to this large and influential class of ladies. Yet, as we treat of
servants, and endeavor to impress their duty upon them, we hope we may
be excused for saying a few words to those who have charge of them. From
the relation existing between a mistress and her servants, the mistress
is supposed to have had superior mental and moral advantages. Then let
that strongest of all incentives, a good example, be given. In some
cases, the only good influence likely to be exerted over the servant, is
by the mistress. No woman of right feelings can look upon her servants
as mere beasts of burden. She knows and feels that they have souls, and
are accountable beings; that each one is capable of extremes of misery
and happiness. Should they not therefore receive kind and careful
instruction in what is right? If the same regular system of domestic
service were employed in this country that exists in Europe,
housekeepers would be saved much labor. There, each department, even of
kitchen labor, is distinct, and a servant is promoted according to her
industry and improvement. But the expense of a large number of servants
is one that most people in our country feel unable to support.
Difficulties often arise from labor being required of servants that they
have not stipulated to perform; and no definite understanding as to the
extent of the privilege of receiving visitors is likely to prove a
source of trouble. The thousand petty annoyances to which a mistress is
subject, renders it necessary that she have a perfect command of her
temper. A mistress must make great allowance for ignorance of what is
right and wrong, for untamed passions, strong appetites, unimproved
reason, and want of self-control. Many domestics are foreigners--ignorant,
dull, and unacquainted with our language. We are sorry to say some
mistresses expect their servants to be faultless, when they themselves,
with their superior advantages, ar e not so. Mistresses are responsible,
to some extent, for the spiritual, as well as the mental and physical
good of their servants. They are in charge of immortal souls. The
tendency of their influence and example must be either elevating or
depressing. The quiet of the Sabbath, we think, might be granted to
those in most departments of domestic labor. Cooks, we think, might
prepare a dinner on Saturday, to be served cold on Sunday, with tea, if
the weather be cold, or the habits of the people require it. Sabbaths
have been called "milestones in the journey of life," and has not the
poor cook, steaming over the fire day after day, need to count the
milestones in the journey of her toilsome life? Says Mrs. Graves, in her
"Woman in America:" "Is it not strange, that, among all the societies of
the day, not one should have been formed for the intellectual and moral
improvement of domestic servants, and for instructing them in household
employments?" At the House of Protection, a Roman Catholic institution,
New York, girls and women of good character, out of employment, or
strangers in the city, are received on application. The girls are taught
to wash, iron, do housework, sew, and embroider. Would that the
Protestants would imitate this noble charity more fully! I am happy to
add that in connection with the Child's Nursery (a Protestant
institution), Fifty-first street, New York, has been commenced a
servants' school. Young girls taken into the institution receive a
year's instruction in washing, ironing, house cleaning, and sewing.
=448. Domestics.= We think an important work of benevolence presents
itself in Free States. It is providing homes for servant girls, when
they are out of employment or sick. Many of them are in a strange land,
unacquainted with the language and the ways of the people. When sick,
some of them are immediately sent off by their mistresses to save the
trouble of waiting on them. The negroes of the Slave States, when sick,
are (if they have kind masters and mistresses) as tenderly cared for as
any member of the family, and are never without a home in health or in
sickness. That lonely and wretched feeling of having no place to
consider home, is not their experience. Connected with this subject,
arises one to which we have never yet given much attention, but which
forces itself on our mind as one calling for attention from the
benevolent: it is the establishment of institutions for the afflicted
portion of the colored population, both in Slave and Free States. We
refer to the blind, the deaf and dumb, and the insane. We know of no
separate institution for such, and no arrangement whatever, with the
exception of limited arrangements for the insane, in connection with
institutions for white people. Now and then we hear people advocate the
old plan of binding orphans and destitute children. Whether that would
be advantageous, would depend altogether on the kind of people to whom
they were bound. Some servants soon fail, and are not fit for service
more than a few years. It arises mostly from their exposure to cold and
dampness without being properly clothed and fed, and sometimes from a
too free indulgence in the pleasures of the palate, particularly that of
the consuming liquid which burns out life and sense. The hard work that
most Irish women can perform, and the large number in this country, have
made them the most numerous domestics in the Free States. They are
generally employed as maids of all work. I think the number of American
girls going into service is increasing. The majority of white female
domestics in this country are single women, from sixteen to thirty-five
years of age. In Providence, R. I., a census was taken in 1855, stating,
among other particulars, the number of American families having
servants, the number in foreign families, and the aggregate; but the
number of white domestics has never been fully taken in the United
States, even when collecting statistics for the census. A short time
ago, we counted in the New York _Herald_ eight columns of situations
wanted, three fourths of which were by female domestics. It shows what a
surplus there is of domestics in the cities, that no doubt could find
situations through the country, and in the villages. The majority of
female domestics would rather starve in New York than go to the country,
or even little towns around for fair wages. I think it arises from the
