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Show I Domestic I 1 Blunders 1 I of Women I I By A MERE MAN I? THE MISTAKES OF "THE MISSUS." It will bo in tho minds or all my readors thnt I opened up tho question of Servants and Mlstrosscs by showing show-ing thnt, whatevor faults servants have, women are responsible for them. That, I admit, was an Impeachment of "Tho Missus." I admitted, how-over, how-over, that servnnts wore far rrom blameless. I shall endeavor to develop de-velop this sldo of tho question, nnd point out somo further faults of tho servant system, and suggest somo remedies. I showed that servants nro what their mistresses mako them. Let us seo why mistresses make bad servants. serv-ants. To do this, wo must get back to tho purely business side of life. Hero women nro ngaln nt fault. In every business In tho world which Is managed by mon, and where novices nro employed, thoy aro taken as apprentices ap-prentices and nro taught their trade. It Is owing to tho lax way In which women do their work that all servants serv-ants nro moro or less amateurs, In tho senso that thoy aro Incompetent, or, at least, not qualified. I do not supposo that thero Is a slnglo servant in your employ, fair reader, who could toll you how sho acquired the rudiments, rudi-ments, to say nothing of tho flnosso, of her trade. , The result Is, nlmost invariably, tho disaster which follows tho blind leading, lead-ing, or driving, tho blind. It may bo said that I am not qulto fnlr In Judging Judg-ing mistresses entirely from the point of view of professional mon. Lot me, thorcforo, take another oxamplo, which is rather of tho accidental order or-der of profession, nnd has to do with tho lighter sldo of lifo. Tako a man whom fortune, or misfortune, makes n theatrical manager. To be successful ho must acquire a knowledge of many things. Ho has to learn something of literature, somothlng of music, somothlng of painting, something of dresses, somothlng of carpentry, mechanics, me-chanics, finance, nctlng, nnd many other oth-er things, and not only learn them in a general wny, but must know ex-nctly ex-nctly how much every llttlo Item costs, . tlyji)rIga.of cnjiyns.nnlls. vooi. Hlut-needles, Hlut-needles, &!lk, printing, otcC, etc. Thnt all managers know nil thoso things I nm not prepared to ndmit, but it Is qulto clenr that the man who does not know them Invariably falls In tho long run, ovon though ho Is prepared to employ people who do. Tho absolute chaotic stats of tho servant question Is due to generations of women who havo let things slide. Tho sqoner they return to first prln-jilplolC prln-jilplolC tho better. What aro theso principles? Go and seo how your fntlicTTyour,' brother, or your husband manages his business. You vlll find that It Is on precisely tho same principles prin-ciples that men havo manAged their business for generations. Why is domestic do-mestic Borvico tho only profession or trado in tho world which Is overstocked over-stocked and detested? Simply bo-causo bo-causo It is tho only ono over which womon preside, nnd tho only ono which-is villainously mismanaged, to tho disadvantage of the mistress and the servant allko. Tho cause for this is not far to seek. Domestic service is tho only labor In tho world whoro tho duties and obligations of tho employe em-ploye and employer aro not doflnltoly defined. The result Is constant friction. fric-tion. Thoro Is but ono remedy. Thero should bo tho written or printed agreement, which exists In all other paths of buslnosrf, between tho mistress mis-tress and tho servant. I suppose that tho first thing I shnll bo told is that no servant would sign such nn agreement. agree-ment. With nil respect, I Join Ibbuo with this statement. If tho ngrcement wero not entirely ono-slded, overy sorvnnt In tho world would bo only too ready to sign It nnd nbldo by it. This is proved by tiro fact that, whor-evor whor-evor a union of mon or womon is formed, tho first domnnd is for definite defi-nite rules and a deflnlto ngrooraont. An agreement, If properly drawn up, would bo for mutual protoctlon. It would shield tho sorvant from being imposed upon, and fiom boing thrown out at tho more whim of a mistress in tho tantrums. It would socuro for tho mistress that tho work of her J bbBI rBBJBJv Louso was properly dono, and proteo ' tl6n from tho neglect and destruction of her property. Tho present lax system sys-tem breods nothing but mistrust rather rath-er than confidence. This, as overy ono