LADY SERVANTS.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1992, 24 May 1875, Page 2

LADY SERVANTS.

The world has in all ages contained a percentage of people who think the only way to cure existing grievances is to turu things upside down. Ii has long been a subject of complaint that upper servants are becoming such fine ladies that they are practically no longer servants. It is now proposed to turn fine ladies into efficient upper servants. Mrs liose Mary Crawshay, already well-known for the interest she takes in questions relating to woman's work, has published a pamphlet which she entitles " x)omestic Service for Gentlewomen: a Eecord of Experience and Success." la treating of this subject we.have,therefore to.deal.with what, 1 so far as Mrs Crawshay is concerned, is I not an experiment in political economy, I but a triumph over popular, prejudice. ! Whether in other hands the like satisI factory results would be obtained is the 1 question to be considered. - There are - many flowers which bloom luxuriantly- in a sheltered situation, aided by the daily 1 care of an experienced gardener, whicV^ would - perish if exposed to the- windC Lady, helps may be a success at Cyfarthfa Castle, but does that prove that the principle is one> which will work well in. ordinary families ? ,

Before discussing this point we had better, allow the kind mistress of the castle to detail her plans. Mrs Crawshay tells us that she has given a happy home—no- mean' achievement—to fire ladies. They hold the positions—we will not say the places—of cook; lady's maid, kitchenmaid, dairymaid, and upper housemaid. They inhabit the servants' rooms, " after thorough cleansing s whitewashing, and painting." They use yellow soap, wait on themselves, wash up their own tea-things, and set their own table, " which would be very insulting suggestions to ordinary upper servants." Mrs Crawshay, with true. womanly unselfishness, is now ready—nay, rnxious —to part with these invaluable creatures in order that they may propagate in other houses the gospel she preaches, and adorn be.nighted homes with.; their usefulness and humility. She will" then, in the most really self-sacrificing.way, supply their place from amongst the .nine hundred thousand unmarried women who now cry " How long ? " and who cannot get situations -as governesses ."owing to certificates of proficiency,, in teaching being required, which they, unfortunately, cannot furnish." Whenever a new lady help arrives, Mrs Crawshay on the first morning shares the work with her, to show that manual labor is not in itself a degradation. Unaccustomed to sweeping—for the practice of a few times does not make her a proficient in the art—* sherries experiments' on.the stairs with the new lady housemaid, and "theylaugh and joke pleasantly-together '.over-their awkwardness, the poor stairs meantime suffering silent agonies, and. showing in chipped paint or scratch polish' that ft* every great movement there' must be some victims., Mrs .Crawshay has proved by experience that educated feetdo'not wear out carpets so quickly as ignorant ones—we should have thought the kind of shoes woiii had something to do with the matter —?nd that •ladies of gentle birth are more satisfactory as maids than '" labourers' daughters The reason sho gives for this last assertion is that they ' are careful to put everything where she can readily find i*> and so enable her to be independent' of assistance. Mrs .Crawshay does not mention whether they excel in the usual requisites vi -& good maid, hairdressing, and dressmaking, as much as in their refined manners and-graceful demeanour.. _,The description of Tennyson's princess and her girl graduates fades into insignificance before the picture of Mrs Crawshay, solvinga much more important social problem. Tlig cleansing of boots seems to have been the first and last difficulty which Mrs Crawshay has encountered in the working out of her scheme for the regeneration of service, but she has solved it. Surrounded by a bevy of fair damsels of- ancient lineage but ligiifc of purse, »he gives them instruction, illustrated by example, in varnishing their own dainty boots, which the page of the house thinks it a degradation, instead of privilege; to polish. These young ladies .evidently do not venture out on muddy days, else the natty stick and sponge of which rMrs Crawshay speaks would be;a poor substitute for the blacking-brush. Eut these favoured lady helps need never dirty their boots, for does not Mrs Crawshay keep carriages; open and close ? and does she not send polite intimations to the lower regions when she is going' out to drive, so that the faces flushed with cooking may be cooled by the fresh Welsl^ breezes, and the lady's maid may gather, new inspirations for "the combinations of the colours in her mistress's dress from the waving branches of lilac and laburnum in the avenue ? These brisk lady helps, unlike other ladies, dress themselves in a few minutes, and return to their work with redoubled ardour after their carriage ~ exercise. There is a most affecting account of the behaviour of the lady helpi when some extra scrubbing of floors had to be done in a fturry. No fair pendents in, 4 Bernardino consent could have takeq tp their Irnees more eathusiastically, or worn them away more uncomplainingly tljan" did these delicately nurtured English?, women. Mrs Crawshay would like her proteges to appear in the drawingroom in the evening, but, owing to the present extravagance of fashion, they now decline this indulgence, as they cannot afford evening costumes. Mrs Crawshay, however, hopes that when flounces, high heels, and chignons have gone out of fashion, jheniair friends,will .not,object to adorn* her. Reception 1 rooms' with' their presence. t^> remember a very young taan giving an amusing aqpount' of wWf agonies ne had'eD:dured upohfinding thq,fc the pretty litile person to whom he h.acl paid such marked attention on board the Ci'jnan Canal steamer was maid to a lady going to stay at t)}e h.ous.e of thp Spfjcpfy pousin who Lad asked him fop three days' shooting. .The nexfc time he saw her she 1 wa§" " spreading, but; the clothes, or rather Ranging' out hep. mistress's lacej to dry,'and'ho nearly left the house from thp humiliation which a boy foelg when he has committed som.e (social blunges, Under the new regime the captain in tbo Guards will walk to ohurch with the lady who is going to make vol au vent for diiner, and the Prime Minister will share the hymn-book of tKo housemaid who that morain^ dusted his room. With healthful work" Mrs Crawshay endeavoiu's to combine healthful play. She takes her handmaidens to public amusements, and, many of them'- being fine musicians, they'are particularly fond' of concerts. 1 They are al^ayi : iristaUe| in the hl^hest-pric'ed seats'* regardless 6F cost. "Hero," says Mrs Crawshay, "I shall bo met by au objection on the score