fear that they will not find associates. A social feeling is natural,
but should be controlled by circumstances. With many, the great drawback
is the fear that they may not be able to have the privileges of their
own particular church; and still another is that they may not find the
place to which they go, or are sent, exactly what it is represented to
be, and the expense that would be incurred by a return. Domestics are
more respected in the country, and treated more as members of the
family, than domestics in towns. The preference is usually given, in
towns and cities, to domestics from the country, because of their
superior strength and better health. "For a person to be a good servant,
there are three requisites: first, she must have professional skill in
her calling; secondly, she must be a good woman; thirdly, she must have
feelings of kindliness and regard to her master and mistress." In 1853,
domestics were receiving wages in San Francisco proportioned to the
prices paid for everything else. Cooks got $100 a month, and board;
house servants, from $35 to $70, and board. Chambermaids $40 to $70, and
board. Prices have fallen since 1853 in California, but good female
domestics can now earn there from $25 to $30 a month besides board. "In
most towns through our country domestics get from $1.25 to $2.50 a week,
and board. We give the rates of wages of domestics in New York (1857) at
the intelligence offices. Maids of all work, very raw, $4 per month;
average, $5; good, $6 to $7. Chambermaids--good, $6. Cooks--good, $7 to
$8--extra $12 to $16. Laundresses $8 to $10. The cooks who obtain the
highest rates, sometimes reaching $20, are employed mostly in hotels or
private families, in New York. Five or six years' education in a
restaurant, during which period the pupil is supporting herself, will
thus often add seventy-five per cent. to the market value." I have had
numberless statements from different parts of Free States that it was
almost impossible to obtain good domestics. I have just taken up a paper
in which I read: "Female domestics are scarce in Minnesota and
Wisconsin, and obtain employment readily at good prices in almost all
the river towns." More particularly are female domestics scarce, where
there are factories. Girls, especially American girls, prefer to work in
factories to being servants, as they think it more honorable, and it
secures to them more time--in short, they are more their own mistresses.
=449. Chambermaids.= "Of the 200,000 female servants in England, the
largest in number, the shortest in life, and of course the worst paid
are the general housemaids, or unhappy servants of all work."
Chambermaids in the United States may be classed under three heads:
those in hotels, those in private families, and those on steamboats. The
business of a chambermaid in a hotel, or on a steamboat, is an
occupation affording variety in frequent change of faces. Of course,
prices and conditions are stipulated for. Many get $20 a month, and do
the washing of the boat, that is, the table and bed linen. Others get
$25, $30, and $35 a month. On small boats, they are expected to do the
washing of the boat, but in some cases have a woman hired while in port
to assist them. On large boats, or small packet boats, there are
generally two chambermaids. The first chambermaid attends to receiving
lady passengers, seeing that they are furnished with berths, and giving
them such attention as they need. She cleans the state rooms, and wakes
any lady passengers that are to land in the night. The second
chambermaid does the washing and ironing. In some cases, the washing is
sent up from the boats, while in port, to laundries. But clothes are
thought to be injured in that way, and the plan is not so popular as
while the novelty lasted. Most of the rivers of the United States are
either too low to be navigable, or are frozen over, part of the year;
so, constant employment in that way cannot be found. The first
chambermaid on the steamboat E. received $20 a month. Her business was
to wait on the ladies. She had several hours' time that she could devote
to sewing for herself. The second chambermaid did the washing of the
boat, and received $15 per month. A steamboat chambermaid told me she
averages $20 a month (and board, of course); but, in addition to her
services as chambermaid, is required to do the washing for the boat;
that is, the sheets, table linen, and towels. In families, the prices
for chambermaids are about the same as at hotels, and of course the
duties are pretty much the same, except that in families all of a
chambermaid's time is expected. In a hotel, a chambermaid is often
through her work in the early part of the afternoon, and has several
hours as her own. We think it advisable for a servant to keep a place
with good people, even if her wages are less, rather than with more
selfish and more remunerative people. The first mentioned would feel an
interest in, and be more ready and willing to do for a servant in
sickness or distress. Besides, they would be more apt to keep a watch
over her welfare, should circumstances intervene to bring about a
separation. It does not answer well for servants to move about much from
place to place; it is likely to create suspicion of unfaithfulness or
want of qualification. Yet, if they are not comfortable and satisfied, I
would advise them to move, if confident they have a prospect of
bettering their condition. The usual wages of chambermaids in cities are
from $1.50 to $2.50 per week. In the Northern cities, white chambermaids
are rather better paid than in Southern, as colored servants are
preferred in the South. For doing housework by the day women receive in
New York, fifty, seventy-five cents, and $1; for cleaning stores, they
often receive $1.25 per day. Tidy, honest American girls will not find
much difficulty in getting situations. If every family in New York city
would take a girl, and either instruct her thoroughly or have her
instructed in one branch of domestic service, there would not be such
universal complaint of bad servants. In Paris, men are employed in some
hotels as chambermaids. In a newspaper, we met with the following
paragraph some time ago; "Females are so scarce in some of the interior
towns of California, that men have to be employed to do the
chamberwork."
