Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1899-05-04
THE ENGLISH BARNARD.

American Who f5ss Lived In Eng. {.
/ Takes Up the CudgsIs In Her Bel .
1.-THE British barmaid is NJ, i
misunderstood" said recently al
American who has spent year il
England, and, according to his Own
story, is, or ought to be, an author
ity on the subject. Just as Eng
I lishmen, after a few weeks stay in
this country, write a book full of er-
rors about America s most cherished
institutions, so American summer
visitors to England bring home i'm
pressions about what is apparently
a bulwark of the British throne that
are equally false, if not equally ma
licious. The American visitor ap-
parently concludes that a woman
must be no better than she ought TO
be if she is barmaid. His reason
ing, presumably, is based on what
he has seen or heard of the pretty
waiter girls in the concert saloons
which fiOurished here a score or
more years ago. No woman who
works in a drinking place frequent
ed by men can be respectable, in his
opinion. His opinion is strengthen
ed by the fact that in this country
respectable women do not go to sa
looms.
Now, an English or Irish or
Scotch girl becomes a barmaid Just
as girls here become shopwomen.
She prefers it to being a servant, for
the pay, although small, is more,
and, while the hours are even Ion
ger, she is freer and, at any rate,
sees more of what she considers life
There is no more reason for consid-
ering barmaida disreputable, as a
rule, than for so considering shop
girls. The presence of men, which
is apparently basis for that opin-
ion, is reason for the opposite. A
barmald often regards every Gus
toner who is not too much above or
below her socially as a possible hus.
band, and the prospect of matrimony
keeps her well behaved. She has
thus not only a reason for choosing
her career which the shopgirl lacks,
but also an additional reason for re-
naming virtuous.
"Of course there are disreputable
barmaids just as there are disrepU-
table shOpgirls, just as there are dis
reputable cOuntesses. am not &C
quainted with countesses or with
shops irls, but have known no erd
of barmaids, and not one whom l
cultivated was evidently otherwise
than respectable. The few of whom
l had my doubts did not cultivate.
With one barmaid 1 went once to
q urch, with another J correspond
ed. She wrote a fashionable hand,
and her letters were as correctly
spelled as a Yassar girls.
Americans, reasoning from the
language used in a saloon here, ar
que that a barmaid couldn't live in
such environment and remain a
good woman. Her sense of mOdesty
would become so blunted that a
moral downfall would follow. They
forget that the presence of the bar
maid chastens the conversation of
the customers Of an English public
house. I've heard a cabman reproved
by baTrOOm companion with, a
Idly ears wot you say, for using the
adjective bloody a word which
with Us contains more association
With the Spaniards in Cuba than
with improperly or profanity.
The English objection to bar
maids is a temperance one. They
say that the presence of barmaids
encourages drinking and that men
rink more than they otherwise
.gculd or should in order to enjoy
ne society of the fair divinities of
public houses. They may be right.
am not IN position to meet this
lrgument. New York Sun.