Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-02-15

4 had a coolie to assist him in his varied
duties. member of the mess questioned
No. / about the work of all these attend
ants, and received long explanations that
covered all that could possibly be done in
the house.
THAT is very good" said the questioner
Now, you have told us of every bit of
work that there is to do, haven't your
yes"
Then. what do you do, may l ask"
No. Is glibness was not equal to that
question. He looked blankly ahead Of him
for moment, and then walked from the
room, picture of offended dignity.
1t is common saying that every SER
want squeeZes his master, from which it
might be supposed that foreigners were
subjected to a system of organized small
robberies, paying more than they should
for everything they get. AS what every
body says must have some truth in It, there
can be no use in denying that servants
make more than their wages. But when a
foreigner tries to buy on his own account
he wishes that he had let his boy do 1t for
him. Except for articles for which prices
are fixed, the native can do better than the
foreigner in almost everything, and the
master may save patience and money by
letting the boy earn commissions II he can,
and thinking no more OF 1t. One excellent
trait in boys is that while ready to squeeze
from their masters for their own benefit,
they will not let any one else do it. Those
who trust their boys to be their cashiers
save themselves no end of small vexation
and perhaps a little money as well.
The value of boy shines conspicuously
in travel. Steamship lines recognize a boy
as part of a passengers normal effects, and
he is taken along for nothing or at charge
barely covering his food, and SO small as
to be not worth counting. With this com
panion posted as to the place to go, the
traveller need not bother himself at all
about the details of the trip. His luggage
is packed for him, put aboard ship, trans
ferred often as need be by coolies. and
when he reaches his hotel, If he is not in
haste to go to his room, he finds on arrival
there his effects laid out and arranged as
II he were at home When the boy rem
ders his account he finds 1t about half what
1t would have cost himself for the same
service.
A Versatile Servant.
Although a boy stands close by his pid-
GIN when he may. he develops a most amaz-
ing versatility when he must An agent at
Port Arthur for a commission house hired
a native, whom he dubbed The Pirate" to
do boy pidgin. The service went on with
out special incident for some time, when
the cook fell i'll, and, as no other could be
had readily, THE Pirate offered to at
tend to that work as we'll as his own, say
ing that he had been cook at French
consulate in Japan for five years and knew
how to prepare dishes In European styles.
He turned out much superior to the reg
his experiences, when it appeared that he
vas not only an expert cook, but that
while in Japan he had learned to speak
French and japanese; that at Vladivostok
and Port Arthur he had learned Russian,
and that he had picked up sufficient knowl-
edge of medicine to treat ordinary ills.
Having in his employ a cook. physician
and linguist, the agent could not resist the
temptation to put THE Pirates" ingenuity
to an occasional hard test There were
two persons in the mess and the kitchen
and table outfits provided for no more.
He had half a dozen of his friends drop in
one evening at about Z o'clock, and, sum-
moning THE Pirate" he said:
Pirate have got six piece new men
come to dinner: must have number one lay
out chopchop right away"
1.-The Pirate returned to the kitchen
with as little show OF concern as though
dinner for six new men were an everyday
occurrence in that house. Eight O'Clock
was the dinner hour. Promptly at that time
the company was summoned to the dining
room. where it's members found large ia
BILE, shining with white linen, silver and
glassware They had an eight-course din
ner, with the usual varieties of wines, top
ping off with champagne cordials and CT
gars and all agreed that they had never
tasted food more daintily or mere skillfully