Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-10

to be called by their Christian names. though
they were inclined to think visitors should
use the surname. The queer custom among
some mistresscs of calling successive maids
by name not their own is fiercely resented
TNHE loneliness, monotony and lack of in
l. tcrest in many households is repeatedly
referred to. The average domestic spends
her life looking ont on backyard or an
area "They have few chances Of meeting
men suitable to marry, and every woman
wants home Of her own "In the w. II.
y. S. wrote a third woman "one is a por-
ton of useful whole, instead of being n
necessary evil in a perhaps unnteresting
family That certainly puts the position
of many girls in a nutshell.
Some of these answers come from ind-
viduals a. a depot. others are summaries by
the officers in charge of the opinions ex-
pressed in conversations in organized de-
bates by many girls, and most of them are
agreed in regard to four points. The hours
of service are too long-they quote as an
average day from a. m. or 6 80 to 10 80
or II. but none of them is vehement about
this or say, as they well might do, that such
hours arc positively inhuman.
All their suggestions arc reasonable. They
ask for fixed time off every day, either for
now find in the w. II. n. S. keeps them so
fit. for one or sometimes for two fixed eve
nings a week. for a weekly half holiday and
morning or afternoon off on alternate Sun
days. Some want in the afternoon only time
for exercise: it is only in the evenings that
they csn see their friends and all want to be
at liberty to use their spare time as they like,
staying at home If they choose to, but free
from any calls for work. In only one case
was it suggested that yearly two weeks
holiday should be granted.
TNHE words "give and take" "bear and
l. forbcar." "civility," Consideration and
sympathy occur again and again in these
answers as explanations of the way to i'm
prove conditions and make life pleasanter.
The give and take is to be between servants
and employers and between servants and
| their fellows There is some complaint Of
| the way upper servants tyrannize over the
younger ones and of the favoritism shown by
many mistrcsses to individual servants. All
servants should be treated alike, and the en-
| poycr should not listen to gossip or to tales
| brought her by servants admitted to her
| special favor.
''Mistfesses are too apt to forget that the
| constant strain of heavy indoor work is apt
| to react OIL servants nerves and make them
| Catty.' Some mistresses do not realize
! how much tact is required to make group
of women happy living under intimate con
| ditons." An illuminating comment by one
| writer is that where only one servant is kept
| and the mistress helps with the work, she
| takes the most interesting work for herself
aud leaves the drudgery to the maid.
TT IS generally agreed that while the do =
L mcstc worker, except for the restriction
of her liberty and the monotony of her work.
is in some ways better off than the clerical
worker, the factory girl or the chauffeur,
| she is looked down upon by them and by most
| of their world as a person of inferior position
| doing unskilled work. She minds the social
| stigma very much, and now with her wider
experience and her knowledge of skilled
workers she minds still more the accusation
of neficicncy. A good deal is said about the
necessity Of being properly trained.
The women who have worked with the
| Wrens "have found that the work of pri
vate house can be so arranged that the maids
| can have more time of every day." ''Tht
most annoying thing is to do unnecessar,
work, or waste time for want of proper i'm
! plements and conditions. One write,
thinks domestic servants would like TO be
come expert in the byways of housework
would like TO be able to replace washers. 1,
cover furniture, TO paint and paper, and, il
fact, to feel equal 20 every domestic occasion
The answers IN their very reasonablenes
are an indictment of the existing system
For instance, the suggestion that the EN-
J ployes should be allowed TO have baths surel
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