way in which
the Germans have done it, but | can
/ give nm illustration or two Of the Re
suits as | saw thom.
Two first went to live in u boarding
house in Brunswick. 1t was II very
fashionable boarding house, for Amori-
cans only, and the prices would bring
| joy to the heart of even New York
city landlady There wero eight board.
ers besides my vito and myself There
We're the father and mother of the fam.
| lily and three grown daughters We
| lived i'll villa with II garden attach
ment and very imposing entrance
adorned with metal that needed polish
ing daily For the work of this whole
big house and household there was Just
one servant, who received just marks,
or 81 20, n week for her services. She
not only cooked all the meals, polished
all the doorllnohs, mado up all the
rooms and washed all the clothes, but
she cut the grass in the garden, trimmed
the grapevincs, scrubbed the fence and
weeded the walks She roso ut 1 80
every morning, moreover, and BACKED
all the boots Her hours of labor were
from 80 n. IN. TO 10 80 p. III, daily
and She had just one day off month
When we first went to the boarding
house, | noticed that after each dinner
the herr papa went through II queer
performance He would mash down
two potatoes ON n plate, cut two slices
of meat and lay them ON the potato, add
II spoonful Of each vegetable To the heap
and crown the collection with thick.
unbuttcred chunk Of black bread. ]
thought he must have high bred dog
about the place For tho first week or
two chat was my idea of the purpose for
which the dish MAS prepared Then |
learned that tho hodgepodgo was the
servant girl allowances She was per
mitted 10 clear tho plate, but not II
mouthful more WAS hers. From what |
observed afterward | concluded that
any effort ON her part to get more
would have had dire results The herr
plcctic fit The frau mamma probably
would have torn her hair and burst on
the spot the moment she heard such IA
request The consciousness of such pos.
sibilitics evidently was what deferred
the girl from asking for more All tho
time | was iii the boarding house She
worked her Is hours day with three
portions Of coffee and black bread aud
the hodgepodge have described us her
sole nourihsmcnt
''0nc day last May we made trip i'll
to the llarZ mountains We went rs a
big German family, carrying all of our
three meals our beer and our wraps
| with us-that Is tho servant girl car
ried them with us She had strapped ON
her back Il deep c0nical basket capable
of holding about two bushels The bus
ket had lcon packed with ham, sausage
bread, beer and various other resources
of the delleatosscn shop On top of the
provisions we're packed the wraps
Loaded with the Two bushels Of missed
lany the servant girl brought UP the
rear of our procession through Bruins
wick and was showed into n seatleas
fourth class car, aud the rest Of us got
into a second class car, and away we
spun to the foot OF tho Harz mountains
Now not wanting the reputation Of
n long distance liar, | shall not toll You
all the wonders performed by that scrv-
ant girl ON that picnic tramp. Suffice it
to say that she was with tho procession,
up hill and down dale, climbing rocks
and sliding down tho steep places We
began tramping up the mountains at
$50, and mt O'Clock my wife and
were so tired that we took to ponies.
but the servant girl, with her wicker
cone of dclicatcssen, didn't turn hair
When dinner came, she got only her
little plateful Of sausage ard black
bread When supper came, she got only
II bottle of beer and black bread Yet
when it was all over sho stood up in
her fourth class car while the rest of us
dOZcd on our second class seats She
walked homo uncomplaiuingly behind
u.s. and the next day not Il boot was m
blacked or Il peg unpublished III the
whole establishment she did not be
come suddenly lano or weak or get IA
call to 20 at once to her sick sister OF
receive notice Of the funeral Of an aunt
or uncle In short, none Of those things
that harrow the souls Of American scry
ant girls with regularity turned up to
disturb her industry She simply work
ed ON
And that IS what they all do--work,
put their money in the bank and get
married, Outside Of marriage couldn't
sec that anything was likely to move
the German servant girl To give notice
Every girl has her book III which are
recorded all the changes which the ordi
nary course of human life may cause
her to make The entries are made by
her successive mistrcsses, and she IS
never engaged without her having shown
her book A girl who started out in u
city with book recording semimonth-
ly changes throughout the whole OF her
working career would have no chance
| Of finding employment ON tho face Of
the whole German empire That may
be one reason for the idyllic conditions
that have described -
Santa Rosa capital of Santa Rosa
county, Cal has Il Baptist church,
which holds over 200 people. built on