Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-11-14

IL thC uII y dOh
spoke up a careIess-looking girl whom
Barbara had found in the bundle de-
partment at Bondman's. Barbara
did not know just what it was that
had drawn this girl to her; but some
thing had done it, and there was some
thing very attractive about Barbara to
the girl, and she had expressed Ger
tain readiness to learn the work of
servant SO as to be competent.
THAT never troubled me any," said
the neatest girl of all. my trouble
was caused by not knowing how to do
the work satisfactorily. / found l did
not know how to plan for the meals
and cook them properly. One of my
friends, who was in the next house,
was a splendid cook and manager. 1t
was large family, but she seemed to
throw the work off easily, because she
knew how to plan it right"
That's it," Barbara spoke eagerly.
"Is it any wonder that so many women
complain at the troubles they have
with servants when SO many of them
have no experience, and yet claim as
high wages as if they had? A book
keeper would not expect to get and
retain a place in a business firm if he
did not understand the business of
keeping books; yet the housekeepers
tell me that girls are continually COM
ing into their houses, claiming to be
competent for the work when in real
ity they do not know anything about it.
1t is necessary for the girls to put
in ha nj IF ha
keepers and ask: What should have a
right to expect from a girl who came
into my house as servant?"
There's another thing l hear other
girls complain about" said one of the
older of the company. 'They say that
in most families the scale of wages
paid to servants never changes.
They say they never get any more
week after years of working than
they got when they begun. know one
girl who has been with one family five
years. The first year she had two dol
lars and seventy-five cents. The third
year they increased her wages to
three and half for fear of losing her,
and they have remained at that figure
ever since. Girls who work out do not
have the ambition to get on that young
men in a business firm have. They
cannot look forward to better condi-
ton or higher pay"
THAT isn't true in some families I
know" replied Barbara. 81 know
some people in Crawford who offer in
creased wages for increased ability or
length of time the girls stay with them.
Of course, we have to RENE mber that
most people who hire labor for the
house claim that they can afford to
pay only about so much for such work.
The woman who lives next to Mrs.
Ward complains because Mrs. Ward
gives four dollars and a half week.
The other woman says she is un-
able to pay so much; but all her girls,
when they hear what l am getting,
want as much, whether they are ca
pable of earning it or not. Then, be-
cause she cannot pay it, they become
dissatisfied and leave her. | am afraid
Mrs. Ward has made an enemy out of
neighbor on my account, by paying
me what she thinks l am worth"
"Don't you think you are entitled to
the four and a half?" asked the care
less-lOolling girl.
laughing. 81 think earn every cent of
it,"
"Then don't see what right the
other woman has to find fault with
Mrs. Ward for paying it,"
81 don't, either" said Barbara,
frankly. But perhaps the whole
question of wages belongs to the ques-
ton of ability. l don't think, though,
that we need to talk so much about
that as about the need of true
thought of what service means. There
is practically no ideal of service in the
minds of most girls to-day. To serve
is to follow Christ, who was a servant.
To serve family, to minister in the
name of God, to keep on faithfully
every day in the line of duty, working
cheerfully, heartily, washing dishes
clean, sweeping rooms without shirk-
ing, learning the best ways to prepare
food for the household-all this is part
of noble life, and it is this thought of
the dignity and nobility of service that
is lost out of the world to-day. 1t must
be recovered before we can begin to
solve the question. There must be on
the part of the mothers and housekeep-
ers and on the part of the girls who
consecrate themselves to home minis
try a real thought of the real meaning
of servants place in the economy of
life. The homes of America must learn
to sanctify and beautify the labor of
1. 81
tianity has learned the lesson of min
istry, and learned that it is as noble
to minister in the kitchen as in the
pulpit, not until then shall we begin
to have any answer worth having to
the question of service in the home"
Barbara stopped suddenly, and then
said, with a smile at the little group:
''But this is long sermon for Satur-
day night, and see how late it is!
I can't ask you to stay any longer.