The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-05-02
BRITISH BARNARD
TOO OLD AT 80
According to Inquiry by Women's In
dustrial Council Regarding This Glass
of Workingwomen, of Which There
Are $4,000 in England Alone.

London, May 2.-"Too old at 80" is
the unhappy lot of the British barmaid
described in report by Mrs. Bernard
Drake of an inquiry made by the Wom-
ems Industrial council.
Barmaids are British institution.
Very few men are found behind the
bars in the saloons throughout the
United Kingdom, except proprietors.
There are $4,000 barmaids in England
alone. Frequent crusades have been
started with the purpose of eliminating
women, and particularly girls, from this
vocation but nothing lasting has been
accomplished. One reason is that the
saloon is the working mans club, and he
prefers those places where he can gos-
sip with the girls. On the whole the
influence of barmaids is to raise the at
mosphere of saloons, but the influence
of saloons upon the women is considered
bad.
"The barmaid soon grows old" says
the report. Sometimes she is old at %;
she is generally too old at 30" Her
chances of marriage are small unless she
marries the barman or the manager, and
almost the only recourse left TO her is
the streets. The number of women
on the London streets who have once
been barmaids is out of all proportion
TO the total numbers in the trade.
Mrs. Drake writes alphabetically OF
the women behind the bars. She SAYS:
"The barmaid is cheaper than the bar
man. She is more industrious more
sober, more amenable to the wishes Of
her employer. less rebellious against the
hard conditions Of publichouse life.
"There are women. women of fine char
acter, who earn in the bar decent and
respectable living, and art not unhappy.
There is even a woman OF robust health
and temperament who finds in the pub
liehouse certain vocation. The bar is
to other women immediate ruin.
"But all these are exceptions. The
barmaid who is of the majority, although
she loses nothing of self-respect, yet
continues at her post only in WEAKNESS
and loathing, and with a great fear in
her heart of that which the future is
to bring"
Wages for barmaids are no more than
domestic servants command in the
United States and the average working
day is IA hours. In houses patronized
by workingmen the average pay is $3.50
to So a week; in hotels it may rise to
$780, and for a head barmaid to $3.50
or even SIS. Board and lodging are al
ways furnished but the girls are expect
ed to dress well.
The barmaid, according to Mrs. Drake
belongs to the type of normal and aver
age working girl, industrious, sober and
honest, although she is to be distin
guished from her sisters by greater
measure of the love of youth for adven-
ture. She seldom adopts the career as
the result of false step. The work
ingman seldom loses his respect for the
barmaid as a woman worker; it is re-
served for the man about town to be
without all sense of honor or ehivalry
to women. Young and pretty girls are
chosen for the west end sa
looms which are the resorts of dissolute
men and fallen women, because the in
experienced girls attract the men. They
are given no protection by their employ
ers.
Two great evils of the present saloon
system are pointed out by the report
One is the long hours affecting the
health of both men and women and
leading to excessive drinking The other
is the exploitation of young girls which |
is responsible for their degradation. One |
reform proposed is that no girl under
the age of q shall be employed after |
o'clock, except on the premises of her |
parent, and another is that the bar shall |
be more fit place for both men and |
women.