The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1898-05-16
THE ENGLISH BARNARD.

Tmkaa Up the Cndgsln In Her b~hnAh
The British BARNARD is much
misunderstood. said recently an
American who has spent year In
England, and. according 10 h's own
story. is. or ought 10 be. an author
ity on the subject. Just as Eng
lishmen, after a few weeks stay in
this country. write u book full of er-
rors about America = most cherished
institutions, 80 American summer
visitors to England bring home i'm
pressions about what is apparently
a bulwark Of the British throne that
are equally false. If not equally ma
liciOus. The American visitor ap-
parently concludes that "A woman
must DO no better than che ought TO
DO If she is a barmaid. His reason
ing. presumably. is based ON what
he has seen OF heard of the pretty
waiter girls in the concert saloons
which fiOurished here a score or
more years ago. No woman who
works in q drinking place frequent
ed by men can be respectable. in his
opinion. His opinion - strengthen
ed by the fact that in this country
respectable women do not 20 To sa-
looms
Now. an English or Irish or
Scotch girl becomes a BARNARD just
as girls hero become shopwomcn.
She prefers il 20 being a servant, for
the pay, although small, is more,
and, while the hours are even Ion
ger, she Is treer and. at any rate,
sees more Of what she considers life
There is no more reason for oonsid-
ering barmaids disreputable, as n
rule, than for 80 considering shop
girls. The presence of mon, which
is apparently basis for that opin-
ion, is a reason for the opposite. A
barmaid often regards every Gus
toner who Is not too much above or
below her socially as a possible hus-
band, and the prospect of matrimony
keeps her we'll behaved. She has
thus not only a reason for choosing
her career which the shopgirl lacks.
but also an additional reason for re-
naming virtuous.
"Of course there are disreputable
barmaids just as there are disrepu-
table shopgirls, just as there are dis
reputable countesses. am not &C
quainted with countessee or with
shopgirls, but / have known no end
of barmaids. and not one whom
cultivated was evidently otherwise
than respectable. The few OF whom
had my doubts did not cultivate.
With one barmaid went once to
church, with another I correspond
cd. She wrote fashionable hand,
and her letters were as correctly
spelled as Vassar girls.
Americans, reasoning from the
language used in a saloon here, ar
que that a barmaid couldn't live in
such environment and remain a
good woman. Her sense of modesty
would become so blunted that q
moral downfall would follow. They
forget that the presence of the bar
maid chastens the conversation OF
the customers of an English public
house. I've heard cabman reproved
by a barroom companion with, "A
lidy ears wot you say. for using the
adjective bloody a word which
with us contains more association
with the SPaniards in Cuba than
with improperly or profanity.
The English objection to bar
maids is a temperance one. They
say that the presence Of barmaids
encourages drinking and that men
drink more than they otherwise
would or should in order TO enjoy
the society Of the fair divinities OF
public houses They may be right.
] am not IN n position to meet this
argument. New York Sun.