Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-10-25
THE MAID OF ALL WORK

~ LOoAiaSN ~ ah p1
the name of Smithson may-organize
an expedition to search for the last
surviving specimen of the species
known as maid-of-all-work. And II
1t does 1t will probably discover that
it is too late. It will be able to dis
cover only fossil remains.
The species is almost as extinct as
the dodo. The maid-of-all-work has
practically disappeared, and her
passing makes countless thousands
mourn, has much to do with the high
cost of living. and is an important
factor in the development of family
and apartment hotels.
This maid was the prop upon
which many a family and home
depended. She did the cooking. the
washing. the ironing, the sweeping
and the busting, looked after the
children and sometimes sprinkled
the lawn. Then in her odd moments
she could do a trick in the garden,
or In the woodshed, or help with
the family sewing. And for the
faithful discharge of these simple
duties she was paid the munificent
wage of three dollars per week and
occasionally as much as fifteen dol
lars per month. Also she was per-
mitted to take her Sunday afternoons
off and to entertain her beau in the
kitchen one evening a week.
In most instances she vas an I'M
migrant girl from Ireland. Scandi-
navia, or Austria-Hungary. When
she was caught young and we'll train
ed she was a treasure and invariably
she was a horse for work. Usually.
too, when accorded fairly decent
treatment she was faithful and de-
voted, and when she liked her
folks would stay with them for
years. When she left-as a rule
only to get married-she would send
back to the old country for her sis
ter, OF her cousin or her best friend
to come over and take her place.
She was called a domestic, and she
was all of that. Her only ambition
was to run a home for somebody
else or herself.
There are people now living who
can remember this rare species of
household help. Many couples who
have celebrated their golden wedding
anniversaries will recall that they
started married life with the assist
ance of one. To moderns. of course,
such a domestic treasure is only a
matter of tradition. and the newly
weds and about-to-be-Weds of the
present generation are skeptical
about such traditions. They say that
a maid who would do general house,
work would be simply priceless to-
day, and they are right. She is
priceless. That is one Of the reasons
the species Is extinct.
Along about the time that Bryan
discovered the Crime of '73," some
twenty years after it was committed.
ana also revealed the menace to la
Dor of the crown of thorns, the maid
of-all-work began to get p~ernickety.
Then it was that Mrs. Banker en-
ticed Mrs. Lawyers household JOY
away with the offer of a slightly
higher wage and other desiderata.
and thereupon Mrs. America came
face't to face with the servant prob
lem.
Middle aged people will remember
the horror that engulfed them when
they heard that their neighbors were
paying their new maid twenty-five
dollars a month and having the
laundry tent out, and can date the
advent of the problem from that
hour. Bri=ht-eyed B%ridgets, moon
faced Olgas and rosy-cheeked Gret-
chens no longer came trudging up
to the back door looking for a Job.
The direful words, I'm leaving Sat
urday night" began to be heard in
the land and the Help Wanted' ads
began to be an important source of
revenue to newspapers. Some low
life who must have had b%olshevistic
tendencies even at that early day
started propaganda, why work all
the time for SO q week and get
housemaid's knee when YOU car
work only ten hours a dav for IS,
$40, or maybe $12 a week and get
only fiat feet or round shoulders in
q nice factory, and have every even
ing off, and Sundays too?" and the
crisis was imminent. If not actually
at hand
Mistresses began doing the trudg.
ing, making the rounds of domestic
help agencies. They visited ugly
dark, dank little rooms lined with
benches that were occupied by sun.
dry n divers specimens of servant
girls, and they did their bargainins
with cunning and cupidity arrayed
against them on the side of the ig.
norant workers. Once they had beer
exacting In what they required of q
maid, but thew found speedily that
the mistress who was hard to please
was out of luck. They encountered
too, a superciliousness and a hauteul
of the kitchen that they had nevel
known before outside a drawing
room.
In the circumstances It Is not sur
prising that shortly the apartment
or hotel where one could get alonf
without a servant began to super,
cede the household establishment.
that could not be operated unmann
ed and unmaided, and real home.
soon became old-fashioned or pos
sible only to the rich.
A little later came the cataclysn
in Europe and women workers wen
into Industry and into offices as new
err before. They discovered that the.
could carr wages such as they hat
scarcely dreamed of. and they learn,
ed too. the value of specialization
that the worker who could do on,
thing well was two or three timei
as valuable as the all-round or util
Nity worker. After that the maid-of
aU-work was virtually a creature Of
the past.
Today the only approximation o
this one-time treasure is the genera
houseworker who. if she is trained
commands a wage of from $50 {
month up. will not do any laundr.
work, will not look after the child
rem, usually demands assistance
when there is heavy cleaning to b.
done, will not work Sundays anC
must have one afternoon and evening
off during the week. A good cool