The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 31, 1904, Page 5

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. G » &« 72 377D (TR Wi RIRAS ) st Spzy GEVE TN EXIRRZ POrISH 70 1M NMUSTARD POT WIITH HER MERON. —— Sy g AM glad to see, Mrs. Wilkins,” I said, “that the Wom- (19 en’s Domestic Guild of America has succeeded in solv- ing the servant girl problem—none too soon, one might say.” “Ah,” said Mrs. Wilkins, as she took the cover off the bacon and gave an extra polish to the mustard pot with her apron, “they are clever people over there. Leastways so I have always heard.” “This, their latest, Mrs. Wilkins,” I said, “I am inclined to regard as their greatest triumph. My hope is that the Women’s Domestic Guild of America, when it has finished with the United States and Canada, will perhaps see its way to establishing a branch in England. There are ladies of my acquaintance who would welcome, I feel sure, any really satisfactory solution of the problem.” “Well, good luck to it is all I say,” responded Mrs. Wilkins, “and if it makes all the gals contented with their places and all the mistresses satis- fied with what they’ve got and ’appy in their minds, why, God bless it!” “The mistake hitherto,” I said, “from what I read, appears to have been that the right servant was not sent to the right place. What the Women’s Domestic Guild of America IDDLE of the T “A’z‘z,‘ QF THELDLZ GEZELIED WITLING: FNOUGH 70 WORK, PROVIDED ONLY IHAT 77 WS WORK OF N0 USE 70 ANy Z2vie Souz; 2’ - proposes to do is to find the right servant for the right place. You see the difference, don’t you, Mrs, Wilkins?” “That’s the secret!” agreed Mrs. Wilkins. “They don’t anticipate any dif- ficulty in getting that right sort’ of gal, I take it?” “I gather not, Mrs. Wilkins,” I replied. “There must be plenty of girls of the right sort.” Mrs. Wilkins is of a pessimistic turn of mind, as I think T have before stated. “I am not so sure about that,” she said; “the Almighty don't seem to ’ave made too many of that sort. Unless these American ladies that you speak of are going to start a factory of their own I am afraid there is disappointment in store for them.” “Don’t throw cold water on the idea before it is fairly started, Mrs. Wilkins,” I pleaded. “Well, sir,” said Mrs. Wilkins, “I ’ave been a gal myself in service, and in my time I’ve ’ad a few mistresses of my own, and I’ve ’eard a good deal about others. There are ladies and ladies, as you may know, sir, and some of them, if they aren’t exactly angels, are about as near to it as can be looked for in this climate, and they are not the ones that do most of the complaining. But as for the average mistress—well, it ain’t a gal she wants; it’s a plaster image, without any natural innards—a sort of thing as ain, t ’uman and ain’t to be found in 'uman nature. And then she’d grumble at it if it didn’t ’appen to be able to be in two p%aces ‘at once.” “You fear that the standard for that ‘right girl’ is likely to be set a trifle too high, Mrs. Wilkins,” I auqested. “That right gal, according to the notions of some of ’em,” retorted Mrs. ilkins, “’er place ain’t down ’ere among us mere mortals; 'er place is up in ’eaven with a ’arp and a golden crown!” “But how is it,” I argued, “that in hotels, for instance, the service is excellent, and the girls, generally speaking, seem contented? The work is hard and the wages not much better, if as good.” “Ah,” said Mrs. Wilkins, “you ’ave ’it the right nail on the ’ead there, sir. They go into the hotels and work like niggers, knowing that if a single thing goes wrong they will be bully- ragged and sworn at till they don’t know whether they are standing on their ’eads or their ‘eels. But they ’ave their hours; the gal knows when ’er work is done, and when the clock strikes she is a 'uman being once again.” “I see your point, Mrs. Wilkins,” I said, “and, of course, in a house where two or three servants were kept, some such plan might easily be arranged. The girl who commenced work one month at 6 o’clock in the morning might consider herself free at 6 o’clock in the evening and be perfectly free. What she- does "with herself, how she dresses herself, in her own time, that is her affair. What church the clerk or the workman be- longs to, what company he keeps, is no concern of the firm. The mistress who thinks it her duty to combine the roles of employer and of maiden aunt is naturally resented. The next month the girl would change her hours from 12 till 12, and her fellow servant would enjoy the 6 a. m. to 6 p. m. shift. But how do you propose to deal, Mrs. Wilkins, with the smaller menage, that employs only one servant?”’ “Well, sir,” said Mrs. Wilkins, “it seems to me simple enough. Ladies talk pretty about the dignity of labor and are never tired of pointing out why gals should prefer domestic service to all other kinds of work. Suppose they practice what they preach. In the house where there’s only the master and the mistress, and say a couple of small children, let the lady take her turn. After all, it's only her duty, same as the office or the shop is the man’s. Where, on the other hand, there are biggish boys and gals about the place—well, it wouldn’t do them any ’arm to be taught to play a little less and to look after themselves a little more. It's just arranging things— that’s all that’s wanted.” “You remind me of a family I once knew, Mrs. Wilkins,™ I said; “it consisted of the usual father and mother and of five sad, healthy girls. They kept two servants—or, rather, they never kept any servants; they lived always looking for ser- vants, breaking their hearts over servants, packing servants off at a moment’s notice, standing disconsolately looking after ser- vants who had packed themselves off at a moment’s notice, wondering generally what the world was coming to. It oec- curred to me at the time that, without much trouble, they could have lived a peaceful life without servants. The eldest girl was learning painting and seemed unable to learn any- thing else. It was poor sort of painting; she noticed it herself. But she seemed to think that, if she talked a lot about it and thought of nothing else, that somehow it would all come right. The second girl played the violin. She played it from early morning till late evening, and friends fell away from them. There wasn’t a spark of talent in the family, but they all had a notion that a vague longing to be admired was just the same as genius. Another daughter fancied she would like to be an actress and scregmed all day in the attic. The fourth wrote poetry on a typewriter and wondered why nobody seemed to want it ; while the fifth one suffered from a weird belief that smearing wood with a redhot sort of poker was a thing worth doing for its own sake. All of them seemed willing enough to work, provided only that it was work of no use to any living soul. With a little sense and the occasional assistance of a charwoman they could have led a merrier life.” “If I was giving away secrets,” said Mrs, Wilkins, “T'd say to the mistresses, ‘Show yourselves able to be independent.’ It’s because the gals know that the mistress can’t do without them that they sometimes give themselves airs.” Copyright, 1904, by the Central News and Press Exchange.