The Newtown bee., 1903-07-10
TOWN TOPICS.
THE SERVANT-0IRL PROBLEM AT
 FIRST HAND.

THE SHENANDOAH PROBLEM A FIRST HAND.
 NEWTOWNER WHILE AWAY FROl HOME SEES ONE PHASE OF IT.
 Who does not believe there are prot
 bread winner which is the greatest
 and he will tell you the problem o
 making both ends meet. Ask the SC
 biologist, and he will reply, the prot
 lem of marriage and divorce. Thel
 come to the queen of the dOmeSti
 circle, and she quickly affirms, with
 stamp of her foot and toss of he
 head, The servant-girl problem to b
 sure. This is the problem which
 driving thousands of families out o
 housekeeping into hotels and flats
 the life of many mistress burdel
 and causing her to sigh for that lant where sweeping and dusting and clean ing are no more. A Newtowner, tn, fother day, temporarily placed himsel
 amid the whirl of a great city and tOlt
 this story to the editor of THE BEE
 which he thinks it worth while to re
 peat. It shows the real trials of ;
 home-maker and that all who live be
 hind brown-StOne fronts are not alway! the happy ones-not always.
 II was going through one of the best of Brooklyn's streets on Monday night and saw quite a crowd gathered ir front of one of the homes. What is the trouble?' I asked. Oh! the serv. ant girl says the lady owes her s1O and they are having it hot and heavy.' Hot and heavy indeed the two were having it just inside the beautiful front door of that wealthy home. The lady was evidently determined to have the girl go and the girl was as evidently deter mined not to go: It was a case of don't owe you cent. You know you do. I did not take it out of your wages. You went to the hospital. You sent that man just to threaten me. You ought to be ashamed to cheat me. You're a worthless - Not one person said all this, nor two persons. Both mistress and maid said it together. It should be punctuated with some big exclamation points and some heavy lines of emphasis should be drawn. The lady now put her head out the door and said: Won't one of you call policeman? This girl has cannot get her Out.' l started for the police station whose location I knew we'll. l am a slow old fellow, and had got no further than the corner when two boys passed me on dead run. let them do the running and I went back. The war of words was still going on, in which ten dollars hos pital' and won't take none of your sass were strangely mixed. thought the lady might receive damage, so l went to the rescue while the crowd Cf 1fCi1 IT 1ol c1, the door, the crescendo fell into a moderato. Now you tell your side of this, 1 said to the lady. She did, and l saw at once that she was in the right, and was having this contention with a vicious cOlOred girl who had taken ad- vantage of the absence of the head of the house to brOw-beat the mistress and get some extra pay. When the girl was taken sick and had to go to the hospital, the lady had advanced $l0 on her wages to help her along; and this amount being taken out of the wages as they became due, the girl was trying to collect over again. In an unguarded moment the ekind-hearted matron had given the girl dollar to buy some medicine; and this gave the servant pretext for putting in the plea that the mistress was still in debt to her.
 The lady was trembling from head to foot, her three little children clung timidly to her; and l felt heartily sorry for her. She was plainly on the way on to increased maternity and should not for one moment have been subjected to this ordeal. You two evidently cannot agree. I want you to leave this matter to some third par ty who will later settle it for you. Anyway Speaking to the girD, I said, l want you to go.' She went.
 Soon the policeman came. He heard the story from the lady's lips and said: What that girl wants is to be locked up, and if she ever troubles you again, let me knOw.' Oh! I can't go into court, exclaimed the lady, frightened at the thought of where her little al- tercatiOn might lead"
 The NewtOwn citizen, one of the editors good friends, began to realize that he was the prominent witness in the case; and if the matter had been pressed, he might not have returned to his Connecticut field of labor the next day. Anyway he has seen that those who toll in counting rooms and banks do not bear all the burdens of life. Has any housekeeper who reads THE BEE another chapter which she could add to this story?