of expense; wheroMthe master of tho . house objects, I would recommend any housekeeper to pay it out of her own pinmoney, this expenditure , fairly, coming under threading of'charity of the highest class.'* Besides lady helps Mrs Crawshny keeps six ordinary servants, two of them " strong under housemaids," and one a strong, willing Welsh scullery-■■ maid." This arrangement is made to allow the .upper servants time for "reading, writing, and music." "It is most considerate, for then the maid who has already arranged that her mistress can do ■without her assistance need not be disturbed by the dressing-bell from that delightful.chapter in the Thr-ee. Feathers. nor need the upper housemaid leave the difficult bar in that newly learnt sonata unconquered. The cook may be of a literary turn, and it would be hard could she not be allowed leisure to finish the article on. "Little-Dinners" in time for the monthly iss'uof bfythe sMiddlesex ? Maga-; | zinc. Except upon'the blacting of boots y a&cHae use of yellow soap the informa\tion Mrs Crawshay gives with regard to the working out ef the scheme is rather meagre. We who-have never had the privilege of.-staying?'at. Gyfarthfa Castle ; , would like td know, wo 1 are asked, : "whether any of the lady helps are under! 43, whether they are called Mrs or Miss, by their Christian or! surnames ; what is the size of their aprons ; whether they Wear caps, and, if so, whether they are mobscaps, or|any other kind ecjually becoming to the;fair sex* ils the lady cook a plain cook or a French cook, and, can the - dairymaid* make 'delicious" butter? Is Cyfarthfa Castle a sort of stage on which "She Stoops to Conquer " is acted all day long ? and do young men of the Marlow type rush to their Mends, sayiher, "Didu'it you see the tempting, brisk, lovely little thing that runs about the house with a bunch-of keys to its girdle ? " or " This little housemaid runs in my head most strangely, and drives.out -the absurdities of the rest of the family. She's mine, she must be mine or I'm greatly mistaken."It seems to us -that Mrs- Crawshay has opened up a vista of pleasant pastures, and has found a hitherto unworked field for. Belgravian mothers. • When the season is over and the marked bird has escaped from the net of the fowler, why not get for the fair-Ethelfleda a dairymaid's costume, copied from " Our American Cousin," and send her down to some model dairy in the country, where, in a becoming attitude, she can pose in the rus.tic porch, her neat ankles displayed urider.her short petticoat, and her lovely bare arms looking .whiter .than, the milk she skims ? Mrs Crawshay speaks with tears inner eyes of lhe nine hundred'thousand women who , cannot marry. But why cannot theymarry ? 'Because,- in d, vast'number of cases at least they are brought up to be provided for by charity, instead of to be helpmates for honest .hard-working, men; because 'they, dress themselves in Edgwars-road finery, and will not; sweep their mothers' -itairs. Why cannot a woman do for a man she loves what Mrs Crawshay wants 3ber to do "for perfect strangers ? There Jttrie hundreds of young men'who long: for * home of their own, who could, afford, a working-man's house and one 'servant, yet they' live in uncomfortable. -lodgings and • spend : their "evenings at the theatre, because they do not ,know>,any. girl in their, own rank 'who would condescend to cook them a dinner,.even- if she knew how, or, who would, not think herself a drudge if she .had ,to do what nearly every German . middle-class lady does with ease. If Mrs Crawshay's experiment'results in teaching ladies that scrubbing out a room is a no less worthy work than knitting an ugly antimaccassar; that the making of .butter is a more ■ healthy and interesting employment than trying to play a' bad piece of- music on, an equally bad piano ; that household economy and a knowledge iOf dainty cooking ave^ accomplishments quite as charming in a lady as being able to make cardboard-boxes and valueless 1 lace —we wish her every sue- . cess. - She 1 would thus pave the way for early marriages which would no longer be imprudent ones. But if her plan is to turij things upside down, and still further complicate our social relations, already so difficult,' we cannot help wishing that lady helps - may be confined; to Cyfarthfa Castle.—Saturday Review.