The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-06-07

| +bera re enough Chinese and japanese
| servants to go twice around every ram
| iIy in the islands. The servants are
| here, but they are not always WiIIhs
/ to work; and then there is servants
/ union which doesn't go by that name,
| but is more powerful than the strong
est labor organization in the United
| States.
| AS a matter of fact, Hawaii is the
/ training school of the servants OF the
{! United States, for within recent months
| thousands of Japanese servants DILL
| gently trained to be cooks and yard
boys and coachmen by the island house
| keepers have emigrated to the main
| land and are now engaged in eastern
/ cities.
| Hawaii was long looked upon as a
| paradise for the woman who needed ser
wants. It used to be, but it isn't any
! more With g good many other things
| that the island lost in annexation, good
| servants are also gone.
| Chinese formerly supplied most of the
| domestic labor required, and their num-
| Der was filed out by the addition of a
large number of pretty Japanese girls.
| They accepted low wages and worked
well.
wants here demand and receive just as
high wages as those of the East, and
although the supply is plentiful the
Japanese see to it that the market is
never gIutted. They have peculiar
way of keeping the servants from stay
ing too long at one place.
There are thousands of Japanese girls
and men employed in domestic service
in the islands, but the market is never
oVerstocked. There are hundreds Of So
called emp loynent offices in Honolulu,
but they are simply the agencies which
regulate the supply and demand for
domestic labor.
The homes of Honolulu have come to
be known as the cooking and language
schools of the islands. 1t is here that
japanese receive their culinary educa-
ton, and then they dispose of their ac-
complishments to the next unsuspect-
ing housewife.
The qualifications demanded of an
employer in Hawaii are entirely differ
ent from those of the mainland. There
is no demand for every night off a week,
with Sunday afternoons and the best
parlor to entertain friends in. The
qualifications demanded are of higher
order.
Every woman must herself be
teacher of languages and of cookery.
That is the requisite which the Japan
csc girl insists upon. That is only at
the beginning though.
The japanese maiden just over from
her own country is provided with a
place by the japanese society where
she can learn to cook and talk. Hours
each day are required to teach her the
American language and the culinary
art.
1t often takes months, sometimes
longer, before the new servant is of the
slightest help. And just about that
time the sweet Japanese maiden with
demure smile says:
II think, missus, maybe, I no come
back tomorrow, I send my friend"
The Japanese girl has one trait which
endears her to the feminine heart. She
does not leave you entirely in the lurch.
No, she promises to send her friend,
and she always does.
Generally the friend requires the
same course of training, for that is a
part of the game. The housewives of
Hawaii are being used to train the Jap
anese servant girl and boy for promo
ton to mainland kitchens. No matter
iAOW Aiiciiy VI lllSSO1tlC bOAt nave
been spent in teaching the girl your
own language and your own methods
of cooking, she is always ready to leave
when her friend comes over to take
the same course of instruction.
The girls who have been trained for
any length of time do fairly we'll, but
they do make woeful mistakes. For in
stance, a whispered request for butter
is just as likely to bring butter or bacon
for a roomfuI of guests. And soap has
often been used to grease pie pans.
And if in some far Eastern city some
pretty japanese maiden should tell her
mistress that she mo likes muchee or
GLE and then explains it by me no
likee hanahana,' it might take the mis-
tress a long time to understand just
what was meant, unless a Hawaiian
neighbor was handy who could explain
| that the young lady meant to leave,
and didn't like to work" for the Japan
csc have a vocabulary all their own, and
they use it freely. When the clock is
too fast, it is too quick and when it
has stopped it has gone to Sleep
But even these would be slight Incl
dents TO the startling reply of one Jap
anese who met a request for more salad
from the hostess with the remark, II
think We have to telephone to Jesus
1t seems that the young r~u in ques-
ton had been absorbing Christianity
! along with his knowledge of cookery,
and his Bible lessons had given him
food for thought. Some of the miracles
of Christ have been his most recent re-
arches into the Biblical past.
why, Mura. what do you mean?''
| asked the confused hostess as her seven
guests dropped uplifted knives and
forks and gazed at the boy in bewilder-
ment.
Why. missus.'' replied the japanese,
I'VE no have salad 'nough for seven
only for five. I hear in Sunday school.
one time Jesus have only two fishes
and five loaf bread and He make em
plenty more 15 feed 5.0GC people.
think we better telephone Jesus. He
make US more
Were it not for their habit of migrat-
ing from one place to another. to make