Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1892 — THE MOVEMENT FAILED. [ARTICLE]

THE MOVEMENT FAILED.

An Attempt to Repress Extravagance In Dregs Among Hired fflrii. _ . r • There is a ycung matron living in one of the small cities in the interior of New York State who doubtless, in her moments of honest self-comm Union, wishes she had let well enough, ff>r ill enough alone. She undertook recently, single-handed, a crusade from which many an older and bolder woman might have and has shrunk. Her sense of propriety and the eternal fitness of things w-as wounded by the attire of her own and her friends’ woruCn servants. Gay colors, -£ilk and satin fabrics, flowers, feathers, ribbons—all the fripperies which the soul of Bridget delights inr-she felt were neither suitable nor becoming, apd she determined to bring about a change. To this end she drew up and circulated for signatures ainoug her friends a petition or resolution which should bind every signer not to employ or retain in her service ‘any maid who would not consent to restrict her attire to certain prescribed limits, which were, practically, plainly made dark gowns with cap and. apron when on duty, and pothing better than a woolen gown of simple design for Sunday and day off use. \ But, alas, for the loyalty of friends! Although many, indeed most of the recipients of the pledge had joined, with its author.,in complaints of the evil it strove to mitigate, when it came, to taking a bold stand in the matter their courage was lacking. The paper made its round aDd returned signerless. But it was not without result. One of those whom it wa3 designed to educate got a knowledge of its existence and piission. The story spread from kitchen to kitchen, gaining force aud length as it flew. The maids attempted a coalition and succeeded better than tue mistresses. A boycott was declared against the young matron who foolishly thought td 1 make ■lwayagamstJhelhttepEDLdehceQTAmer~iean iictp, and. her corps of servants is now secured front outside places. A complement and moral to this story, says a writer in the Sun, is the recent experience of a Brooklyn lady. Christmas brought her a coveted sealskin sacque, of whlcH TTsr colored nurse was, as events proved, a most sincere admirer. The maid was about to purchase a winter cloak, and the horror of the mistress may be fancied when she appeared in it. Although of coarse, brown plush, in color, style and general effect it was the sac-simile of of her own costly fur garment. The lengths of the two cloaks did not vary half an iif’ch; they were both of sacque shape, and so identical in appearance that at a glance they appeared to ho twin garments. To increase the wretchedness of the situation, the mistress was in mourning, anid the maid had a black cloth dress for usual wear. It was the lady’s habit on every pleasant day to take her nurse and baby over to spend an hour with her invalid mother, and to do so she must traverse a couple of blocks'Of a fashionable thoroughfare. One ordeal was enough. Sin? tried to induce the nurse to exchange her garment fdr one'of anothef style, offering to pay any loss she might sustain, but Topsy was indignant, and clung to her elegance. Then, as the seaLskirrCould pot go, the maid had to. The nurse lost a good place and the mistress a faithful servant through incompatibility—not of temper, but of clothes —all m atrphr- may re ad with complacency.