The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-10-14
TIE Land OF The BARMAID6

IT, Ii lA1IH H1O
no education and have no capital but
| their good looks and jolly disposition, nat
urally turn to the bar. Sometimes they
i are recommended by a friend already in
the business; sometimes they know some
man who keeps pub or hotel. and
Is willing to give them chance. Failing
any Of these opportunities, they advertise,
the usual form being something after this.
fashion:
Young girl would like position in hotel
\ to learn the business; willing to go for
a time for nothing
| There Is no necessity to, say that IT IS.
in the bar that she wants employment.
Any person reading that advertisement
! knows that. If she is good looking and
bright, she will have no difficulty in get
ting a chance to try her hand at the beer
| engines, but there may be good deal
of luck in the kind Of place in which she
| gets a start. After a talk with the ,ro-
| DrietOr who tells her what her duties will
be and what he is willing to pay her il
she turns out we'll, she is probably told to
| be on hand at certain time and take her
first lesson, and after quite little fix
| ing up and many careful finishing touches
| to her toilet she finds herself for the
/. first time behind the bar of public
! house. .s9s
A student of human nature could find q
| large supply of material in analysing :.
girls emotions during the first day be-
| hind a bar 1t is always better If she.
can make her first attempt away from
| home, SO that the customers will be
strange to her. Even then she Feels that
every one is looking at her, and she can
not help knowing that the men are MAX
ing remarks to one another about her,
some of which she really hears enough of
to make her ready to sink through the
floor with shame. If she begins in her
own town she is sometimes shocked to.
see men whom she has known and re-
spected reveal the lowest side of their
natures during their visits to the public.
house, and she can hardly believe the
stories the other girls tell about men,
whom she thought were model husbands.
During the first day or two she makes:
no attempt to wait on customers, but
simply watches the other girls and their
manner toward patrons of the house and
learns. to manage the beer engines.
These beer engines are set of lever
handles, the pull being connected with
the barrel in the cellar. The new girl is
carefully instructed as to the different
pulls; which is for "bitter,'' which for:
porter, etc. There is quite knack in
knowing how long and how hard 20 pull.
and also in judging how much froth a
customer will stand.
Having learned the engines, the next
thing is to learn how much to draw
according to what is asked for and the
various mixtures and their proper propory
tons. If q customer asks for a glass;
that means two penn'orth of bitter ale
If he asks for beer, he does not mean
lager, but porter. If he asks for 'alf and
'alf he wants half bitter and half stout
If wines are asked for they are poured
out by the barmaid in glass which holds
the exact quantity when filled to the
brim. Silver measures are used for such
drinks as whisky, the amount asked for,
usually three penn'orth, being poured
from the measure into a small tumbler
instead OF putting the bottle on the bar
and allowing the customer to help him
Ill. ~ ln Alnerica There II no such.
] thing 40 giving two iD-cenN drinks Tor -
quarter, as here, ana drinks are the SANS
size In all bars
It takes a girl about q week to learr
the prices of the various drinks and the
manner Of working the beer engines. and
it is always part of her duties to keep the
bar clean and to see that the stock OF
liquors is full. The moment she finds the
supply falling in one of the engines she.
calls the cellarman. George, bitters off, 81
and he Immediately puts on a new bar
rel. After a girl has been about a week
behind the bar she is usually ready te
wait on customers after fashion, but H.,
takes a smart girl at least six months te
learn the busiaess-that is, the tricks or
the trade
While girl is learning, and before she
gets to waiting on customers, she wiz
probably see enough to convince her tha,:
the mere selling of the drinks is nos
everything; and that the barmaid's atti-
tUGe toward the rnen who patrOnize the
pace is matter requiring careful study.
The other Eir;s viii probably inform hel
as to what she may expect in the way
Of conversation from the men and they
will advise her to look pleasant and TURF
!, T. 4
| who have not been properly warned OF
the difference between a man at home
and in front of a bar have been known
| to bring their careers as barmaids to q
| sudden end by slapping some customers
| face and then rushing off to the Droprie-
+ tor in tears. Barmaids must be made Ct
| sterner stuff than that. The great secret
Of success is to judge her customers, ane
| the principal thing Is to study the regular
ones and to learn their funny little ways
Almost all the regulars have some par
ticular drink, such as gin and bitters ana
the barmaid must know just how much
they like and how to mix it. Having been
| once told she should never require a sec.
ond lesson from the same customer Some
men are offended il they are asked WE;t
it will be to-day, while Others like to he
| waited on as If they had never been there
before Some have certain glasses they
| fancy and some like the barmaid to make
| pretense of helping them and thei,s
friends out Of a certain private bottle.
1t is quite an art Ito know how mu-fr
I to talk to the various men that come In
and what to say. Some men the barmaid
must not speak to unless they speak tc
| her, no matter how long they have knuw:,
| hel or how familiar they were on their:
last visit. Some must be treated very
differently under different conditions. A.
nan will come In by himself and be very
jolly and familiar ii he finds the barmatH
| alone in a hotel bar, and will perhaps:
even try to chuck her under the chin.
The. same afternoon he will come in with
a. friend and will act as If he had never
| seen her before and never spoke TO such
a creature in his life. Some men expect
| girl to talk to them as II they were hex
brothers. while few, fortunately very
few, speak to barmaids as II they were nc
| better than they should be.
An experienced girl can tell from q
| mans appearance about what he will ex-
pect or what he will stand in the way OF
familiarity. She takes no notice Of his
dress, because that Is no guide in Eng
land, where the smali-salaried clerks i'm
| the city dress as well as the biggest
| 'toffs." Most of the men are judged en-
tirely from their conversation. When a.
man comes IN for drink, especially if
he Is alone, he feels himself obliged to-
| make some remark to the barmaid, unless
| she has other customers on hand. The
conversation usually starts by referring
tn some subject proper to the occasion
! ssls her IL she backed the win-sr- or
/ .sTl. e .I..-g OF that kind. From It's tEcs
| conversation a mist invariably an
rapidly drifts :nta fattering res.arss
personal to the barmaid herself. When
man begins to carry this kind Of thing