Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-31
THESERvANTPROBLEM
A Domestic Question and
Its Treatment.
ONE WOMAN'S SYSTEM
A BONUS FOR A YEARS GOOD
SERVICE.
A Household Where Union Rules Were
Enforced by the
Maids.


| servants, servants everywhere, ana not
one to be hired,'' is the general wall heard
nowadays in the domestic world from
Maine to California. Oh, dear, what can
| the matter be that there is such dearth in
the land of labor plenty? In the average
| household every prospect would please If
only good servants were to be had.
| Is the fault to be found in mistress or in
| maid? Possibly 1t is a like case of the wo-
| man who went house hunting expecting to
| find a home In which there were more
| closets than rooms and southern exposure
| on all sides. Housewife and servant in
| turn seem to be searching for perfection in
| each other. The article is difficult to find.
| and as it is rather more convenient to move
| about with bundle of clothes than whole
| household, Mary Ann is frequently to be
seen fitting from place to place in quest CT
| the unattainable. Perfection in mind, body
! or estate is most excellent quality to pos
| sess, but is about as hard to find In mistress
,r maid as Ponce de Icons fountain of per-
petual youth.
One cause of the servant trouble, it seems
| to me, lies In the distrust and suspicion
| with which employer and employed regard
| each other. Servants, a rule, are not
| dishonest, and the mistress hasn't her ear
| to the kitchen tube half as often as the
| maid gives her credit for. The servants
| too, are distressingly lacking in apprecia-
| ton and are mighty apt to take any con-
| SlQeratlOn or KlndneSS SHOWN them as their
| due. But a tactful mistress, one who issues
| her orders in civil and firm manner usu-
| ally manages her maids well and gains
| their instant obedience. At present the diff
| fculty is to find subject upon which to ex-
| erciSe this heaven-sent gift.
| The whole domestic situation is summed
| up pretty neatly in short conversation
| overheard the other day between two
| housekeepers
| Had Enough Of Her.
| did you say this Mary Mccain had lived
| with you a long timer" inquired a reference
| hunter to eX-mistress.
| "Oh, yes" was the reply "She has been
| with me two or three months
Whatever the cause of this prevalent ser
| want disturbance. the result in many cases
| is reducing the housekeeper either to ner-
| vous prostration an apartment or boarding
| house existence or the even worse eXpedi-
| ent Of allowing her household to be run ac-
| cording to the sweet will of any stray ref
| ugee sufficiently condescending to become
| managing maid pro tenn.
One woman thinks she has partially
| solved the servant problem. This system
| she has used successfully in her own home
for several years.
The housewife at large will indeed well
come this feminine messiah If such she
| prove to be.
System in Working.
| This woman with system runs her
|
just a man his office. The initial
| difficulty of the American housekeeper in
| sists the woman with the new idea, begins
| in the intelligence office The employer
| talks to the servant-elect too much often
| entering into the most minute details To
quote the originator, Some women when
| they engage a maid explain whether the
| broad or narrow hens of the sheets are to
| be turned to the pillow end of the bed f."
one may well imagine how even a "Willinc''
woman. foreigner perhaps who has been
| IN the country only n few months will he
| beWildered by this volley of half intellieihle
| words. The improved method of engaging
! a maid saves energy and patience by means
| of several sets of typewriter requirements
written in Swedish. German and Danish In
these requirements set forth the wages
hours out-in fact. all the working system
The head woman distributes them among
| the applicants al the office. This reformer
| makes it a rule to give good wages at the
start and never raise them. Instead of the
increase on the 1st of January a bonus in
the form of lump sum of money is paid
| any servant who has been in her employ
| twelve months. At the end of two years the
prize money rolls and keeps on rolling in
small additions as the service continues
VI course servants have taken advantage of
| this generosity; but. the whole the in
| nuence has been for good. There is also a
principle as to damages. The employee who
| breaks or Injuries anything in the house
| pays one-half for the repla cling or repairing
| of the article. bill is presented with the
| wages and the deduction is made by the
| girl herself
shipboard Way Copied.
The new system of inspection is borrow
| ed from the method on shipboard Three
| times a week the house Is thoroughly over
| looked from cellar to garnet by the mistress
| and as this is done when fancy dictates
| everything is kept in apple-pie order all the
| time When there is fault to be corrected
| an explanation is demanded of the individ-
| ual in charge. and she is promptly repri-
manded kindly, but in a tone of authority.
| This plan sounds practical and may be of
benefit to some poor soul
| This servant talk would hardly be COM
| plete We're the new servant girls union not
| mentioned. Much the housewife would
| like to ignore it. the first shot has been
| fired from Sumter. and the fight is on. The
| union has got up schedule which is to be
| hung in the kitchen employing a union
| member. To briefly run over some of the
! regulations. sixty hours constitute weeks
second girls. Overtime in excess of three
| hours shall be paid for at the rate of 10
| cents an hour. All laundry work done at
| home must be paid for at regular laundry
| rates in addition to the salary of cook. The
| wages for cook and general homework are
s. a week and for second help 81. All wages
| and over charges are to be paid Saturday
| night. If any worker has been in one en-
| ploy over nine months she is to be given
| two weeks vacation with pay.
| No Bell After Eight
| Although this union is not in actual run
ming order. its influence was felt in house
| hold one evening when the front door bell
| having been rung several times without a
| response a member of the family went into
! the kitchen to find out the reason. The two
maids were comfortably seated talking,
and upon being asked why they had not
| answered the bell the following answer was
received: I'VE belong to the union and are
| not allowed to attend the bell after
| o'clock"
| If this sort of thing is a sample of what
Is to be expected in future the housewife
is now having the time of her life.