St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-04-16
THE ENGLISH BARNARD.
AUerican who Has Lived In Englan
Takes Up CudEels In Her Behalf.

Uerican who Has Lived In En9land
Takes Up Cudxels In Her Behalf.
THE British barmaid is much mis-
understood" said recently an American
who has spent q year in England, and
according to his own story, is, or ought
to be, an authority on the subject.
"Just as Englishmen. after few weeks
stay in this country, write book full
of errors about Americas most cher
ished institutions, SO American sum
mer visitors to England bring home i'm
pressions about what is apparently q
bnlwark of the British throne that are
equally false, if not equally malicious.
The American visitor apparently con-
cluies that a woman must be no bet
ter than she ought to be if she is .
barmaid. His reasoning, presumably,
is based on what he has seen or heard
of the pretty waiter girls in the con-
cert saloons which flourished here a
score or mo- years ago. No woman
who works in a drlfking place fire.
quented by men can be respectable, in
his opinion. His opinion is str~,gth-
ened by the fact that in this country re
spectacle women do not go to saloons.
''Now an English, or Irish, or Scotch
girl becomes barmaid just as girls be-
come shop-women. She prefers it to
being servant, for the pay, although
small, is more, and, while the hours are
even longer, she Is freer and, Mt any
rate, sees more of what she considers
70 sr for
considering barmaids uisreputable as
a rule than for SO considering shop
girls The presence of men, which is
apparently basis for that opinion, is q
reason for the opposite. A barmaid
often regards every customer who is
not too much above or below her social
ly rs possible husband. and the pros
pect of matrimony keeps her well be-
haved. She has thus not only a reason
for choosing her career which the shop
girl lacks, but also an additional reason
for remaining virtuous.
'Of course there are disreputable
barmaids just as there are disrepntable
shopgirls, just as there are disreputable
countesses. / am not acquainted with
countesses or with shopgirls, but I have
known no end of barmaids, and not one
whom cultivated was evidently other
wise than respectable. The few OF
whom l had my doubts did not culti-
vate. With one barmaid went once tc
church, with another corresponded.
She wrote a fashionable hand. and her
letters were as correctly spelled as
Vassar girls.
Americans, reasoning from the Ian.
guage used in saloon here, argue that
n barmaid couldn't live in such en-
vironment and remain good woman.
Her sense of modesty would become sc
blunted that a moral downfall would
follow. They forget that the presence
of the barmaid chastens the conversa-
tion of the customers of an English
public house. I've heard q cabman re
proved by barroom companion with.
a Idly cars YQt yon say for using the
adjective bloody word which with
us contains more association with the
Spaniards in Cuba than with impro-
rriety or profanity.
"Thc English objection to barmaids
is temperance one. They say that the
presence of barInaids encourages drink
ing, and that men drink more than
they otherwise would, or should, in or
der to enjoy the society of the fair di-
whites of public houses. They may be
right. / am not in a position to meet |
this argument."-N " Sun