The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-06

French and American Servants. 1 Minnie Lee Haynes, wife of the Ameri-
 can Consul at Rouen, France, in New
 York Tribune.
 Look here, Louise, what did you light that gas with? A match? Didn't l tell | you always to use a taper7 Never let me | see you do that again, or you'll ind an-
 other place. and that at once!" | These words, addressed by a wealthy woman in Rouen. France. to her servant in my hearing few days ago. were enough to make one muse upon the pro verbal economy of the French, especially
 as the servant had used the cheapest of French made matches-a sulphur one. But the economy of the wealthy French Ewemen was not so surprising as the man ner in which her servant took the re- proof She silently hung her head and left the room abashed,
 What would have been the sequel to such a. reproof administered in America to an Irish girl, German girl. or even to an American girl. 1t would have very likely entered immediately upon the tragic.
 Nov, Louise is typical French cham bermaid. She works from early morning until 10 o'clock at night, and later. if occasion requires; does much of the fam ily's plain sewing, the, alarming and patching. the ironing, the washing of the baby's clothes, the waxing of floors, and the serving of the table. She polishes the footwear of the household is ready at all times to remove, clean and put on all overshoes entering the hall. and, with the exception of running erands, is allowed of the premises some two or three hours on one Sunday afternoon every two weeks For all this work 1t might seem that the poor girl would soon amass for tune, but the Fates. or French sense and proprietors. are against her. If she is
 sweet tempered and altogether good she gets the magnificent sum of & a month. Unlike her sister in America, she is not allowed to practice on the piano during the spare moments, nor wear squeaky shoes in the sickroom for some alleged mysterious peculiarity or weakness of her feet Often when washing linen in the back court she wears Sabots, but the noise is sacrificed to strengthen her purse, not her ankles.
 Generally servants are kept for many years in France, and the record of the Boston woman who had twenty-nine cooks in one winter. and a bill of more than that many dollars to pay for brok- en glassware, would in France be pro-
 nounced a lie.
 Louise knows nothing of the policeman around the corner. nor of his calling at night in the kitchen, or ~rawing-roo:n
 when the family IS absent. In fact. a policeman is socially superior to a sel want girl here. If among the ten thoas- and ins and outs of her long, hard day of toll and her nights we'll earned shClt sleep. she has any stray thought to be- stow upon lover, it Is generally some young soldier whose martial splendos, perhaps, attracts her. It is told as joke in France that when Louise goes to the doctor with malariaI fever, and he inquiries, Do you live in 8 malarial uisL trict?" she answers: T do not tnlnk so, doctor" But when he asks, And what is your postoffice address?" she hangs her head and blushingIy replies: M. Leon, of Company Az
 But with such sentiment she must save her sous to get her "dot," for without 1t she would find it difficult to marry. However, she does not bear her burdens for the money she gets. but, like all good Frenchwomen. for the comfort and mirth which the money will bring.
 have often wondered why, when Lou ise finds herself in America, she is so
 completely changed. When inquired for in an intelligence office, she turns ques-
 tioner, and, instead of replying as to what she can do, demands information as to the health of the locality wheie SH0 IS dSheu IO 5eEVS. 1nSIcdu OL luI- nishing proof as to her character and ability, she must needs know if there is a man to start the furnace fires for her. if she can get off every Sunday nf-
 ternoon, if she'll have to lock up at
 night, and when the man seeking her humbly remaTks: And we have one
 baby, would you mind it?'' she blusts
 back. Mind it?" Do you take me for q nurse?'
 And if the meek husband summons sui ficient courage to ask if she is a good cook and laundress he is replied to sar- castically: Do look like twins?' Fur ther, she positively asserts she must go to mass every Sunday, will not leave the cooking to answer the door bell, that no
 member of the family must enter the
 kitchen, that she must have sugar and l cream in her coffee, her washing put out etc.
 After being engaged she overslecps
 herself But when gently reminded that
 breakfast seems a little late. replies: ''Oh, you needn't trouble yourself; I
 ain't feeling very hungry just yet" It is the treatment received after the | voyage is over that converts Louise's do- cili'y into arrogance In America she Is given dainties and dollars, and is hu- mored into being Toss. like the ~old-tiEl, negro servant of the South, who became the more insolent as her privileges were increased.
 In France Louise gives work and oOe- dience for small wages, and as a general thing the smaller the wage and the rougher the treatment, the greater is the amount of work and the stricter the