Smyrna times., 1897-11-24
GERMAN SERVANTS.
SLAVERY THAT AN AMERICAN CALLS
IDYLLIC CONDITIONS.


Eighteen Hours a Day For SI.25 a
Week-Making Pack Horse of a Girl.
Is This Story OF Cruelty True?
'They have solved the servant girl
problem in Germany" said New
Yorker to a Sun man. "I need not 90
into the details of all I saw in German
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 l can
give an illustration or two Of the re-
suits as 1 saw them.
we first went to live in boarding
house in Brunswick It was a very
fashionable boarding house, for Ameri-
cans only, and tho prices would bring
joy to the heart Of even New York
city landlady. There were eight board
ers besides my wife and myself. There
were the father and mother of the fam
lily and three grown daughters. We
lived i'll villa with a garden attach
ment and a 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 5 marks,
or $1.25, a week for her services. She
not only cooked all the meals, polished
all the doorknobs, made up all the
rooms and washed all the clothes, but
she cut the grass in the garden, trimmed
the grapevines, scrubbed the fence and
weeded the walks She rose at 4: 80
every morning, moreover, and blacked
all the boots. Her hours of labor were
from 1870 a. IN. to 80 D. IN. 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 a queer
performance. He would mash down
two potatoes on plate, cut two slices
OF meat and lay them on the potato, add
spoonful Of each vegetable to the heap
and crown the collection with a thick,
unbuttored chunk Of black bread l
thought he must have high bred dog
about the place For the first week or
two that was my idea Of the purpose for
which the. dish was prepared Then l
learned that the hodgepodge was the
servant girls allowance. She was per
mitted to clear the plate, but not a
mouthful more was hers. From what
observed afterward 1 concluded that
any effort on her part to get more
would have had dire results. The herr
papa certainly would have had an apo
plectic tit. The frau mamma probably
would have torn her hair and burst ON |
the spot the moment she heard such a
request. The consciousness Of such pos
slbilities evidently was what deferred !
the girl from asking for more All the |
time | was in the boarding house she |
worked her IS hours day with three
portions Of coffee and black bread and
the hodgepodge L have described as her |
sole nourihsment
Zone day last May we made trip in |
to the Harz mountains. We went as a |
big German family, carrying all of our
three meals, our beer and our wraps [
with us-that is, the servant girl car
ried them with US. She had strapped on
her back deep conical basket capable |
Of holding about two bushels. The bas- /
ket had been packed with ham, sausage,
bread, beer and various other resources
OF the delicatessen shop. On top of the
provisions were packed the wraps |
Loaded with the two bushels of miscel- |
Iany, the servant girl brought up the |
rear Of our procession through Bruins
wick and was showed into a seatless
fourth class car, and the rest of us got
into a second class car, and away we
spun to the foot of the Harz mountains.
''Now, not wanting the reputation of
long distance liar, l shall not tell vou
all the wonders performed by that se1v-
ant girl on that picnic tramp. Suffice it
to say that she was with the procession,
up hill and down dale, climbing rocks
and sliding down the steep places. We
began tramping up the mountains at
S:3O, and at IL O'Clock my wife and
were so tired that we took to ponies.
but the servant girl, with her wicker
cone of delicatessen, didn't turn hair.
When dinner came, she got only her
little plateful of sausage and black
bread. When supper came, she got only
a bottle Of beer and black bread. Yet
when it was all over she stood up in
her fourth class car while the rest of US
dOzed on our second class seats. She
walked homo uncomplainingly behind
us, and the next day not boot was un-
blacked or a peg unpublished in the
whole establishment. She did not be-
come suddenly lame or weak or get a
call to go at once to her sick sister or
receive notice of the funeral of an aunt
or uncle In short, none of those things
that harrow the souls of American serv-
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 III the bank and get
Outside of marriage 1 couldn't
see that anything was likely to move
the German servant girl to give notice.
Every girl has her book in 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 mistresses and she is
never engaged without her having shown
her book. A girl who started out in a
city with book recording semimonth-
ly changes throughout the whole of her
career would have no chance
Of finding employment ON the face of
the whole German empire That may
be one reason for the idyllic conditions
that have described "