=450. Cooks.= I know of several benevolent institutions in Philadelphia
and New York where poor women are furnished with employment. From most
of them sewing is given out; but, in a few, housework is given to those
who cannot sew. A school of cookery is now in operation in London. The
object is to give instruction, gratis, to the lower classes, in
preparing the most common articles of food in general use. It was
established by Miss Burdett Coutts. To acquire the higher branches of
the art requires much time and practice. Much of the nutriment of food
is lost in cooking. Health depends much on the kind of food eaten, and
the way in which it is prepared. Simple diet is most healthy; yet what
contributes to the nourishment of one person may not to another. Persons
can better learn what is nutritious and beneficial to them in health
than it were possible for an Æsculapius to prescribe. Eating too hastily
and too hurriedly, when the mind is excited and agitated, is one cause
of bad health. The modes of preparing food, in the most wholesome way,
should be a matter of study and interest to all engaged in a matter
where health is so much at stake. Articles of food that contribute to
the nourishment of every part of the body should be used. Children
should have not only wholesome food, but as much as nature craves, when
the system is in a state of health. A morbid appetite, of course, should
be regulated. Some cooks devote themselves exclusively to the making and
baking of pastry. At hotels they command a good price. In New York and
Philadelphia, cooks receive from $1.50 to $5 a week, but in the small
towns adjoining do not get more than from $1 to $1.50. Much of the
success of servants will depend upon themselves. They may rest assured
they will be able to please most families if they are good-natured,
honest, truthful, active, and willing to do what they can. They will
need patience. They should consider there are many trials, cares, and
griefs attendant on those occupying a more responsible station.
Punctuality is a desirable item in a cook. A skilful cook, of taste and
experience, can, at any time, for reasonable wages, obtain a situation
in one of the Northern cities. Hotel cooks are most frequently in
demand, and receive from $12 to $25. A woman who cooks for a saloon
frequented by gentlemen only, in a business part of New York, told me
that she goes at 8 in the morning and remains, generally, until 2
o'clock next morning, when she goes home. She is paid $12 a month for
her work, having her meals besides. A colored man, a public cook, told
me he employs two or three women to assist him in getting up parties. He
pays them from $6 to $7 a week. He loans plate for parties, charging for
plated knives twenty-five cents a dozen, and the same price for forks,
and thirty-seven or fifty cents for a basket. He keeps some articles,
but hires most from another party. Sometimes he will receive three or
four orders a day; then again he may not have one for two weeks. It is a
very irregular business. He prepares lunches for bankers and political
men, mostly; but finds it inconvenient, as these lunches are often given
in their offices, and he prepares the dishes at home, and must have them
warm when served up. In some offices, he can have an apartment for that
purpose; in others, he cannot. A colored woman, who goes on a propeller
in summer, and does the cooking for ten men, told me she receives $19 a
month. The boats at New York seldom stop running longer than three
months in the year. She thinks the trouble in New York is, you cannot
have one kind of work regularly. In Germany, most of the women, in every
class of society, learn to cook. In Stuttgart, a wealthy man died,
leaving a certain sum, the interest of which goes to a given number of
the best hotel cooks, to teach a limited number of young women the art.
