SERVANTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 9173, 5 August 1890, Page 3

SERVANTS.

TO THE EDITOR, Sir,— Will you allow me space for a few words on the much-vexed question of “ Servants P” I quite agree with all “Mater” says in her sensible letter of July 28, for I, too, know servants, not a few, who are happier, healthier, better fed and more comfortably housed than hundreds of shop or factory hands. Ido not wonder that your correspondent, “ General Servant,” has never come across any of the “ grand places,” as she terms them, which “ Mater ” speaks of, if she has always fostered such a spirit of discontent and proud rebellion as pervades her letter. She quotes St Paul, but apparently forgets the command of St Paul’s meek and lowly Master, “ who pleased not Himself.” He said, “Be that is greatest among you, let him be your servant.” When in service does “ General Servant ” always do her duty conscientiously ? By conscientiously, I mean does her duty—that is the general business of her callingnob merely for wages or character, or even to please her mistress, but for tbe highest of all motives—because it is her duty. How many servants cook a dinner without waste, keep a house clean in every corner, seen or unseen, or are honest and truthful in the smallest, as well as the greatest, things, because she is accountable to God for her actions ? Not many, I am afraid, or we would nob so often hear mistresses complain that, while they can get an honest servant, or a decent servant, or a servant who -does her work pretty well “with plenty of looking after,” a conscientious servant is with difficulty, if at all, to be found. Every mother or housewife kuows what a blessing a good, kindhearted maid is, and every good servant knows how her work is appreciated. I do not think any living, creature has greater opportunities of being either a blessing or a curse than a servant. Your correspondent “Humanity,” in Friday’s issue, says he could fill a book with servants’ real grievances. I do not doubt him, but he has only had one version of the story. He knows nothing of the thousand petty annoyances and some very real wrongs mistresses often put up with, because they dislike making changes, and know it is ten chances to one if they get an improvement. “Mater” says “no class of the community is so proverbially well off as the domestic servant.” This is true. Let servants (I am not speaking to slaves nor over-worked drudges) compare their situations with, let us say, dressmakers and milliners’ im' provers or shop assistants. Servants, I know, think these girls better off than themselves, but we shall see. They, the shop girls, serve twelve months without any remuneration whatever, the second year get ss; after that time, if they are quick at their trade, they earn 7s 6d or 10s ; if they are not quick they can go and make room for others. Once they reach 10a the increase in salary is very slow indeed. If their parents are poor, as many are, the girls go homo to a crowded house and poor fare. To eke out their small earnings many take in sewing and do it at home in the evening. They must always dress nicely, find their own tools—thimbles, needles, scissors, &c.—and if they happen to spoil anything at which they are working, must replace it. A servant in almost every house has' every convenience at hand, tools provided and breakages (of which there are not a few) replaced. She also gets the best of food, a comfortable bedroom, and kitchen with plenty of firing, all provided by her mistress. Or let her compare her lob with that of hundreds of working-men’s wives. Most of them have a large family of small children. After toiling and cleaning all day they must sit up late at night to make and mend, and often when they do get to bed are disturbed repeatedly during the night by a cross baby or an ailing child ; this apart from the worry and anxiety of making both ends meet. Do these girls, who are so anxious to have a Union formed, expect to enjoy the advantages they now have, or are they willing to board and lodge themselves as all other workers do ? Domestic service is so different to any other class of service, and the work in different houses is so varied, that I do not see how a set of hard and fast rules can possibly answer in all cases. Sir, I am afraid I have taken up too much of your valuable space, but this is such a vast subject, and there are so many sides to the question, that I really do not know where to stop. Perhaps if servants and mistresses each remember the other is only human, aud consequently has faults or failings, a great deal of the present bitterness might be done away with. Hoping a just settlement will be arrived at.—l am, &0., August 1. JUSTICE.