The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-06-01

QUESTION
Light on An important
Subject.
SOLUTION Is OFFERED
Res. w. K. Abill Thinks Christian
Housewives Have the Remedy
in Their Own Hands

The servant problem, about which
the advertiser published an editorial
Iues' lay morning; is not solved yet. But
its solution is engaging the attention OF
many deep thinkers who have suffered
by the present lack of system, and who
earnt 'stly seek lettering or conditions.
The Advertiser will publish letters on
the subject, and believes that the more
Il is aired the better for all household
ers. The following are communica-
tons received yesterday:
Christianity the Solution.
Ed tor Advertiser: 1t seems tie me to
be duty to the whole comnun ~ am.
TO you, TO respond to your call for opin-
IONS on the servant problem. But how
can one do so without airing persona,
griev ances in public? Even should ali do
So tile symposium would become a min
istry of comfort; for many housekeepers
Would be made to feel that, after ali.
they are not the worst persons in the
Isands, and that their kitchens are not
he2doed.
The facts stated by the Advertiser are
too wei known to need confirmation
',lnfol native letters should deal with
.he CO fuses and the cure. | shall write
particularly of the japanese, because
they ere best known to me
The Japanese is here to ACQUIRE. money
and at the same time to gain smatter
ing knowledge of foreign ways of doing
things, that he may one day take DO n
back to his country. He thinks well of
ms ability to do anything he under
takes; and when he has produced an i'm
ltation which appears to be a good one.
be really thinks better of it than we do
he is naturally surprised and grieved at
CAR engracious way of rejecting his i'm
nations as unsatisfactory. " hat we
think of as his constituencies readiness
10 undertake any task whatever without
practical knowledge of it, Is in reaIlty
only a readiness to enter upon q good
opErort unity when he bias found it
FOR example, he had never seen a bis
cuit before entering your service and
your kitchen. He does not know how il
ought 10 be served how it ought to
taste. 1t looks to him as well after
1t has boen set aside under a sole6 dish
cloth for an hour, as il booked when TAX
en- from the oven. He has been limo
cent of butter from his forefathers He
is naturally amazed and annoyed when
you require him 10 dump his product in
10 the swill.
AS to doing right, his ideas differ from
ours. If he is not Christian, or If he
has not been to some extent informed by
Christian teaching, he has no idea of the
fUndamePtal principles of right and
wrong. He promises you to remain with
you for month when he knows he has
plans which will take him elsewhere
next week. partly because it is agreeable
to you TO have him so promise and part
ly because you might not employ him
for the shorter time. He tells you that
he is obliged to leave you on account of
the severe Illness of a relative or dear
friend. partly because he knows you will
instantly excuse him and partly because
he would rather depart with your sym
pathy than with your ill-will. Neither in
coming nor in going thus does he sin
against his ideas of right and wrong
The housekeeper who cares little or
nothing about Christianity is just as
much annoyed by the servants disregard
of moral principles as is anybody else |
but she may as well understand at once !
that Christian teaching. impaired in a |
Christiike, loving spirit of forbearance, is !
the only remedy for this evil. The mis- |
sion room is even more important than |
the cooking school; but the best mission |
room is the kitchen or dining room of the |
Christian housewife.
| must not write too lenathily, but i |
VIII not close without saying that I ap- |
prove or your suggestion about certifi |
Gates from former employers as indis- |
pensable TO new employments. But l do |
not think that license is a remedy for the !
evils that afflict us in this community.
w. K. AZBTLL.