Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-07-27


each one OF the household servants re
ceives. usually, wages running any.
where from SIT to S25 per month.
That is more than many of the well
dressed Hoorwalkers In the large city
stores get. That is more Ahan the
average typewriter receives, for she
has TO pay rent and board, which the
domestic servant gets free. That is as
much as a farm hand or a private sol
der in the United States army receives.
"Oh, no." some one arWers. that Is
not true A floorwalker will get So
per week There is many a typewriter
receiving $40 per week, or about $40
per month" But, my brother. when
you estimate the salary of the down
town clerks you must at the same time
estimate their expenses AS remark
ed. the servant girl receives a greater
net return, not gross, than any other
class of labor requiring equal mental
and physical equipment.
A merchant never considers the gross
returns Of his business, but the net
He says to himself: These goods were
my expenses-so much for store rent,
20 much for night Waterman, SO much
for expressage, 80 much for commercial
travellers, so much for advertising, 80
much for taxes, 80 much for this and
90 much for that and the other thing"
Then that merchant subtracts the ex-
penses from the gross receipts, and he
~ Nn Cd
vantage In buying goods In a foreign
market II the tariff laws eat up all the
profits or In raising potatoes and apples
In the Dakotas or Montana II the rail-
road freight to bring the fruit to the
market costs more than the goods are
worth. No financial advantage In be-
ing a downtown clerk and receiving
IS or $40 a week If the expenses of
room rent and car fare and the lunch
counter and board and laundry bill
and extra clothes absorb all the salary.
And so when you place the net income
of an average servant girl against that
Of an average clerk you find her salary
is mostly gain. while his, at the end
of the week, after his legitimate ex-
penses have been met, is absolutely
nothing or about nothing.
Income of Servant Girls.
/ am talking about the princely net
| income of an average servant girl. But
| If you are going to judge the condition
| Of each class of laborer by the standard
| Of money then the servant girl is not
only better paid but she receives
steadier service all the year round. She
is not laid off like the masons or car
penters or the lake sailors or like the
many employees who, though during
the busy seasons they receive high
wages. are idle during certain months
of the year. The royal domestic can
have perpetual employment. Thus,
from a financial standpoint, I would
commend to our sisters and daughters
this noble work of the k chen and the
nursery. l commend the occupation
to you because the financial returns are
princely in comparison with the menta
equipment which many of you are able
to consecrate to this service.
But there Is still another advan
tageous aspect of the question which
should not be overlooked. Eliezer, the
servant, was the chief man in Abra
hams household. In how many Amer
lean households, think you, is the cook
the principal functionary, upon whose
skill and proficiency the physical, ant
to very large extent also the moral
condition Of the family depends? There
are, / will venture to affirm, hundred:
of thousands of homes in our large
cities, to say nothing of as many more
IN the towns and villages, where thu
detection or incapacity of the cook o.
housekeeper would mean confusion
and misery. A good honest intelligen
cook is a conservator of health ant
happiness. Brillat Savarin once saiC
that he who invented a new sauce wa
benefactor to mankind. So the cool
who brightens your table with wei
ordered dinner and whose culinar,
skill gives zest to appetite is bene
factor to the home. There are chefs
many of them, who by reason Of thei
skill command salaries reaching up in
to the thousands of dollars. They III
derstand the chemistry Of the kitchen
they have made a study of dietetics
and their experience is quite as valu
able to their employers as that of tn
skilled physician. There is abundan
scope for ambition in the kitchen.
Advantage of Domestic Service.
Another advantage offered by dc
mestic service is that it's surrounding
are purer. The royal domestic is sui
jected TO less temptations than are he
sisters who are earning their livelihoo
IN other walks of life. Queen Victori
in Windsor castle for over fifty year
= refused knowingly to give audience
any man or woman of impure an
wicked life. A royal servant girl.
she enters a Christian home, can, as
queen. choose her own associates. 81
can go with good people if she viii
The choice rests with her and with ht
alone.
: This statement is not always true