The sun., 1905-09-17
AUSTRALIAN SERVANT GIRL,
SHE rs TYPICALLY REPRESENTA-.
TIVE OF HER COUNTRY.
Has Varied Accom- plishmen and 10 Fond
OF Freedom-'The Dual Domestic
and How the system Worked-She
Does Not Like to He Called Servant"


OF Freedom" Dual Dom estic''
and How the system worked-she
Does Not Like to He Called Servant"
The Australian domestic servant is typi-
caly representative OF her country. To
understand and appreciate her one must
regard her in the light OF her climatic and
social environment, says a writer in the
London Daily Mail
She is essentially democratic. loves pleas
ure and freedom, is adaptable and capable.
and knows it. have never found her at a
loss; 1t is in the unexpected, perhaps, that
she shines most, as 1t is here that she has
the best opportunity Of exercising her powers
OF initiative as we'll as her common sense.
For the daily routine and drudgery Of
housework she cares little-to get through
1t quickly and easily is her chief aim.
But outside the sphere Of housework pure
and simple she often exhibits unexpected
powers. / have known general servant
who at first surprised her new English
mistress by sauntering into the garden
during the morning, sunbonnet On her
head and a large basket on her arm, which
she would presently bring in filed with
flowers. These she would arrange with
IDENTIFY delighting in her self-chosen occupa-
tion. 1t is unfortunate to be obliged to
add that the same servant strongly objected
to sweeping a sitting room more than once
a week.
Another general servant was most help
full with the children's home lessons. /
have had one servant who read Tennyson,
another who enjoyed and could criticize
intelligently good play, Others who wrote
a really good letter. Indeed, one may
say that the Australian domestic servant
almost always gives evidence Of better
education than an English girl Of the same
class.
Undoubtedly she has her faults and her
prejudices, and one Of the latter must early
be taken into account in the interest OF
domestic peace. She must never be al
lowed to hear the words MASTER" mis-
tress,' servant" Indeed, the English
woman about to visit Australia will do
words behind, along With other unnecessary
!! impedimenta. Nor L. she likely to hear the
words -sir ma am, or am until she re-
turns home again. Well do remember
small domestic crisis, acute in its way,
the expression "servants' bedroom The
difficulty is to find satisfactory equivalent
for tn ese words.
1t is easy enough for master or mistress
to speak OF each other as "Mrs. A., @Mr.
A." but one hesitates awkwArdly when
B. g servant" One must adopt such clumsy
expressions as 1the lady you lived with
last -the girl who lives at Mrs. BIS
The word ..girl" is always inoffensive In
employed by one domestic servant in speak
ing OF another. Are or condition has
nothing to do with It.
Once in temporary servant difficulty
I was only able to procure the services Of 1
tude. and bright little maid Of IA, and il
| was very amusing to hear the latter speak
quite naturally Of 1the other girl"
And this is one respect In which Australian
servants differ as a class from English
about them. Here II one advertised for a
nursemaid, housemaid or general servant
one would expect to receive applications
from young single women. Indeed one
is tempted to ask what becomes Of all the
prematurely worn out, or Is domestic SER
vice the one vocation that leads inc evitably
to malrimony?
Now in Australia there is more elasticity
Of age and condition. In a not very long
differing specimens mentioned above, a
widow who was a gr randmother and young
married woman with husband and chill
dren. The last named persuaded her hus-
band to 60 to sea and her mother to look
after the children while she "had a change
One variety, by no means uncommon one.
is woman with child, but OF this class /
have no personal experience. once called
at house, and while waiting in the drawing
room was surprised TO see a small child OF
very dirty and sticky appearance walk in
and stare at me. This l imagined must be
child whose home was the kitchen. The
advertisements. Of this class Of servant
generally run thus:
Respectable woman. with child, wants
situation. Low wsscs." And &c wonder!
As a rule the advertiser seeking a situation
considers herself in position to state con-
dihons, which she does in terms somewhat
bewildering to the newcomer: "No shirts"
mo children or kerosene"
One Of the most amusing varieties Of which
I had personal experience was what we NAV
call Athe dual domeetic." Il was In coun-
try district whore servants were difficult