The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-22
SERVANTS IN TWO PLATooNS.

SEhsHNI0 IN wv TIA UUNS.
Shorter hours. according to a house
keeper of experience, says the New
York Sun, is the real solution of the
servant question in. New York.
One reason, she says, why hotels
boarding houses and restaurants have
less trouble about servants than pri-
vate houses is that their force of work.
ers has shorter hours and every one
knows when his or her work is to be
begun and ended. They seem to be
able to get all the help they want, and
at lower prices, too, than the private
family has to pay.
AT the Waldorf-Astoria. for in
stance" said this woman, chamber
maids have finished work for the day
at O'Clock in the afternoon. and are
Tree 10 go where they please, except one
DAY out of ten, perhaps, when they
take turns in remaining on duty in the
corridors during the evening. And
D., they are paid only $40 a month"; sum,
Oh course, which may be doubled or
not, according TO the tips they get.
But girl who is employed there
told me that it was not the pay that
attracted her but the fact that she was
Tree every day after the hour named.
lived in first-class family she
explained, before l came here, and /
never mad an hour to myself from Z in
the morning till 10 at night, except
once week. No matter whether l
was working or not, 1 had to be on
duty.
Talking to that girl gave me a hint,
winch put in operation in my own
mouse, and now, for nearly a year, l
nave had comparative peace. Before
that life was a burden. L could afford
only two servants, and my family NUM-
bered five.
Il paid my cook, who also had to do
the coarse washing and ironing, $25
and the chambermaid and waitress $40
month, and was changing all the
time. Try as ] would the girls were
never satisfied and neither was 1.
Since the new order of things was
started we have all been happy. al
though, of course, 1 can't say how long
this serenity will last. I firmly believe,
| though, that I am on the right track.
What did l do? Well, l started in
one day by discharging both the SER
wants 1 had and clearing them and
their belongings out of the house. Then
[ sat down and wrote a long advertise
ment and sent it to two papers.
| oON ClllSGQ lOI d COOk at 4ZU
month and made it plain that she
would not have to begin work any day
until noon, and for a chambermaid at
SIS who would be free every day at
O'Clock in the afternoon. 1 wish you
could have seen my basement the next
morning. The policeman on our block
stopped to see what was the matter.
Before night 1 picked out two ser
wants who were to come for one week
| al NJ al - n
dozen more who promised so we'll that
1 hated to let them go. That was
just a year ago and those two women
| are with me still. And what Is more
! they seem anxious to stay.
THE next day l advertised for
! young man who understood the duties
of a butler and would be willing to be
on duty from o'clock in the afternoon
to 10 o'clock at night for $12 a month.
I had at least twenty applicants, about
half of whom had never been employ
J ed in a dining room before.
THE young man I finally engaged
had waited in summer hotels and could
| give good references. He told me that
| he was attending business school and
when he got more schooling meant to
! try for business position. Meanwhile
| a good dinner every day and S12 a
month was quite a bonanza for him.
/
| the other two servants do.
1.-The one drawback to this arrange
| ment is that we must be content with
a comparatively simple breakfast
which is cooked and served by the
chambermaid. The cook is at liberty
| to make herself cup of coffee or tea
! as early as she likes and then clear
out till II o'clock or go to her room,
| whichever she pleases.
| ON fine waafhar she is generally OFF
! by o'clock. and from what 1 hear
she has a great deal better time than
! 1 do; and what with visiting among her
cronies, going to the Park and making
a round of the stores, her friends seem
| to regard her as woman of leisure,
which tickles her vanity a lot.
AT u she begins her preparations
| for luncheon, and from that or she
works hard enough, but so willingly
| that it Is a pleasure to see her.
"Of course, under ordinary circum-
| stances, a chambermaid and waitress
will not cook the breakfast, but when
she has no dinner table to wait on-in
fact, has nothing whatever to do after
4 o'clock In the afternoon, she Is glad
enough to make the exchange.
Yes, she must be in by 10 O'Clock,
unless she can arrange with the cook
to sit up and let her in, which she does
on the infrequent occasions when she
goes to the theater. or to party of
! some sort.
"Both women are respectable, there
| fore 1 never interfere with their pleas
ures so long as l am not inconvenience
| by them. I never allow either of them
| to have a key to the house.
"By following this plan / pay only IS
| a month more than paid before to two
servants, and have much better serv-
| ice.
AT first, the amateur butler needed
! instructions. He was decidedly green;
| but now he does almost as well as the
high-priced al cicle. Now, of course
! I don't mean to say that every family
can pattern after me or that precisely
| three such servants as 1 have may be
| met with every day. Families which
| need half a dozen servants and much
waiting on. and other. who can afford
| only one servant, can't arrange their
| household after my pattern. Perhaps
| thew wouldn't want to if they could.
| Nevertheless, / firmly believe that
| the servant question would be settled
| for ALI time. IL women as we'll as men,