Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1903-11-20

tons of an old servant appeared re-
Gently in the New York Mail and Ex-
press.and afford an excellent view oil
the servant girl question from her
standpoint:
Perhaps. one of these days, the mis-
suses will learn to stop "fussing' over
their girls and leave them alone, II
they want to keep them" said a shrewd
old servant who has at last settled
down to a ten years stay in the same
household after changing every two or
three months.
Thank goodness she continued
'Tve at last found sensible woman,
who seems to think 1t just barely pos
sible that another woman, even If she
happens to be cook, or nurse maid
or a laundress. might have some ideas
Of her own, and not want to be directed
and advised, and kept under observa-
ton all the time. The first lady I went
to live with nearly killed me with kind
ness. She was one of those ladies with
advanced ideas, and she used to take
housekeeping magazines and insist
upon reading them aloud to me, when
all wanted was to keep my mind clear
to do up the shirts so they would please
the master. She even tripped me up
on that word. and said. We have no
masters or rulers here, Margaret; this
is a country where all are free and
equal and every time 1 forgot and said
It she'd stop me. till I'd get that nerv-
GUS and ratified that l gave her notice
at the end of the month.
1.-THE next one was a health crank
If she caught me making a bit of tea,
good and strong, the way l learned to
like 1t in the old country. she'd throw it
down the sink, and talk by the hour of
how bad 1t was for the nerves, and then
she'd brew something that tasted like
hay water and expect me to enjoy it..
1t was the same with my dinner. Never
a sup of gravy would she let me pour
over my potatoes or vegetables. 1t all
had to go on the meat, because the
other way you'd get dyspepsia, she said.
Dyspepsia indeed. and my old mother
(the saints watch over for her), seven
it yet. and her eating gravy that way
all her life
1.-THE same way when I'd bake bread
and cake for her: they had to be set
away until they were stone cold before
she'd have a knife put into them, and
me just famishing for a bit of hot
bread, with the butter thick on it, and
never a taste of mince pie or roast
pork except on my every other Sun
day out, when 1 took my supper at my
Cousin Mikes. and did big washing
the day after without feeling 1t at all.
"She abused me quite awful when I
left her and said was ungrateful for
away on me, and that's something like
the way the next one spoke when l
didn't want to stay, with her pulling
down the window in my room. with the
air outside cold enough to freeze the
heart in your body. She had piles of
bedclothes tucked away on the shelf
of her storeroom, but she kept me un-
der a blanket no thicker than a sheet
because it was healthy way of sleep
ing Sure. she didn't favor heavier
ones on their own bed and as | got
tired of throwing my jacket over me
at night and didn't wish to shame her
by buying coverlid myself. so I told
girl that day fortnight.
I'm the next situation I got into they
let me eat and drink what I wanted
and the missus never came near my
room, but it worried her to see the adj
dresses put on the letters l sent home
but that / must have writing lessons.
There she kept me, night after night,
working at copies and making letters
and figures till my head would split
with the ache in it and me just dying
to go to bed But no; had to have 1t
just so and so much to show her the
next day or he put to do it on my
afternoon off. AS if it made any diff
ference to the old father and mother at
home so long as they got the letters
all right, and not a bit of good to Owen
Conner, the postman. which is more
used to other way for the letters he
carries about. l never got so l could
please her in it any way, and l heard
she read a piece about me to her club
and showed how much better it would
be if the present (honest mani would
make a new law. so that all the for
eigners would have to go to night
school and a lot more.
Then I got in with one that wanted
to teach me what kind of clothes to
buy and how to lay out my wages. She
got out handbook for me and put my
money in it land she gave good pay,
I'll say that for herr. and she'd go with
me to the store if l wanted as much
as pair of stockings, in order to teach
me how to pick so as to get full value
for my money which was very good of
herr but. land of mercy! you'd ought
to, see the bonnet she trimmed for me,
because it was cheaper and in better
taste she said. than the one had my
eye on for full two weeks at Rosen-