The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-05-21
The Golden Mean Between
Mistress and
Maid.

The domestic servants of Minneapolis
have formed a club with view to rails
ing the standard of domestic service
They discuss methods of work, inter-
change recipes, collect information as
to labor saving devices, etc. THE first
practical outcome of the movement, "
says an exchange, was resolution
censuring the unframed girls who per-
sistently try to prejudice the trained
servants against their employers, and
persuade them to relax their efforts to
do their work we'll.
This is certainly an excellent move,
which we trust will spread to other
cities. 1t is one of the miseries of our
peculiar social situation in this coun-
try that a girl cannot choose one of the
most desirable and lucrative of feni7
nine pursuits without feeling that she
thereby makes a personal sacrHeef
comments the Home Journal EDITORIAL
ly. The same girl who would look
down on the idea of assisting in an ele-
giant home. with eonsiderate and liberal
employers will stand in a crowded store
six days out of the week, and up to a
late hour Saturday night, forIess than
she would receive in any wealthy or
even comfortably situated family, If
board and lodging be taken into ac-
count The domestic has her own
hours-in many instances practice lly
the whole of Sunday-and if she makes
herself a real fixture in the family, she
has a more comfortable support and
far less attendant anxiety than many
trained women stenographers or cash
iers. The insuperable objection, of
course, is the name of servant-as if
any one who engages with another for
pay, giving them their time, is not
servant.
In these days of labor-saving appli-
ances, the position of a young woman
who helps in the household is an envi-
able one In her own domain the do
nestle" may be, and often is, a perfect
autocrat. Her position is as secure as
she chooses to make it. OF course, I'M
like those who work in factory, store
or at the printers case, she is deprived
of that companionship which to many
young women is Indispensable.
With them it is not how much they
can make or how kindly and consider
ately they are treated by their en-
ployers, but rather how much gossip
they can hear and how much noise and
rush they can plunge into.
For such, the life of the most favored
domestic is not suitable, even if at the
end of it there is a bank account, to
say nothing of liberal wedding souve-
Mrs from the family. These girls of
Minneapolis evidently understand and
appreciate these things. They realize
that there is no real slavery in the SER
vice of a respectable and eonsiderate
family a9
They realize also that people of sub
stance have been driven to toll them
selves at sweeping, busting and even
cooking, not because they were not
abundantly able and willing to en-
ploy competent domestic help, but be-
cause they were weary of trying to
solve the problem how to get things
done properly. These girls are not
ashamed of their business; and he or
she who is not ashamed of his or her
work will assuredly help to elevate it,
Some girls dislike the name of bonnie
and the white cap, however jaunty, not
because they dislike children, but be-
cause the name and the cap appear a
badge of servitude. But something ap-
preaching to a uniform has to be worn
by a very large number of human be-
ings daily. 1t would not be admissi-
BILE, of course, for the Sunday service
or for a fashionable call; but neither is
the bonnie or other domestic a servant
in any sense Of the word when the re-
spite day comes.
There Is no natural antagonism be-
tween scapital and labor--fOr capital
gives labor a chance TO obtain Its own
rewards. Yet there are girls well fitted
for success in household management
who go to their work brlstIings with sus4
picion, vanity, and sensitiveness, ready
to construe everything into a slight
and keep the household in a cons ant
turmoil, just as there are mistrssses
whose niggardliness, tyranny, and lack
of personal consideration make them
exceedingly hard to live with.
We feel sure, however, that the girls
who organized this domestics club in
Minneapolis are not of the former cat
egory; and we feel equally sure that
the average employer of such help Will
not be classable with the latter. Az in
stancing how high are the standards of
the club under consideration 1t is said
that the club is differed ard maraged
by the servants themselves, and only
those who hold diplomas from a tech
meal school are admitted to member
ship"
The subject of household help has
been more or less exhaustively dis
cussed in the magazines from time to
time, and we suppose most Intelligent
serving girls have read of, or aegrd
discussed, that which, in the view of
employers, is the main difficulty III the
way Of harmony between the mistress
Of the household and her domestic as
sistant.
Sometimes the mistress Is so afraid
of disoouraging or angering the don1es-
tic that she leaves affairs practically
in the domestic's hands, which how
ever, is not exactly the thing, since i
involves more or less humiliation; for
every wife who really cares for her
household feels a pride and satisfaction
in personally ordering its movements.
The golden mean in the matter is
where mistress and domestic can work
in harmony, avoiding friction and ir-
ritatfon. We believe that the general
problem of domestic service will be
brought much nearer a satisfactory 81
luton in coming years; and, among the
Observation-Disclosures for effecting this,
clubs of the Minneapolis pattern may
well be prominent.