Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-02-18
coln.pY on I'D HOUSEHOLD.
Trials OF tho Housewife wills tho
Recently Landed Girl.

GrecnserNant girls are usually .
source OF trial and annoyance to the
housekeeper. but they have their
mitigating side. The greener theT
are. the more ignorant they are. the
greater the mitigation. because thes
are girls that furnish the wearied
and worn housewife lneonscioasly a
source OF genuine amusement. says
the New York Herald.
The stories about the odd aud un-
usual things that unsophisticatea
servant girls do are common in
every household. The telling OF them
long after becomes settled habit
with the members of the family.
Every Tat In Kew York which boasts
of servants or a servant, rather. has
its pct story and the small house IA
the suburbs are equally blest.
Unto a family living iu norris
Heights short time ago came 2 new
maid of all work She WIS Swede
and her name was Christine. Her
knowledge OF English was quite as
rudimentary as was her knowledge
OF the conventions OF polite society.
i She had just landed was engaged
from an employment agency and en-
tered upon her duties with the full
amount of alacrity and ignorance
The young matron. who was the
mistress of the household noted with
more or less feminine concern that
FChristine was guiltless Of corsets. In
fact Christine had never seen any.
She did not even know what they
-~cre. Much less had she evar ir-
dulged in their practical use. sac
knew no more what a straight front
meant than she did about the deriva-
| ton of a Greek root.
Naturally the young matron did
not think Christine's apparel quite
suitable when she appeared IN the
dining room as waitress, so that
afternoon I'm the fnlness OF heart she
made a trip down town and pur-
chased for Christine cheap but
strong and durable pair OF corsets,
and with a smile OF self-congratula-
ton presented them TO the new do
nestle that evening. She accompan-
led the gift with the request that
Christine would in future wear them,
beginning the next morning.
The next morning came and SO did
breakfast. There was no question
but what Cristine was wearing the
corsets. Even an unobserving and
near sighted person could tell that
because Christine had them on out
side of everything else.
The young matron was aghast.
The young husband shamefully
amused and Christine gloriously
happy and proud as a peacock.
A Yonkers family Just at present
glories in the possession OF a new
servant girl of German extraction.
They glory because for four months
the family has been unable to get
help. and even Lena, with her lack
of knowledge of American ways,
was hailed as almost a Godsend.
Lena is large and robust, but there
are many things in our modern ciyili-
cation that she does not understand,
and in fact regards with no little
awe. Elevated railroads, automobiles
and telephones are mysteries to her
entirely beyond her ken: The other
day tho mistress of the house was
buslly engaged upstairs when she
heard the peculiar noise made by the
telephone when Central wishs to In
form her that the receiver had been
left down. This noise is known as
tbe "snuawk." 1t is not a pleasant
noise, but 1t IS unmistakable. II can
be heard block, and the girls in the
Central Office delight in keeping It
going until the receiver is hung up
again.
The telephone downstairs began
10 squawk and the mistress at once
realized that her mischievous small
boy had been >tampering with the In
strument. She called downstairs to
Lena to hang 1t up,
Eyes, um," came Lena's reply
from downstairs, with noise OF
scurrying around.
And still the telephone kept up its
squawk.
Lena, the telephone, Just hang up
the receiver, you know; hang II up on
that little hook"
Unintelligible gasps we're heard
from Lena and what sounded almost
like a commotion, but still the
squawk continued. After minute
or two OF its distressing noise Madam
abandoned her work and rushed
downstairs to find out what the trou-
BILE was. Arrived in the hall, she
saw Lena armed with a kitchen
tongs in an attitude of fright and
desperation vainly trying to pick up
the receiver, syaying back and forth
on its long, green cord.
what In the world are YOU trying
to do, Lena?"
"I'm afraid of him He tried to
bite me-"
It was the same Lena who, few
DAYS later, came near severing the
cordial relations between her mis-
tress' family and that Of the deacon,
who lived next door. The deacon's
children were staying for supper one
night. The deacon IS a teetotaller,
and has brought his family up in the
strictest line of total abstinence
Lena" said the istress. go get
those ginger snap and bring them
to the children. hink they would
like them"
"Yes'um," auswered Lena. and
hustled off to do the best she knew
how. She rummaged in the side