In some cities in Germany, ladies pay something to pastry cooks at
hotels and restaurants for instruction in cooking.
=451. Dining-Room Waiters.= It would be well, had we such laws as
England, for the protection and rights of servants. There, a servant
cannot have her character scandalized, her good name maligned, or her
faithfulness as a servant belied. Neither may a servant say aught that
is false against her mistress. Scandalizing becomes, oftentimes, a curse
in our Free States, and consequently self-respect, with servants,
becomes, to a great extent, a defunct virtue. Nor is the fault confined
to one party. Both are often culpable--mistress and servant. A good
character is the best capital a servant can possess. Servants have an
opportunity of improving themselves, and gaining much practical
information from intercourse with their mistresses while in the
discharge of their duties. If worthy American girls would get situations
as domestics in respectable families, they would be likely to fare
better than by working in shops; for they would lay by more money,
secure the interests and good wishes of their employers, and be more
certain of lasting employment. A servant should be active and quick in
motion, to perform well the duties of a waiter. In 1854, from seventeen
to twenty-four white girls were employed as dining-room waiters at the
Delavan House, Albany, N. Y. Their wages were from $5 to $7, in one or
two cases $8, a calendar month. The wages of men for similar service
were from $14 to $20. The ages of the women were from seventeen to
twenty-four. They dressed uniformly in calico, and were under a head
waiter--a man. At that time, women had been employed at the
establishment about two years and a half. The result was entirely
satisfactory in every respect. A gentleman inquired of the proprietor,
after he had employed them two years, if there was any inferiority to
men's service, and was informed there was not any. They were more quiet
than men, and less troublesome. In this time, only four had left the
house of their own accord, and then to be married. When more hands were
needed, there was no difficulty in getting them. It was apprehended that
improprieties might occur, from the gallantries of the gentlemen. No
difficulty of the kind had been experienced. It was suggested that it
might be otherwise in a liquor house. In April, 1860, we had a few lines
from the proprietor of the Delavan House, saying he found women would
not answer for first-class hotels, where the crowd is very great, as the
work is too severe. He changed the plan of having them in 1858.
=452. Ladies' Maids.= Some of the most wealthy or self-indulgent ladies
have a female attendant to dress and wait on them, but it is not so
common in the United States as in older and more wealthy countries. In
Slave States, a colored woman, graceful and good natured, is often set
apart from the family servants for this purpose. The difficulty that
attends the taking of a colored servant in travelling, sometimes calls
for a white attendant to act in this capacity. The business is light,
and brings good wages. A maid should endeavor to secure a place with a
lady that is amiable and patient. She will find ability to perform the
services of a lady's hair dresser a valuable acquisition.
=453. Nurses for Children.= None should enter this occupation unless
they have a love for children. It requires affection and patience. Added
to this, is needed a degree of mild firmness that children find it
difficult to resist. It requires strength too, and a lady had better, if
possible, furnish a grown nurse for her child. Nurses receive as wages
from $1 to $1.25 per week. Wet nurses receive higher wages. Being able
to speak the French and German languages correctly, is in some places a
desirable qualification. Fashionable and educated people, who desire to
have their children early instructed in the languages, are willing to
pay a better price for such a nurse. The habit of nursing children is
indicated, in both mothers and nursery maids, by the right shoulder
being larger and more elevated than the left. C. thinks it would be well
for young American girls to devote themselves to domestic
service--thinks it a misplaced pride which prevents their doing so. Many
would certainly be much better off in every respect than they now are,
and, if their affairs were well conducted, would save money.
=454. Saloon Attendants.= "This class of labor is performed by young men
and girls. Although the girls are preferred in some places, and do make
most excellent waitresses, their remuneration is not as high as that
paid to men. In some cases the men get as high as $14 a month; in most
cases, however, they do not receive more than $12 a month. The girls get
paid from $8 to $10 a month, varying according to experience. The hours
employed do not exceed, in most cases, ten per day. These rates are
exclusive of board and lodging. Where lodgings are not provided, an
allowance is made for the purpose." The ladies that T. employs in his
saloon, board in the International--a hotel connected with the saloon
and confectionery. He pays them $6 a month, besides their board. M.,
Broadway, pays those that stay in his confectionery $12 a month, and
their board. In the northern part of France, women are employed on some
of the packet boats as table waiters. They are young and pretty, and
misconduct among them is very rare.