THE MAN HOUSEMAID.

Otago Witness, Issue 3102, 27 August 1913, Page 76

THE MAN HOUSEMAID.

WILL HE OUST THE FEMALE DOMESTIC? The female servant has practically become extinct, but someone or something must take her place. We cannot all do the work of a house; therefore, help or assistance of some kind must be obtained. Fortunately, however, the importance of this matter is being recognised by the public, and at the present time correspondents are writing to their favourite papers discussing seriously the near advent of the man housemaid. The cook, parlourmaid, housemaid, and even the “general of 20 years ago have disappeared; they have gone none know where, and to-day there are no volunteers to take their places. To use a common expression, female servants cannot be had “for love or money.” The large tea-rooms, restaurants, and eating-houses have always their full complement of willing workers. In these large establishments the girls are not servants or even waitresses, they are all “young ladies.” These magic words are responsible for the “servant famine” of to-day. MAN HOUSEMAID Wanted for small family; must be clean, sober, willing, and industrious; personal character indispensable ; wages, £18; no beer. — Apply by letter, or personally, between

3 and 5 p.m., . Advertisements of'the character of the foregoing are not to be found in the columns of daily papers at present, but that they soon will be there seems every prospect. In the camp of certain enterprising mistresses war —desperate and to the knife—has been declared, and the enemy is equally determined. No quarter is to be given. In other words, the vexed and time-honoured servant difficulty has advanced another stage. It is distressing to relate that in some quarters, which are growing in number, Phyllis the trim parlourmaid and Mary the natty housemaid are no longer required. They have departed, maybe for ever, maybe not, and, behold, installed in their places are—the man parlourmaid and the man housemaid. -— lnvariably a Foreigner.— The outlook is not altogether pleasing to an artistic eye. Nor is it easy to picture without a nightmare the man housemaid in England—he flourishes, of course, on the Continent,—-but it is a fact that he has taken root. His employment has advanced beyond the experimental stage. It has been put to the test and has been adjudicated upon. Unable to get on with maid servants, a number of ladies —here in our very midst in Loudon and in the provinces—are now proving what they can do with the new substitute. This is no humorous article. Who, it will be inquired, is the man housemaid? Where cloes ho hail from ? What manner of human being is he? He is invariably a foreigner, and not infrequently a German, ion can get an Italian if you like. Neither the Englishman, the Welshman, the Scotsman, nor the Irishman can be induced to serve in the capacity of a housemaid. Not for extravagant wages, perhaps not for the salary of a Lord Mayor, would a true lyorn male Briton turn himself into a domestic drudge. Hundreds of aliens, however, will undertake the task cheerfully enough. And these obliging mortals are at hand. They have left their native lands for better or for worse, to rescue the British matron from the slough of despond.

—An Increasing Demand.—

The demand for these servants is slowly increasing, and the probability is that the man housemaid and the man parlourmaid are forces which the female domestic will have seriously to reckon with in the near future. Whereas the latter’s wages have an upward tendency, the monetary demands of the male domestic are likely to remain as they are, owing to the supply exceeding the demand. In toiling as he does the man housemaid has a definite object in view. In the first place, he is desirous of learning the language; while, secondly, he hopes that a day may come when he will he in a position to start a small hotel. By acquainting himself with the thousand and one details of household management he knows that he will he able to run his hotel on proper lines—that, having been a menial himself, ho will he able to direct the operations of other menials. He is a startling product of the twentieth century—the man housemaid ; and it will be highly interesting to watch his development. At present he is engaged more for the sake of economy than anything else. Strong of arm and hack and leg, and untiring, he does the work of two women. But it is not always consideration of cash that leads to his employment. One wealthy' society lady is said to have several male domestics in her house; indeed, if report is correct, she has given up keeping female servants. She finds that the arrangement answers very well indeed—that the- men remain in their situations, and that they are satisfied with their lot. —“Not Interested in Policemen.”—

After all, the man housemaid has some advantages that appeal to the muchworried housewife. There is no occasion to dispute with him as to what sort of cap he shall wear; ho is not specially interested in policemen; his evenings out so far as ha himself is concerned may h«

far and few between; no argument on the way the hair is dressed need be entered upon. He is a patient animal, a longenduring one, and civil —the man housemaid with his apron and broom, is he going to oust the trim maid? We shall wait and see. The man housemaid is to be had at various agencies, where he is 'on view by appointment, and, unlike his female colleague, there is not much that he refuses to do. When he is in a sour mood he may possibly decline to make the beds, on the ground that this is purely a woman’s work ; on the other hand, he may raise no objection at all. In some houses the general servant is a man. He answers the door, he sweeps the carpets, he scrubs the floors, he carries the coal; and not only this, he gets the vegetables ready by the time that the mistress is prepared to come down and attend to the cooking. —A Model Servant.— The wonderful man housemaid has so far been voted a genuine success. He as reputed to be a better worker than a woman' ' and to be less bothersome to look after. Ho seldom complains, while the duties he will perform without kicking over the traces are perfectly astounding. He will get up at half-past 6 o’clock in the morning, and when he has lighted the tires he will clean the front steps. He will then lay the breakfast, and after changing his clothes he will wait at table. Having cleared away the breakfast things, ho will perform the entire work of a female servant—dust, polish the silver, clean the windows, and turn out the rooms. In private houses as well as in boarding establishments he does this, 't here are several London houses in which foreigners combine the functions of scullery maid and parlour maid. Few are asked to do the family washing, but from inquiries instituted by the writer it would appear that it would be quite possible fo find a man housemaid who would devote his Monday mornings to washing and mangling. —Twenty Pounds a Year. —

Here is an extraordinary example ol what this class of alien is willing to do for a bare living. There is a young German in London who is in receipt of £2O a year. He earns this sum in the following way : —ln the morning he does rougli kitchen work; in the afternoon he acts as foreign language instructor; in the evening he toils as a waiter. The man housemaid’s average wage is £2O a year; hut his services can, with the exercise of delicate persuasion, be obtained for less than this. Indeed, there are several in situations at the present moment who are content with no more than 4s a week. The boarding-house man housemaid passes rich on about 4s a week, and he slaves like the late-lamented ’bus horse.