Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-12-14
A MILLIONAIRE'S STAFF.
Very Frequently Numbers Nearly Fifty
Men and Women

In the good old days, when genuine
republican simplicity reigned in New
York, the wives of the most wealthy
nabobs in the city conducted their
households with the aid of five SER
wants at most; nowadays ten domestics
is the essential number in anything
like a smartly managed house, twenty
five the rule in one of the lesser town
palaces, and there are at least seven
houses on upper Fifth avenue where,
including stable and house help, the
list of employees numbers nearly fifty
| busy men and women. Just take a
look at the windows of the Cornelius
Vanderbilt, Gerry and Astor houses,
and any shrewd woman will calculate
that it would need the exclusive labors
of at least one woman to keep the
sashes as crystal clear and the lace
hangings as frostily white as they al
ways are. What, with the increasing
size of the houses, the amount of Law
ish entertaining done, the quantities
of silver steadily in use, the masses of
almost priceless bric-a-brac to be
!
plants to be tended, it is no idle
waste for a fashionable hostess to call
a number of expert domestics to her
aid.
The great ladies of New York, as it
stood half century ago, would, how
ever, wonder at some of the servants
now set down on the domestic pay roll.
For example, Mrs. Burden, Mrs.
Twombly and their friends not only
employ housekeepers, but also what is
known as a confidential maid. This
woman waits on nobody, but usually
gets $50 a month, and her business is
to keep the big, richly stocked linen
closets in order, dust the precious brio
a-brac, see that no moths get into the
invaluable rugs, prune, wash and
water the house plants and with her
own hands wash and put away all the
costly glass and china used at every
luncheon, dinner or supper party. The
amount of excitement and actual cash
her efforts save in a splendid New
York mansion more than justly her
wages. Besides, the confidential maid
in these big homes, where so much
money is lavished in decoration, SO
much plate used and jewelry worn, it is
necessary to keep door man. He is
one of the three men usually employed
in a fine house. One of the trio is
the butler, the second is his assistant
in waiting at table, rubbing plate
and valeting the gentlemen, but the
ho
door, and he is personally responsible
for the safety Of the valuables. Three
times in the night he patrols the en-
tire house, and all day he is on duty
but especially is he alert when an en-
tertainment is being given and a
crowd of guests offer opportunities for
the entrance of sneak thieves.
. Added to their actual usefulness in
the house, these male domestics are
considered excessively modish and Or
namental, and it was Mrs. Pierpont
Morgan VINO set the now prevailing
fashion of three men in attendance on
Eat home" days and made it obligatory
for the front door bell to be answered
on the instant. At Mrs. Morgan's
|
: at the bell swings back Immediately
two massive oak doors, and behold a
stately footman stands at either side OF
the entrance, the butler in the middle
bowling ever so slightly, ready to con-
; duct and announce the caller at the
drawing.room door. Among fashion
) able domestics the Pierpont Morgan
the Gerry and the John Sloan houses
are regarded as offering quite the most
desirable positions in New York
They are the mecca of the ambitious
and in event of large entertainments
in these houses it is no uncommon
sight to find handsome footmen posted
at nearly every door on the first floor
quite after the fashion in the roya
European palaces.