Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 249, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1915 — New York Domestics Live In Luxury for a Time [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

New York Domestics Live In Luxury for a Time

NEW YORK. —Surrounded by luxuries that would satisfy even the most extravagant desire of a millionaire, a dozen or more servants have been occupying the SIOO,OOO Van Beil mansion, in Highland avenue, Merion-on-the-

Main line. These servants are large beneficiaries of the will of Mrs. Mary Van Beil, who died recently. Before her death Mrs. Van Beil expressed the desire that her servants occupy her beautiful residence until they found homes elsewhere. Although dazed at first by the generous bequests made by Mrs. Van Beil, the servants soon became accustomed to the “wealthy feeling.’’ Those who only a few years ago crept humbly through the elegantly

furnished rooms of the mansion, flicking specks of dust here and there from furniture, now stroll easily and confidently from room to room, watching their reflections in imported mirrors. Kitchen maids, whose duty it was to keep silverware polished until it shone with the brightness of the sun, now, during leisure moments, recline to wicker chairs on the porch, where Mrs. Van Beil formerly entertained guests of social standing. The entire estate has been transformed into a servants’ paradise. To some of the servants it all seems like a dream. There isn t a servant living probably who has not “day-dreamed” about escaping from the drudgery of servantdom and becoming the master or mistress of a grand house, but not one, even in his or her most imaginative moments, ever believed that any such ever happened outside one of Grimm’s fairy tales.