THE TOILERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD.

Otago Witness, Issue 1892, 15 May 1890, Page 37

THE TOILERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD.

Dear Alice, — As one of the domestic workers may I state my opinion from the seivant girls' point of view, and point out why domestic service is so much disliked and shunned, and why those who can escape from it generally do so on the first opportunity 1 Why do they not give public expression to their grievances ? I think the leason is this : the work is usually taken up by the most illiterate— too illiterate to take up a pen and state their grievances through the columns of a newspaper. Domestic service is too much despised to be sought after by educated women. Sensible, intelligent

more, and is cold and insipid. Is it any wonder then that the girl is careless over the preparation of food when it is presented to herself in such an unappetising manner? Further, inferior food is often sent out to the servant, one instance of which I shall quote. A mistress brought out a plate of dry scraps of bread, and set it before the girl, with the remark, "You can eat the crusts, Mary ; they are quite good enough for you." Mary may have been a poor girl, but I know her mother would have turned those stale crusts into a delicious pudding or perhaps bread and milk for the children. If our hours of labour were shortened the daughters of the household would have to assist in the general work, and instead of the continued bang on the piano or the idle walk on the street, their father and brothers would be more delighted with a good digestible dinner which the daughter and sister had helped to prepare. Knowing how it is done, these young ladies could better instruct and be more sensible in their dealings with young servants when they become mistresses in their own homes. Then, instead of the self-condemning remarks one so often hears of their fellow workers that " She was dirtier when she left than when she came," or " She grew so indolent," one would hear the more satisfactory observation, '' My last servant was with me a long time. She left me because higher wages were offered her in another situation," or perhaps, "to be married." When there are more good mistresses there will be more grood servants, for they are usually found together.

Another reason why girls dislike domestic service is beause they are so much isolated and separated from the life of home. Does not 1 uman nature yearn for companionship ? In some places one feels glad to hear the step of the mistress. Her kindly voice has something cheery to tell us. She it it. who will praise work already done, aud suggest improvements, if necessary. In the ruajoril y of places, however, one would like to flee away whenever one sees the face of the fault-finding mistress. There is sure to be a lot of grumbling whenever and wherever one meets her— endlessly grumbling. And

girls do not like to be isolated in a comfortless kitchen where there is neither time nor opportunity for self-culture, and so the work is left to dull-brained girla who have no ambition to rise any higher, and these are also the girls who perform their work in any slipshod fashion. Would not the present difficulty be largely remedied if domestic service were elevated, and domestic workers respected and treated as members of the family 1 Then the work would be taken up by a more intelligent class of workers. The work would be more satisfactorily performed, and the relationship existing between mistress and servant.at present so inharmonious, would be rendered much more pleasant than it is. Girls dislike domestic service, too, because the hours are so long. A servant girl has hardly a moment's rest from the time she lises in the morning, between 6 and 7 a.m., till she goes to bed at night at, say, 10 p.m., and sometimes even later.

While other toilers have their stated holidays, holidays are so often begrudgingly given to the domestic servant that a sensitive girl shrinks from asking for one. And why should not the domestic servant have an afternoon of leisure in each week instead of (as "N. G. says in last week's Witness) the doubtful advantage of a run out after dark ? The half holiday movement is becoming geneial throughout the colony, and will no one move to procure an afternoon of freedom for us, that we may enjoy a little more of God's sunshine than for an hour or so on " Su s an's Sunday out." May we never look forward to the day when a little recreation will be afforded us, or was the old saying, " All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," never meant for Biddy ? In how many places does one get time even to take a comfortable meal 1 Probably that meal has been waiting in the dining room an hour or

those are the ones who tell you when the servant gets bad tempered. Would this kind of mistress like her every fault discussed and exaggerated as openly and as often as she does those of her unfortunate servant ? Yet how often is the servant the miserable subject of conversation to her visitors. Such mistresses as these unjustly blame their servant for their own misdeeds and want of judgment. Then is it to be wondered at that girls seek some other employment which is more free from dictation and command, and is also free from the yoke of toil at stated periods ? — Yours, &c, Biddt.

Gore, May 6.