The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1903-07-17
RUSSIAN MAIDS ARE HUMBLE.

vouch for 100000 female domestic
servants in England and Wales, as
against 100000: men engaged in min
ing, while farming lags far behind and
the rest Of. the trades are nowhere.
And there is no fuss. All the scrub
bling of floors. cooking of meals. and
making of beds are done without any
of the banners, professions, oratory,
strikes or lockouts of other employ
ments.
The servant problem" vexes the
soul of many an English housewife,
but to learn the value of the British
domestic one must go abroad. In the
households of the czarina of Russia,
the German empress, the queen. of,
Sweden and Norway and the. young
Queen Helena Of Italy, the English
nursery governess is a power behind
the. throne, and pretty nearly every
reigning sovereign of Europe seems to
have been nursed and taught by an
English maid before he passed on to
the throne.
But with all the foreign demand for
English maids, there are conditions in
many countries from which the most
daring would shrink.
Even downtrodden ".stop-gap"
would not go TO France at the French
wages of 6 5 year for the, good do
mestic or the fourpence an hour of
the visiting maid, who corresponds in
Paris with our Saturday charwoman.
The French maid is very clever, and
if she can get permission to pay the
weekly bills, collects five per cent.
commission from all the tradesmen.
But English wages would seem to her
fortune. Only in wealthy households
has she chance to get plump.
Rural England scarcely knows such
tragic poverty as that which drives
women from many parts of Europe to
abandon their own children and seek
employment as nursemaids in the
cities.
The mountain women of the Pyre-
nees have monopoly of nursing the
children of the rich in Madrid, the girls
from the valley of the Spree supply
the like want in Berlin, and Breton or
Norman women are the nurses of
Paris, while .Montenegrin peasants
swarm to Rome. In Paris one may
know the nursemaid's prosperity by.
the length and splendor. of her cap
ribbons, trailing to the heels, and in
the other capitals they wear beautiful
peasant costumes. These COSTUME
nurses" however they may. have suf
fered by the wrench which tore them
from their native districts. have very
good time in service. BY doctors or
ders the nurse" must not be crossed
or contradicted, so rules both her mis-
tress and the household with iron
rigor, making herself as disagreeable
as she pleases. She adopts the chill
dren, who are barred by etiquette
from knowing their own mother ex-
cept as visiting stranger.
The quaintest of all domestic service
is in Russia, where the peasants have,
only lately been released from slavery,
and for fear of starvation in winter
flock to the houses OF the mobiles, where
they smash the crockery in grateful
return for mere board and lodging.
The Russian lady, always merciful to
| the poor, finds her house overrun by
| useless but humble retainers with
swarms of children. and when she
hopes to rest there is sure'to be for
lorn maid scratching the door like a
little rat because she dare not knock.
To stop the scratching she is admit
ted, then, falling on her knees, kisses
I the foot of the mistress, pleading with
tears that she did not know it was
wrong to boil potatoes in silver
| dish.
AS to the upper servants, they march
into the most private rooms, disdain-
| ing to knock at the door, and, if a
guest is dressing, the maid thinks
nothing of taking short cut through
the room rather than go round by the
| passage. If the guest is dfspleased
they will abjectly kiss his hands, won
(, dering what on earth has put him out
of his temper.-Cincinnati Commercial
Tribune.