The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-19
TIE DOMESTIC PROBLEM.
An Intelligence Office Keeper Says
Some Interesting Things.

OOtHS interesting iilHSS'
"The best of the servant 6irls get
married; that's the trouble, remarked
the intelligence office keeper.
The scarcity of cooks chambermaids
and women of all work was the subject
under discussion, and the intelligence
office keeper had a fund of plausible
theories as to the cause. Ever since
summer began to wane and the city
folk came back to town, dearth Of
servant girls has been alarmtngly NO
ticeable. Now the social season is az
preaching, and the dearth continues.
The servant girl problem has appeared
anew, and this time, apparently, 1t is
unaccompanied by a ready solution.
Explanations are not so rare.
You See" said the intelligence Office
keeper, its harder for foreign girl
to get into this country nowadays than
it used 10 be. If she hasn't enough
money to support her for at least
short time, the people on Ellis Island
won't let her land, and she is shipped
back home as pauper Particularly is.
this seen in the case of girls FROM Nor
way, Sweden and Denmark. 1t costs
more to come from the north tran II
does from Ireland, and as rule the Swe-.
dish girls haven't as many friends ahead
of them in America as the Irish imnt-
grants and their money is not nearly
so plentiful. I'm a Swede myself, and
I've been in this business for over 20
wears. The decrease in the number dur
ing that time is something for servant
seekers to ponder over"
That is the explanation of man WHO
has secured places for servant girls for
the greater part Of his life. Although
l. Is11Y,a I,s1r hi
gress of nations, there are great many
more places around town than there
are girls to fill them, and the disparity
is not confined to any particular section
| Of Worcester, either. Realizing that
| they have the housekeepers where they
want them, the servant girls are asking
| bigger wages, and getting them, too,
but still for all that the demand fer fe-
male help far exceeds the supply.
| The story of the woman who fitted
out nicely furnished guests room for
her servants use, may suggest a solu-
| ton for the whole servant problem.
! 1t has been suggested that perhaps
! the manner in which servants are
| treated is radically wrong. Every one
who keeps servant, or tries to do So
takes it for granted that the hired girl s
quarters are on the top floor back hall
room; that her equipment there, by
right of long practice, shall consist in
Variably of a narrow bedstead, made
resplendent by an ancient crazy quilt,
a cane-seated chair, a washstand and
bunch of hooks. When the girl gets
in, there isn't much room left for her
trunk. This, according to advanced
authority is a system which should
be abolished.
'It is my belief remarked a man
whose wife had been searching for ser
want girls since September, that big
| change is coming. The servants have
not been treated fairly. They are COM
PEELED to wait on the table and tend the
door. They are obliged to eat alone
and the operation is calling to any
| high spirited girl. Beside, frequently,
some one interrupts them in the pro-
| cess. They are forced to get up early
and do all manner of things which must
| be extremely revolving to their natures.
1t is more than flesh and blood can
stand, and for one don't wonder that
the girls rebel
| Another phase of the servant girl
question, that of her probably becom-
too, is now forcing itself to the front.
There are unmistakable signs that man
will soon supplant woman in the per-
Torrance Of homework. Steam is
giving way to electricity, horses are
surrendering their birthrights to auto
mobiles, why should not the servant
girl give place to the servant man?
Already, some women have applied to
intelligence offices not only for men
| cooks, but for men Of all work, wash
linen, scrubmen and men in waiting as
well. The drift of affairs in this di
rection, it is pointed out, is not at all
unlikely nor unnatural. With women
entering the learned professions, law,
medicine and long distance riding, it is
but a sequence Of events if men retail
late by invading the profession hither
to controlled absolutely by women.
There is one consolation for the SER
vant-seelker, however. A man in wait
ing won't wear his employers bonnet.