Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1912-12-13
SERVANTS OF RICH
Usually Retire With Means, Says
a Former English Butler.
TIPS A SOURCE OF REVENUE.

In His Case Amounted to Almost @
Thousand Pounds In Four Years.
Commissions From Tradespeople
Help.
The revelations of a retired butler
published in London Answers, make
an unusually interesting story. The
writer says that the upper servants in
the employ OF inillionaires and other
very well to do folks nowadays find
their employment extremely profitable.
A butler in household with four or
i've assistants under him would be
paid from $50 to $3.50 per annum. A
housekeeper in q large establishment
would receive about the same wages.
A valet might be paid anything from
f200 to f400 per annum and the "lady's
maid from E150 to $500 per annum.
But in addition to their. wages the up
per servants in big establishment
make good deal of money out of per-
quisites.
when I was butler in the estab-
lishment Of well known millionaire
banker / made during the four years
l was in his service close on a thou
sand pounds in tips. Gentlemen visiting
at his country house never gave me
less than sovereign, and sometimes
| would receive a FIVE pound note.
remember on one occasion an Amerl-
can millionaire who came down to stay
with my then master from Friday to
Tuesday gave me a twenty pound note.
l thought he had done so by mistake,
which was the case.
II showed him the note, and after
looking at it for a moment he said
don't think | make mistakes Of that
sort twice which meant l was not to
expect a similar tip when he came to
the house again.
But tips are not the only perquisite
Of the servants Of the very well to do.
Wallets and ladies' maids make no end
Of. money in commissions from trades
people patronized by their masters and
mistresses. l know valet who was
for ten years in the employ Of very
wealthy duke. who used to make be-
tween three and four hundred a year
in commissions from tailors, jewelers.,
tobacco merchants and other trades
people with whom his master spent
large sums Of money every year. 1t
was the, custom OF the duke to pay all
these tradespeope through his valet.
But ladies' maids make more in COM
mission than any other servants. A
wealthy society lady might spend any
thing from two to four thousand year
on her dress, and on this her chief
dresser would certainly get 10 per
cent from the milliners and modistes
patronized by her mistress. l know
several ladies' madison dressers, as
they are nowadays called-who make
from five to seven hundred a year alone
in commissions from tradespeople.
"In addition to this, the chief dresser
to a very wealthy lady as a rule re-
ceives all her mistress left off dress
es as a perquisite, which she can dis
pose of as she pleases. This perquisite
means a nice income when 1t Is borne
in mind that very well to do ladies In
society seldom wear a dress, that may
have cost anything from twenty to
hundred guineas, more than half doz-
en- times.
"Any upper. servant in q wealthy es-
adjustment can, II he or she Is ut all
thrifty, retire quite comfortably at ff-
ty. and many do so. But, on the other
hand, life as a servant in the houses
of the very we'll to do is not conducive
to the cultivation Of thrifty habits"
THE higher class servants in many
grea. establishments live as well or
almost as we'll as their master ana
mistress. The table In many servants
halls that have been In is quite as
good as that of any first rate hotel.
"The consequence is that many OF
the servants in wealthy establishments
acquire extremely eXtravagant habits
and tastes. | know servants who on
their holidays think nothing Of spend
ing 1900 or $500 on taking a trip to
some expensive continental watering
place, but their worst fault Is that of
gambling.
mot long since valet in the employ
of well known peer went bankrupt.
His chief creditor was a stockbroker,
TO whom he owed f2'S00. as the result
Of speculative transactions OH the
stock exchange.
"But q careful man or woman who
has held a good position in any very
we'll to do establishment can always
retire at fifty, and some, rs matter
of fact do so at forty. A few In their
retirement from service set up in bust
ness, but the great majority live on
their means"
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