SERVANT PROBLEM IN NEW FORM.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12255, 4 June 1914, Page 2

SERVANT PROBLEM IN NEW FORM.

The eternal servant girl problem has taken a distinctly new form in Denmark, where there is a. revolt against even the name of servant. Says the "Cologne Gazette" : "The Copenhagen servants are energetic and self-conscious. Some time ago they formed a kind of trade union for the protection of their interests. Of course, they do not all belong to it, but the "Professional Servants' Gazette' has taken an exceptionally strong hold of that class. It is taken in even by non-unionists, and in this way it has played a very important part in winning over adherents to the ideas promulgated by the leaders of the union.

"Recently these leaders have been making herculean efforts to raise the social status of servants. It is complained that in comparison with other women who earn their own living, shopwomen, typists, and governesses, they are looked upon as mere pariahs, and that this is certainly due to the fact that they are labelled with a name that had its origin in prehistoric patriarchal times, and is utterly unsuitable to modern conditions.

" 'Why,' it is asked, 'should women who help in housework be termed "maids" and be addressed by their Christian names while their sisters behind the counter are called "young ladies." and would intensely resent their being addressed as "Annie" or "Mary?" ' ' THE NEW TITLE. "In accordance with these complaints, put forward by the energetic president of their organisation, Miss Mary Christensen, the union has decided to substitute for the old title of 'maid-servant' the new appellation of 'house The latter part of this word, it is intended, shall be a kind of least common denominator, to which particular affixes shall be attached to describe particular kinds of work. Thus the housemaid becomes a 'house-assistant,' the cook a 'cook-assistant;' the nurse a 'child-assistant,' and the general, a 'househelp.' "The members of the union will in future only take a place on condition that the mistress absolutely adopts the new nomenclature, and to this a large number of Copenhagen servants also pledge themselves who are not members of the union, but share its views on the question of names.

"And how about the mistresses? Judging from the letters appearing in the papers on the subject, the mistresses as- a whole are by no means opposed to this ambition of their maids to better their social position. Several are very modern in their attitude towards their servants, and are quite prepared to address them as 'Miss' and drop the Christian name. In fact, it is done in several households already. "To most of the mistresses the title of 'assistant' sounds rather comical, but they will embrace it, if it will only bring a new contentment into the servants' —we beg pardon—into the 'assistants'. ' quarters. It costs nothing, and a clever 'assistant' is much to be preferred to a careless and indifferent 'servant.'