The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-29
The EMANCIPATED HOSTESS.
4 PARTIAL SOLUTION or THE
SERVANT PROBLEM.
Buffers. Cooks. Walters Can lie Hired by the
Job aud Entertaining Is Made Easier
Large Stans Of Servants Given TIP
In Many Cases-Eycn Carriages Hired.

Much has been said of late on the de-
crease in the number of private residences
in Manhattan, and deductions have been
made that before many years have gone
Ivy the majority of folks in easy circum-
stances. as we'll "a many of the wealthiest,
will choose to live after the hotel apartment
plan These forecasts hinge largely on
the servant problem on the difficulty OF
getting and keeping. especially of keeping
efficient. trustworthy servants at moderate
or mmoderate wages
i used TO be called fascinating humor
ously remarked young matron Of I'M
doubted charm. but have never yet been
able to fascnate a servant into living with
me more than three or four months
And her experience is not unusual
Nevertheless people situated as she is are
not overwhelmingly cast down these days
when cook or butler chooses to pack up her
or his belongings at particularly incon-
venient moment and clear out They never
dream for an instant Of pulling down the
front blinds and recalling invitations
supposing dinner party or a reception
had been planned for that evening, 70 the
reason that there ia one unfailng resource
in such circumstances.
By picking up my telephone receiver
can have a first class chef in my kitchen
inside of an hour and from the same source
an experienced butler and waitress ex-
planned n woman who entertains constantly.
DO they come to stay"
-Of course not. They are simply hired
for the job and clear out when they finish
it. But | don't know OF any city where
servants may be had by the day or the job
so easily as right here in New York. and
while that is the case there is not the slight
est fear that private housekeeping will go
entirely out OF fashion"
The piecework servants, as / call them,
are getting to be more and more in de-
mand explained the manager Of cele-
brated restaurant. 1T would surprise
some visiting foreigners accustomed TO
houseful Of servants the year round to
know that some Of the finest private enter
tainments they have attended while in New
York have been managed entirely by ser
wants hired solely for the occasion. But it
would be true all the same
NO one has better chance than to
learn how the fashionables Of New York
live. and one OF the things am sure of Ia
that nowadays most Of them depend far
more on special servants they hire by the
day or the week than on a regular stan
What Ia more. many are beginning to
prefer TO have 1t that way In the end il |
costs less and saves lot Of care and worry
For instance. there is Mrs Blank, who /
was brought up in house managed by six 1
or eight servants and who after she |
married and until about one year ago kept !
about the same number and would as soon /
have thought of getting along without a
as without a ohef-weu. /
now she has woman cook who gets $40 |
o month and instead Of butler she en-
ploys n neat little waitress who has entire
charge Of the dining room.
Il was astonished when Mrs. Blank told |
me about it, for. 30 far as could see. she
hadn't cut down her entertaining at all. (
and is seldom or never known TO fall back
on restaurant in order TO save trouble
as 40 many hostesses do from time to time
] soon learned, however. that she was doing
what hundreds OF other hosteeses-smnrt
women and women in moderate circum-
stanoes-are doing and that's, hiring extra
servants, specialists IN their line. as they
are needed.
A dozen years ago this sort OF thing
couldn't have been done for any amount
Of money. Specialists waiting around for
jobs we're not thick by any means then.
whereas now, to work by the Job or by the
piece il the aim Of every servant who Ia
more than ordinarily competent
i am not sure. in fact. but that sooner
or later that system Of hiring servants
will be general. for there is this 10 be -aid
in IFS favor-every one who tries 10 likes n
Now in Mrs Blanks case, when she
has big dinner on she hires chef from