THE SERVANT PROBLEM

Evening Star, Issue 16626, 8 January 1918, Page 5

THE SERVANT PROBLEM

AN ENGLISH PAPER’S SUGGESTION. The “.servant of the future ” is discussed iu the ‘ Leader,' and the suggestion is made that the whole question needs reorganising. First of- all, the word ‘‘servant’’ must go; it has an ugly sound, and in the mouth of most people is an offence. Training institutions are most necessary, and should bo established in England ami iu the Dominion. It is acknowledged that the haphazard training picked up hy girls in various houses in the course of their wanderings ■as domestic helpers is very unsatisfactory, and people pay for far more than they get in every sense ot the word. Tho remedy is, of course, a proper school of domesticity, where tho work can bo arranged on modern lines and well taught. "A standard uniform,” says tho writer, “is an essential part of the scheme—nn attractive garh resembling the nurse’s, which, that again, would indicate a certain prriiciency and command a certain respect. With that must go better pay, fixed hours, so much time ‘off’ every ■afternoon, and a set of rules which sliail be binding on every employer. In the Dominions women of superior education equipped on theser lines for domestic servile would be sure of an enthusiastic welcome. Not only that, but they would also be assured a good time, tn these young countries, where it has always been the custom for the daughters of tho house to take a large part in the conduct of its affairs, the properly equipped, domestic ‘help’ would share the. family’s status and have her recognised part in its social life. Already the experiment has been tried with success in the household of one Australian woman whorp I know. All her ‘ helps ’ arc young women of good birth and education, whose duties are so arranged that any girl who has to work a little later on any particular night is given a- whole afternoon off by way of recompense. The only mistake my friend made was in the. initial stages of her experiment, when she insisted tfiat each girl should spend an evening among the dinner guests as one of them. That bored the girls to distraction. They preferred to spend their long free evening in tjicir own way—-in going to the theatre, among their intimate friends or by themselves with music and books in their private sitting room; and a re-ar-rangement, was made accordingly.”