Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1883 — The Servant Girl Question. [ARTICLE]

The Servant Girl Question.

One of the great difficulties in the way of getting on cmmfortably with hired help is, I belief, the proneness on the part of the mistress to forget that Bridget is flesh and blood the same as herself, and not a machine warranted to keep in good, order and never wear out, and this without the lubricating oil of consideration or kind words. Particularly is this the case with those who are never without help in their kitchens. They forget, if they have ever known, how wearing are the long days of excessive toil; how wearisome are the big washings, the tedious ironing, the hard scrubbings, the hot bakingi; or, if the matter is thought upon at all, it is too often only to chafe that the work does not progress more swiftly, or to chide at little short-comings and defects. While it is generally expected of Gretehen that she possess great physical endurance, it is quite as frequent demand that her sensibilities be of minimum quantity. She is never to show temper, to flare up or grow touchy at commands or reprimands, is never to “aiM'WB back” under z any extremity, but iwto “know hei place’ ■ and keep it. The distress forgets that Mie average girl, while she has*ljuite as much sensitiveness (a morbid sensitiveness if you will) as herself, has, ordinarily, far less discipline and self-control. Often the authority of the mistress, the temper of the maid and the comfort of the whole household are wrecked on the rock of trivialities. The wife and mother forgets or ignores the fact ol how much more important to herself and family are her life and health, hei vital powers of body and mind, than whayjgr thesjaßet is upon the ■'cn.ik-SW othtewStheJKpi baked .wiUi utBB: st Saffig n Joyped upon t theßwb perE*buT '<l, ’ tlii- ofaßnee fbr an agreeable oi^-Wf th -irar effectually swept away. Again, where the mistress is not over severe with a girl so far as hard work is concerned, she sometimes—priding herself upon her skill in managing—so arranges it that the girl never has an hour that she may rightfully call her own. Sewing, knitting, patching, piecing, baby-tending, take up all the leisure time, and the girl, if she goes ever so briskly about her morning tasks, has nothing to look forward to but an afternoon filled to its utmost capacity with other kind of work. This is discouraging to even the most active and besttempered (for we cannot expect others to take interest in our work quite as we do ourselves), and Bridget is likely to become a drone, dragging out her work indefinitely anti with very little regard to the time in which it should be done. —The Country Gentleman.