The Topeka state journal., 1903-05-02
Servant Girl g Problem

Brooklyn Eagle:
While organizations Of women are be-
ing formed in various cities to deal with
the servant girl problem" by means OF
cooperative housekeeping and eStaD-
fishing fixed hours Of work as in trades
ana business, one woman in BrOollyt.
has pointed out a much simpler solution
and one possible to almost every mis-
celebrate the tenth year of a servant in
her employ, invited the servants family
ana friends and then took herself else
Where that the party might enjoy the
leas1 without constraint. Before this
unusual celebration could have been
thought of there must have been q greae
deal OF faithful service on one side ana
kindly sympathy and appreciation Oh
the other 1t is just that kindly, human
QuaIty or 1rlendlineSS which is needed
IN house service more than in any other
employment The shop is a Workinc
place Tor man or a woman for so
many hours day. The house of her
MISTRESS on l0e other hand, is the home
OF the servant for such time as sh.
stays II II. There is hardly a WOmaI
IN the world who is not sensitive to a
nome atmosphere. Kindness and thu
Ctulllafy consideration which one Chris
tlan IS IN duty bound to extend to his
nel-hhoF count for more than high
wages in keeping q house supplied with
81 wants II the duty Of being a good
lstfeSS WAS as much insisted lloon as
the duty of being a good servant is bv
IHe employers, the servant question
would be robbed OF half its terrors. Th..
otHef haf OF the trouble is inherent liz
our institutions. There is no hereditary,
or traditional class of servants in this
country When the cook marries the
lnotornan that is the end of service fOn
lIer family her daughters become type
writers or teach school or work in stores
when their time comes to earn fhei,, li11-
ING der mistress must begin all over.
e. .sseln win servant imported eithaL
rom rom the old country or the south. The
proportion of white house servants horr,
on American soil is small and thexr ars-
nor usually Of the best quality. their in
vi ~ II l1stEcts being at war with the So
cial caste of the kitchen.
hut though American mistresses are
thus limited in the material which tbev
can secure for service, there is all the
dlIIefence between q comfortab Bile home
ana a mouse of torment in the way that
material is handled This experiment
OF the dinner is not new 1t is simply
a striking illustration of a kindly spirit
WhlcH other women have shown in 9th
eF ways. And such women are seldom
ieft servantless. Commonly their girls
.esaVe them to marry, and long before
the Danns are called the mistress has
had applications for the place from
friends who have known that the girl
VINO IS to leave was we'll treated In
some cases families are served bv girls
drawn from one family connection for
years Those are the mistresses who
really know their business. who do not
expect impossibilities and who know
that the whole contract is not fulfilled
by the payment of wages. This mis-
tress who gave the dinner is not likely
to be left with an empty kitchen. If
she ever has a strike on her hands
when guests have been invited 1t will
be one of the miracles. The serenity
Of soul which she can enjoy in the
knowledge that things will run smooth
ly down stairs will amply repay all the
trouble that she took to mark the ser
vice with recognition. But the real
secret of the domestic concord is that
the celebration was not trouble: it was
a source of the pleasure which a friend
ly spirit takes in recognizing obliga-
tions not set down in the bond And
in the matter of running a house
smoothly the spirit is of far more i'm
portance than the material conditions.