must agree, Is tho root of dissension. dissen-sion. As mnttcrs aro at present man-nged, man-nged, no servnnt knows oxnetly what hor work Is, and sho novor has any Idea that good conduct and faithful servlco will result In any reward but tho kick-out when sho 13 gottlng to that ago when It Is not very easy to find a place. If I wero managing a houso, and about to engago sorvants, I would re i qulro each person whom I employed' to sign an ngroomont. In this document, docu-ment, of which tho Bcrvant should havo a counterpart, signed by myself, It would bo sot forth that. In tho caBO of, say, a housemaid, Bho should prop-orly prop-orly clean, ovory day botweon tho " hours of so-and-so, certain rooms which would bo allottt to hor, and for which sho would bo rcsponslblo, and perform such other work as was reasonablo and was agreed upon. 1 should also furnish each servant with an Inventory of such proporty as was- , In her charge, and when any article was broken or missing I should ro-qulro ro-qulro her to report tho mattor at once, and, if tho amount of damage was over and abovo n certain porcont-ago porcont-ago of fair wear and tear, I should, possess tho right to deduct so mucb ' I Women & co I - is " "-- Pi fVAjf do ivemtnjait 14 from hor wages. On my sldo, I should- i jj plodgo myself to employ, and pay hoi 15- a certain wage for a certain time, the I said wage to Increase aftor certain 1 dates If still In my employ. I should- further Insist on my right to mark J hor character with such offenses n 1 sho might bo guilty of from timo to J tlmo, but which should bo consldorod .rBif"' as atoned for nftcr a certain period ot -rjH goodtcondiic..and Uwoulrt niedKo'my- ) JJp1 ncir vfnubstltuto for ?tliat rjsrsejnoilt flj' a character which would correspond Ak with tho marking of tho agreement WSk' at such timo as sho left my sorvlco. Kl- For Instnnce, supposing that a cook BHj got tipsy. If she were a good sorv- H 9 ant, I should bo Inclined to look over i the matter tho first tlmo, but I should Kp Insist on marking tho agreement. This B sno would nnturnlly agreo to, as it B . would bo to her Interest to llvo down B. i her ollonso by romainlng sober for a ! year, nt which tlmo her sin would bo V , considered as purged, nnd, If sho cIiobo Ba to lcavo then, I should bo bound to B glvo hor a character saying sho had H boon In my service a year, that sho was a good cook, and was cloan, eco- Bj nomlcnl, honest nnd habitually sober. ' H Besides this, I should take Btock H overy six months. This Is usual In all B businesses, and It Is eminently dcslr- ablo In the management of a house I Every mistress knows that when any- thing Is missing It is said to havo been I broken "a long tlmo ugo," and, unless 1 soma sorvant has left, It Is impossible I to discover who wns tho delinquent, 1 moro especially as nobody Ib respon- 1 slblo. Another thing which Is in tho experience of all housewives is that thero is such a thing as wilful destruction, de-struction, or what appears to bo remarkably re-markably llko 11. Tho knowledge of this only comes when you engago a now servant. Tho morning nftor hor arlval sho Invariably ropoits, If Bho Ib a cook, that "thoro la nothing In tho kitchen," and pots nnd pans, nnd I ovorythlng appertaining to kitchen I utensils hnvo to bo roplacod. If It is J a housomald, sho demonstrates that I thero aro no brushes, thnt tho handlo I of tho dust-pan is broken, that all tho I blacking Is used up, and tho dusters I aro a mass of holcB. If It Is a parlormaid, parlor-maid, thoro aro no cups, tumblors, or glass-cloths, and sho says Bho finds all tho tablecloths and napkins aro la a very bad way. I do not dopart from my original . . - . stntomont that tho real fault of all tho discomfort and oxtravaganco of "Home" lifo Is duo to "tho Missus," but I hopo I havo shown that my oyes nro qulto open to tho servant's Ehare in it. Sorvants, howovor, I think, cannot can-not bo expected to tako much pride whoro thoy havo no responsibility, and no reward for looking after interests in-terests which are not their own. A system which exists In no othor branch of life, and which is eminently unsntlsfuctory whoro It flourishoB, must bo In need of somo remedy. I mako tho suggestion modostly, but I am deeply interested in its reception, and I trust mistresses and servants allko will glvo It consideration. That things nro In a vory bad state nobody can dony, Tho question is, can wo ar- ' rive at a solution? (Copyright by Funk & Wngnalls Co.) |