OCR Text |
Show yJS33rCJQC5E2S3fr355S3Gir,t'v ' 'Domestic j, j Blunders j of Women j1 9 By A MERE MAN J THE MANAGEMENT OF SERVANTS ! . ""V1. V one Idea in these -v 15 A u m,lclPS ls to '-' 4UV strictly fair to Vzk wcmcn, and not, CPviV as so man' "thcr fU V. w r It o r s h iv v e YTvllfcJl V done, to attack 1 1j tlicm ltnfalily on 8 V)V subjects of anl Si VW n ilrois, etrava- 1 J R W t'!lllco' '" "" tlf W 0 Hio other well v IP worn tonics. To 5 lavo follow cil In tho Hues or in predecessors would, to in) mind h-ne been to ptovo in) own weakness foi v,o (annot change n woman's natiiic nn inoie than wu can man's, and, therefuie, to attack women because thev are flcUlo or vainglorious aiems to mo as absurd as to attempt to proe that man Is not tho supouor animal because he Ir, by Instinct, tond of cakes and ale. Ilcally, I do not want to attack at all, because- It Is as natural to mo 1 V to be fond of women as It la for chtl- . N 4. drcn to be fond of tos. M) real idea Is to give women an eippoitunlty for defense, and to prove tlielr slrengtn. It Is for this reason that I attack them where they elect to be considered strongest, namely, in their homes. Tho cry of late jears Is that women aro as good as men that they have been persecuted and kept under for jears, and that, therefon . they should lot bo expected, In tho (lrst jears of their emancipation, to be up to competing With men as bicad-w timers. That Is quito reasonable, ni d. therefore, I do not slid at thoir mismanagement of I the political and commercial sides of life. Hut tho management of tho house they have always had, and, as I have said, there the) fall sadly either to provide comfort, or to spend mono In tho proper wn Woman's mission Is to alwa)s put the blame on some one else. Hve he-Kan he-Kan It. She put tho blame on tho serpent, and her daughters havo ever since blamed the seipent on the hearth the servant Do not run away with any Idea that I am going, for more love of paradox, to champion Borvnnts. A French wiltcr has said, "So many sen ants so many spies," and. In my mind, servants nro many things worse than spies Hut let servants serv-ants he, ns the aro, woman's ocuso t j or over) thing Hint goes wrong, Just A a3 servants put ever) thing on the cat. V- I accept the gage. 1'or the purposes of argument, we will admit that servants serv-ants nro at tho bottom of all tho ovlls of home life Now let us Inquire into that. Tho first question to ask tho woman In tho bo, who Is giving cvl- deiuo for the defense, la: "Who engnges tho sonants?" Tho answer Is "I do" Tho witness, be It understood, Is speaking on bo-half bo-half of women generall). The no.t question Is: "Who direct tho seivants?" Tho nusvvci Is tho same, "I do." 1'uri. jlng this line, I nsk the mistress: "From whom do jour seivants learn tiioir business.'" "Krom mo!" "And aujlhlng they don't know, I may tnko it, Is duo to tho fact that former mistresses hare not taught, or hao failed to teach, them?" "That Is so" I "Then, If the cntlio education, en- fiaglng, pa) lng, munnglrg and dis charging of servants is carried on b) women, and If tho pioportlon of women wom-en over men servants Is veiy largo, tho cntlro blame for tho unsatisfactory unsatisfac-tory state of the servant question must bo duo to women?" The witness does not answor, nnd, on being pressed, bursts Into tears, i and llrnlly sajs 4, "It Is all tho fault of tho men!" Men, as a rule, havo nothing to do with servants, tho Inrgor piopoitlon of serrnntb aio women, and, therefore there-fore tho faults of sorvantB Is onlj another proof Hint women are Incapable Incapa-ble of mming.ng another veij largo flection of n nccosslty which should go to irniko conifnit nnd economy In tho homo Hut pi i baps It Is not fair to Judco cntlielj bj majorities Let vs look at the ec ptlon which again l'rovca tho rule Ilni In bus Keep thoir tn one cj htr tjntrumt. sorvantB, men or women, for jears, and, with a few exceptions, always apeak of them as tieasurus Why I J this? Ask nny Borrnnt who applies to jou tor n (situation why ho or sho loft his or ho.