Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-08-10
grumbIe IL her servants treat her In
the same way

ETUUtOfe III ueE seTNaulS LTeaI uet w
the same way.
Dishonesty IL Contagious.
Dishonesty Is contagious. Dishon-
esty is an immoral germ which is apt
| to spread through a whole family as
the diphtberia germ often in the olden
times used TO destroy all the children
| Of one household. The sinful plague
OF dishonesty and untruthfulness and
unfaithfulness does not always enter
. home by the back door. 1t is some
| fines comfortably installed In the
boudoir long before 1t appears in the
/ servants quarters, and its first nap in
household is taken upon the parlor
sofa and not by resting in a kitchen
| chair. The mistress, in spite Of her
| self, Is an exemplar TO the domestic.
/ Very often when the housewife is find
| ing fault with her servant she is de-
| nouncing the uniformed results of her
own evil life.
! The housekeeper is the domesdc's
model also in the matter of sympathy.
1 II she wishes the servants to be sym
| pathetic with her troubles, then the
housekeeper must be sympathetic with
theirs. Her knowledge of her servants
ought not to be limited to their serv-
ice She should take an interest In their
personal concerns and give them coun-
sci and help In their difficulties. Trials
are the common lot Of our race. The
trials Of the household will be all the
easier to bear II the housekeeper and
her servant meet them with clasped
hands. each calling the other her sister.
Servants sometimes seem to have no
sympathy with the wear and tear and
the sorrows and the sicknesses of their
housekeepers life. They seem to be
foreigners dwelling for little while
under the roof Of home with nothing
In common between themselves and
their mistress. Mr.. Beecher once de-
scribed summer jaunt through Ger
many. He said that it was one Of the
strangest experiences he ever had, be-
cause up to that time he had never
placed his foot upon European soil. All
about him were men and women living
distinct life of their own. They
bought and they sold, Travelled in rail-
road trains and ate in hotels. These
was a thousand miles away from them.
He could not speak their language. He
had nothing with which to draw him
and them together. So some of the
servants living under our roofs seem
to speak foreign tongue. They never
seem to become "familized." They do
not care what happens to us in any
way. II death comes or sickness
comes. or great trouble comes. they
will heartlessly leave us at a moments
notice and let us get along the best
way we can.
Mutual Sympathy.
But, housekeepers, why should you
expect your domestics to sympathize
with you in your time of trouble? You
say that your cook left you during
that awful crisis when your husband
was lowering between life and death
on account Of typhoid fever. But have
you ever sympathized with your serv-
ant in her sickness? Tell me frank
ly, have you ever stopped for one mo-
ment to realize that you had a human
being, an immortal soul, working for
you In the kitchen, or have you regard
ed her only as little cog in the domes-
tic machinery, which can be thrown
away as soon as 1t Is useless? Your
eyes have been red with weeping from
sitting up by your baby's crib. Did
you think to ask why your chamber
maids eyes were red with weeping
on the day after she received that let
ter with a foreign postmark? You have
had a hard financial struggle to get
along and make ends meet. You have
complained again and again because
the female help is so wasteful. You
say: They will let the furnace 60 out,
and then you must start it up again
with extra coal and wood. They will
not turn down the gas in the dining
room and the parlor and in the halls,
and they do not care If the bills run
. up. They will throw away good meat,
!, because they are too indolent to cook
1t in another form" But my sister,
did you ever stop to sympathize with
your servants financial struggle
Some Of those girls are humble
heroines. We think Of a heroine as a
; Grace Darling, rowing away from her
fathers lighthouse, in the teeth Of ar
, awful storm, to save a shipwrecked
, crew. Under the plain dress CT your
, humble domestic there may be beating
as brave a heart as that of the famous
English girl. Why is she working and
so carefully economizing? For herself
, oh, no. She is perhaps sending home
!. all her wages to support her old par
. ents or to help educate her orphaned
: brothers and sisters. If you were II
a go into your servants room today per
! haps you would find they did not have
sufficient clothes to keep them warm
. Why should your servants sympathizt
/, with your troubles If you care so little
. for theirs?
q Duty of the Housekeeper.
= sympathy, God given, practical sym
: nathv can hrpak down many ha rrio