The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-07

ployer had been more or less acquainted,
perhaps for generations. In the great
country houses of England the maids are
oven now selected from girls who have
grown up in tho village. and whose char
acter the housekeeper, if not the mistress,
knows quite well. In English families of
tho better class the children of the serv-
ants are brought up to expect places in
the families for whom their fathers and
| mothers worked. or at least, to find serv-
ice with employers to whom they are
known. In this country. and among mid
dle-class English people, on the contrary.
the maid of all work, the cook. or the
nurse is often a woman of whom nobody
in the house knows anything beyond
more or less reliable reference from an
other employer.
The failngs of a housemaid or cook do
not affect the family very much unless
they affect the actual work done by the
woman. But in the case of a nurse IL
is different. Children quickly absorb les
sons unconsciously taught them by those
with whom they are associated and they
are influenced in hundred small and
subtle ways by contact with a vicious,
ignorant, or superstitious person. Yet
hundreds of women, intent only on rid
ding themselves of the constant care of
their children, which interferes with
other pleasures or duties, will engage as
nursemaid a woman of whom they know
absolutely nothing, and then they are
l.
thing that she should not.
What is 10 be done about this state of
things? 1t is impossible to return to the
old custom of having no servants who are
not well known to the family, for the
shifting population of today makes it i'm
practicable to keep the same friends and
acquaintance for a lifetime. 1t is equally
impossible to be absolutely certain that
any applicant is fit for the care of young
children, or can be trusted with the fam
lily silver. The remedy seems to be, in
America, to do with domestic service as
we have done with other kinds of labor
associate the workers in some way with
a person, or bureau, of known respon-
sibility. Some people have advocated
neighborhood nurseries, in which young
children could spend some hours at least
OF each day in a comfortable creche, I'M
der the care of competent and careful at
tendants. This would be a sort of ex
tension Of the kindergarten system. 9th
ers believe that a modified intelligence
Office might solve the problem, by fur
nishing women for all kinds of household
work, and making itself surety for their
competence and character, as a dry goods
store becomes responsible for the eff
cheney, politeness. and honesty of its en-
ployes. The success of the department
store makes it seem possible that such
an intelligence Office might succeed, that
at least it might take from the house
keeper of moderate means SO much of the
burden OF household service that she
would be able to perform the remainder
herself with ease. Many mothers would
prefer to assume the care of their chill
dren if they could find some one COM
petent to do all the other work as it
ought to be done. But since three meals
a day are a necessity for the workers of
the family, and a narrow income makes
t needful to provide these economical .ly,
there is nothing for the householder to
do but TO attend to it herself, and find a
young girl TO take charge Of the chill
dren while she does it. One thing is
certain-it such an intelligence bureau is
to be successfully maintained 1t must
cater to the needs of people of moderate
means. The rich can afford TO keep their
own stan Of servants. 1t is among the
middle-class people that there is impera-
tive need OF competent and trustworthy
help.