- Inst place Tho almost Invariable Inva-riable nnswor Is "I could not got on - , with tho mistress " Ask whj nny 4 gontlomnn's gentleman, or my lad) "a maid, lft his oi or o"'- ! rn-i tho answer ai'1 always, The inlx-uu tho missus Hi, niltM's At. a mlo, I when a servant gives notice, and Is tisked by his waste wl y he wishes to lonve, the answer ' "I can't ad-fy ad-fy inv mlsti i - It ' ni I i m't r i on w.th tl i' i - i ReldoTi mmi Mn tin' ' innnot gei on with 'tho raaitiT it is always ' "tho missus " Again I ask -why is this i The meit unHtlbfnitory and sulkv f-'tnale orvant will always s-n'le an i do anvlhiiig rhtufullv fin her mastei or tlio veiling goinlctncn of the hou'e j nnd when she Is In ono of her tan trums It u( )n nine cases out of ten because she cm rot gel on with the ' missus or the veiling ladies, or the other femil servants for the com plaint of servants Is ulvvnjs against what they csll "Sho." "Sho" ls the to: ir of the suvnnt of elthei so, nnd where there Is dissension downstairs, the rrniaie servant Is nlvvujs nt the bottom of it Docs not all this bhow Hint mlsticxscs cannot innuiige servants, serv-ants, and that female servants cannot manage ol o atiotl or' The se vanl3 of a house cost as much, as a rule, ns the rent ami taxes, nnd jet the) never give satisfaction nnd nro never satisfied Whj is this" I could easllj Unci llfty reasons to nc count for It The mistress who over works, the nil tress who itniierwoiks. the mlstie-s who Is unkind, tho mistress mis-tress who Is too kind, the mistress who ls too strict, the mistress who is not stiicl enough, the mlstiess who makes favorites etc, etc, would all ptovo fruitful subjects to enlaige upon were they not too obvious The re mnrknble thing about the whole question ques-tion Is, that though moiiej will seen se-en ie jou ever) thing on the earth, no amount of wages will Indue o servants, serv-ants, us u mle, to stop long In a place. It Is a ml'tako to Imagine that serv ants aro Independent nnd loo to loam. As a matter of fact, they aro tei rilled to leave, because the) never know what character a Bpitoful mistress mis-tress ma) give them, and ono bad character means tho street It is tho haunting fear of this which makes them, If posslhlo give notice, before the) receive It, for this is thoir only protecton Is It natural to suppose that any friendless, and homeless, nnd i moneyless cieatuto wllllngl) leaves a good roof, good food, and good wages, to run the chance of meeting a worso mistress? The thing Is absurd, for the motto of servants ls tho not very loft) ono of (lorvalso: "To have enough to eat nnd drink, to work all their lives, to dlo In their beds, nnd be burled decently " When I was a little fellow, I heard The mistress who tsnertmd. a servant say that the fnto of n servant serv-ant was "To woik while jou aro joitng, to beg when jou are old, and to go to tho devil when )ou die " I havo never forgotten It. Thoro ls er) nine h to be snid on tho biibject of mistresses and servants serv-ants v or) much mote than 1 have either space or pith nee ffn. and thorn would be verv l.ttle use In Hii)lng It If I hnd, as it seems all very obvious ob-vious when jou come to think of it, which women appaientl) never do Hut this fact lemalns. We nro as much Indebted to servants for tho comfoits of home life as wo are to oui wives and daughtoiH. The only difference between the two classes ls that homo of us are allowed to try and manage our wives and daughters, and some of us succeed, but nouo of us are ever allowed "to Interfere with the servants", all wives and daughters daugh-ters mismanage them, to our boro dlsLomfoit and theli own; another thing Is that we can got lid of our set v ants but not of oui wives and daughters, who, I candldl) beliove, aro reall) tho most to blame, though, poor souls, I do bollevo most of them try. Tho fact remains, howovor, that women arrogate to themselves tho management of lerinnts, and piovo their inrnpaill) for the task by tho doploiablo stato of tho borvnut market mar-ket Men manage shop gills, waitresses, wait-resses, factor) girls, and all sorts of women unpaged Ik their businesses; hut men cuniiot stop nt home to manage man-age servaits, and If they could, thoy could rot pi event the r wives nnd daughters Mom interfering. Tho question ques-tion Is Whnt Is to ho done bo that we may live In ponco when our day's woik Is done? It looks llko nn impasse, but It Is lot. Tho Inrgor piopoitlon of sorv-wits sorv-wits nro women, thereforo It Is women wo havo to doal with, Tho real rem-od) rem-od) Is to promptly sntk nil jour women wom-en Bcivnuts, and engage men only. Men sorvauts will cook, mako beds, sweep, and wnit at table. Why should thoy not do so for families? They do It In hotels, especially In Franco, In rofttnui ants, and In tho army. Women Wom-en uppaiently ennuot, or will not, lonin, itud womon appear to ho un-ublo un-ublo to tench them. M u can tcaoh themtotvo8 to cook in a very short time, nnd all the rest is child's play. Yes, tho solution of tho soivant question ques-tion Is to get rid of your women sorv-antn sorv-antn pnenpe men, nnd mi(o thorn en-llrel) en-llrel) answi i.ible to jouixelvesc. lion servants will tost n little more, hut one man can do two women's woik. Chinamen make rap'tal servants; so J do Hindoos Why not Ruropeans or An,eilcan'' i iupiibln Ij Funk Ac WiiMiallB Co) |