MARY JANE AND HER EMPLOYERS.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 1 August 1901, Page 4

MARY JANE AND HER EMPLOYERS.

Talking of Jane and Mary (says the writer in the Argus,) do all employers know that among domestic servants, carefully copied and passed from hand to hand, is a list, whereon are the names of undesirable places and mistresses. _“I have 20 places on a piece of paper upstairs” declared a servant confidentially, to bet mistress, tho other day, “and I wouldn’t go near one of them for £2O a week; they arc nearly all in Toorak, too.” Such a statement must send an uncomfortable thrill through tho bosom of many housewives. Have they themselves been tried and found wanting'? Do their names figure on that fatal list ? Is this the reason why they find it so difficult to get a servant, and, in getting her, to keep hor? Is this why registry offices send “creatures” instead of pood servants, because the offices know that good servants have a black mark against that name? Is this the reason why, in an interview, Jane and Mary make lame excuses, and say it is too far from town aval too lonely, or too close to town and too noisy? Tho list is a fearsome thing, and each housewife may devoutly hope that she is not on it. Said the same servant in talking about bedroom, “I’ve slept in bad ones often enough. Lots of girls tell mo they’ve been put in the bathroom. That happened to me once, and I had to share it with the retriever.” But though the list is a direful thing, perhaps even worse for mistresses is tho custom of tho departing domestics leaving warnings for the incoming domestic. These warnings in the shape of small, screwed up notes, are found by the newcomer in her bed, in tho dresser-drawer, among towels, corks, and odds and ends, or behind the caddies on tho mantelpiece. Experience has taught her where to look for them. One was found lately by a mis'rcss, and ran ti.us ;—“ Eat whatever you see ; you won’t see very much. Plenty for the diningroom, but last night’s dinner warm d up for the kicbcn. The old cat is a fair terror, Mabel (tho eldest daughter, is a beast, but the old c.t gives' y u beans and starves you.” ais'.ns-ies who know of this note system limit everywhere after tho old servant has gone, and destroy any they find. For tho sake of their own peace of mind, it is to be hoped they do so without reading them.