Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1897-12-02
OUR HIRED HELP.
A STORY POUNDED ON FACT.

Mother must have hired help, but
the question arose, where to find girl
to suit her? The colored people she
could not tolerate, at least not the
class that went into service in our
neighborhood, which was only an
hours ride by rail from Washington,
where all the best girls went to work.
A white servant girl was an unknown
quantity in Virginia. At last we de-
cided to advertise, so we put in the
following advertisement: Wanted, a
neat, strong, white woman, to 60 into
the country to do general housework
III family Of four adults. A good
home and fair wages to the right
party"
We waited some time and then re-
ceived only one reply. After a long
family consultation, weighing all the
pros and cons, we decided to try the
applicant for week, although she
could only give references to people in
New York, being recent arrival and
a stranger in Washington. When she
came our first verdict was, "She will
never do" She looked like lady,
born and bred. She was slender and
handsome, and her tones and enuncia-
ton were those of cultured woman.
She looked as if she had never done a
days work in her life.
We had decided to follow the Vir-
ginia rule of not letting the hired girl
sit at the table with us, but we Just
could not help laying plate for her.
But she calmly said that she was not
used to eating with the family, and
she waited on the table so deftly that
our misgivings began to waver, and by
the time she had washed the tea things
and Strengthened up the kitchen, we
began to hope that in spite Of appear
ances she might be able to do some
work. But the washing! How could
such a regal creature ever do family
wash l.?
She arrived Saturday evening. On
Sunday our meals We're deliciously
cooked and mother had good rest,
but she would shake her head when
ever we asked her how she liked the
new girl. Sunday the girl asked if
she might bring down the soiled
clothes so that she could start in early
in the morning with the washing.
Then we commenced to see how brains
could serve in the place Of muscle.
The most soiled pieces she soaped and
laid in a tub of water. The table
cloths and napkins she put in water
without soaping. About 6 o'clock she
retired to her room, leavingus to Won
der at the fates that had destined such
a woman to hire out for general house
work. Mother insisted that there was
a screw loose somewhere, but as far as
the work was concerned she was sat
isfed.
Monday morning l was up betimes
to see that the new girl got started
right. When l got downstairs she was
pouring little kerosene in a wash
boiler of cold water, which she pro-
ceeded to set on the back of the stove,
and then she put in the cleanest pieces.
l asked what that was for?
"Ol it loosens the dirt, makes the
clothes winter and necessitates less
rubbing" she replied, and it must
have been so, for by 9 o'clock the
clothes were all on the line as white as
snow. She asked if the dinner might
be left entirely to her on that day, and
after hesitating a moment, mother said
"yes," and the day being very hot,
went to lie down with bewildered air,
as though giraffe, or some equally
strange animal, had taken the direc-
ton of affairs.
Never was there more suitable
dinner served on hot day than the
one we enjoyed on that Monday when
the thermometer stood at 90 degrees.
In the place of meat there was de-
licious salad made of hard boiled eggs,
each golden yolk resting on crisp
lettuce leaf in nest of the chopped
whites, and covered with delicious