The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1918-01-10
A Plysse of the
Servant Question
By ELlNOR MARSH


man in the world. He was constantly
making deductions with regard to them.
For instance. if he saw a woman pasA
mirror. glance at her reflection, adj
just her hat or some other portion OF
her apparel he would assume that she
was vain. When he married me be
took especial pains to discover whether
was popular with my own sex. Il
wouldn't give fig for woman whom
! women don't like" he said in telling
me Of his precaution after we were
married and in doing so paid me the
compliment to say that in my case the
,, report was favorable. l didn't consider
it a compliment. for my very best wo-
man friend had never been popula.
with women simply because they didn't
understand her.
We lived in a town on the Pacific
coast where the only servants to be had
were Chinese We went to hOusekeep-
ing as soon as we We're married, and
hired cook named Charlie Lee. Charlie
agreed to give me a months notice be-
fore leaving. but some one offered him
50 a month more than l was paying
him, aud without either swing NE the
stipulated notice or the privilege even
of raising his wages he left me the day
before l was to have friends in for din
ner. More than this. ne demanded
wages for two weeks when he had been
with me only eight days. l paid him
for one week and told him to 90. and
60 quickly, and never show his face in
my house again.
When John came home and l told
him what had happened l saw by the
wrinkle in his forehead that lie consid-
cred me in some way to blame, but he
said nothing. | secured another China
he told me at the end VI the first week
that he would stay with me no longer
Are you sure,' asked John, "that
you have said or done nothing to ruttle
HING.
I'm sure I've neither said nor done
anything that should ruttle him.
John turned to the evening paper
that he had brought home with him.
and knew he considered there was
something wrong with ME or l would
not have lost two servants within a
month. The third Ch;naman stayed
with me just two days. 49,.
John had refrained from speaking his
mind on the servant question till this
third cook left Inc. Then we had our
first spat.
You must admit, my DEAR" he said,
that there is some reason for the de-
parture Of all your servants"
you mean that don't treat them
kindly" ... ..ss.l. :
mot that, but perhaps your manner
may be trif1e dictatorial"
II should have supposed" retort-
ed, "that you would have inquired be-
fore marrying me whether my manner
to servants was deferential enough"
you misunderstood me. Our man.
ner is something for which we are
not responsible being born to it. can
readily understand how these simple
Chinese. exiles from their homes, may
have sensitiveness to kindness that
heard no more, for went out OF the
room, and | fear ! shut the door after
me a trife harder than was necessary
determined that would find out
what was preventing my keeping
servant ii had to send to the Flowery
Kingdom for native detective. | went
to friend. told her the circumstances
and asked her advice.
"These Chinese are very clannish."
she said. "What one does thsy all do"
But how do they all know enough to
do the same thing? Those l have had
surely were not acquainted"
Il have had one of them for years"
she said. IN ask him il he can ex-
! plain"
Chang Wing. her servant, was called
in and the case put to him. He said he
would go to see me the next day after
his work was finished. he. came, as he
agreed, and walked straight into the
kitchen, where he commenced to exam.
Inc the furniture and cooking utensils
Then he looked into every crevice and
corner IT. struck me that be was search
ing for evidence Of the presence Of mice
in the house. for l had heard 0. the
Chinese appreciation of this fdelicacy.
and Informed him that there were none
and wouldn't. have them on my prem
ises on any account. He paid no atten-
tion to the information, keeping on
with bis ransacking. He looked on the
bottoms Of the chairs and the pots and
Kettles. turned up the oilcloth on the
floor. removed every article in the
Kitchen closet and examined it as yell
as the walls and the shelves. Finally
he took down the clock and looked at
its back. Then knew from the Celes-
tial look on his face that he had found
what lie had been searching for.
what is it?" asked eagerly. :.
He pointed to some Chinese charac.
tiers chalked on the back Of the clock
and translated them:
Every bad woman. Doesn't pay the
wages"
Charlie Lee, my first cook, was the
only one of the lot had had any diff,
ference with about money, and, Of
caurse, it was he who had passed the
word to his successors.
When John came home that evening
told him that thought l had discov.