Domestic Servants in Russia.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 428, 21 July 1904, Page 6

Domestic Servants in Russia.

Tha Russian servant is hired for ona year, and is told exaotly what hit particular duty ie to he. He then sticks to that one duty. As long as each servant faithfully performs the special duties of bis position all is wellj but the neglectful butler, or cook, or coachman, is sent by the employer with a written note to the polios judge, who after carefully investigating the com* plaints has a right to order bodily punishment or to write a bad mark in the book kept for this purpose. In great Russian households often from twenty to fifty servants are kept, and even the middle elass families have two to four. The pay of these servants varies according to the line of work. While the " chiefs " in the kitchens of wealthy families often receive S3OO a year, a cook in an ordiwry citisen's employ gets no mofc than £l2 a year, and a maid of all work never gets more than £6 a year. At Easter every servant gets a present, generally a suit or dressi

Every other Sunday the servants in a Russian household are entirely free, Their work stops Saturday night after supper, when the! servants leave the house not to return until the next Monday morning. Ihe employers never ask where or how the free time is spent. Russian servants will pilfer. Since Russian ladies leave everything to the care of the servants, the latter do ns they please., The men servants smoke cigars belonging to their masters and pay frequent visits to the wine cellars of the house, but a gentleman would consider it " demeaniog " himself to prosecute a servant for this. The Russian servants will talk about fellow servant! but never about their employers. Even when they quit one place and take service in another family they would never mention anything about their former masters. This discretion goes 40 far that even the law considers it, Is Russia the law excludes servants ss witnesses against their former or present emu ployers, so long, at \&>j& t as these servants aye not suspected of having taken psifk in the crime.