IRISH SERVANTS,

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 170, 18 September 1886, Page 6

IRISH SERVANTS,

A Chapter of Accidents. , . An English friend who came to Ireland for a short time hired as cook a girl utterly ignorant in the art of cooking anything,, as she expressed it, but t >" praties." Mrs Jj. ordered Jerusalem artichokes as part of the menu for dinner, taking it as a master of course so simple a vegetable required, no instructions in the cooking; Mary looked puzzled, * but said nothing, Just before dinner was served, Mary came to her mistress evidently in great distress)' to tell bet " she had been b'iling thim hearty coats all the day, 1 an' they were that hard she could not put a tooth iri'em." -Wonderingly Mrs L. looked to 1 see what could be the reason', and discovered a saucepan full of large' fir* cones. ! The children had gathered a'stor'e of them to put on the fire, but why, Mary name • to the conclusion r-they were "them hearty coatß," I can't tell, except, indeed, both were equally unknown to her. Another time Mxa L. bad given her a large banister full of whitening for polishing purposes in the kitchen, taking it for granted she must know its, use. A few daya after, giving it Mary ask^l no more. '* Why," exclaimed her mistressj^ " you could not possibly have used all I gave you so quickly ; what have you done with it?" ," Shore thin," replied < she, "I had to-to put sich lashins of it in the wather to make that white sauce as you towlt me of that faix it wint in no toime 1" I know several instances of peas having been served boiled in, 'their pods, and also where the real artichokes were cooked, but sent to table chopped up in small pieces. Mistakes such as these are made through inexperience, born of ignorance, inanun-^ trained domestic. In cases such as these how uncomfortable and miserable must everything be when the mistress is unable to see that her house is properly * kept, as the servant is incompetent to keep it. Yet such mistakes I would more readily overlook than the following : — We had an excellent cook, with one fault, an I that a very grievous one. She was addicted to drink, and, as is often the case, chose the most awkward times to indulge in it. We were having a large dinner party. Our only fear was that Martin would imbibe, and thus prove incapable of doing justice to her cooking powers. We had a very fine turbot, I remember, for dinner, about three boura before whioh partly to give some final directions, but particularly to see that Martin' was behaving herself, I went to her apartments, and found her all that one could desire, very busy devising decoration for the turbot. Quite reassured, it was with an easy mind I went into dinner. The fish came up and was placed on the table, for my father adhered to the fashions in his day. It looked beautiful, being so artistically ornamented with lobster, that one or two of my guests remarked it, apologising for doing so. But the fish slice would not go through ; the turbot had never been boiled. Soon a*ter my visit Martin, feeling tired, had, recourse to stimulants, and finally was so overcome that doubtless, when she saw the fish placed on the dish, she concluded it was cooked, and thus Bent up to the table raw. One of our tenant's daughters was such a neat, tidy girl, I thought I would try and teach her to be parlour-maid. In telling her how to lay a breakfast table, I said, " You must always lay a serviette lor table napkin) for the gentlemen j" and, to im* press this upon her, I added, " It ia to wipe their moustache, Bridget." Her reply was naivete. "Y,es; but-shure, an' if I see a gentleman aa has no moustache, nade I give him wan at all ?" Perhaps one of the most amusing contretemps resulting from having' an untrained domestic is the following ; — There was a large county ball, and some people I knew — like many others— had a number of guests staying with them for it. Two rooms on a landing not geneially used had to be hastily put into requisition for two unexpected, friends. One was occupied by Miss G., who told me the story afterwards — the, other by a most particularly old bachelor, a stranger to her. On the morning following the ball, the bell in his room ranj^violently, and was answered by a new under-house-raaid. The old gentleman, in a great state vof fuss, was standing at his bedroom door. 11 There is no soap in my room," he exclaimed ; "get me some directly." Her reply was truly dreadful. ( " Sure thin, an' if ye'r in sich a hirry, why don't ye sthep acroaa an' ask tho strhangeyoung Jady apposite ye for a rub ? She's up this half hour an more, an/ 'tis loike she's dun with it now.". This story reminds me of a remark I heard was made by some country people who, seeing some gentlemen who were staying in the neighbourhood bathing, exclaimed, " Sure then its a sily known there's a-going to be a gathering at the big house ; look at the quality cleaning , themselves !" These are only a few of the many instances I could give to illustrate. my .subject, but these will suffice. I have no doubt that many people, who do not understand the menage of Irish housea generally, and the wayß, of the peasantry in particular, may doubt these stories, and think them exaggerated. I almost think I should, were I not accustomed to the peculiarities, of the country. ; but I have related nothing that is not genuine and authentic. . . • Two friends of myovtn, both reared in the greatest luxury, and brought up to. think that anything connected, with housekeeping was quite .unnecessary ,to learn— in fact, that such a knowledge was in, a way derogatory to^thom — married poor men. , The following .instance will give an idea far better than I could of Mrs G.s capabili-, ties, and show how unsuited she was to make both ends meet.- , ; ■ The cook said mustard and rice were required. Mrs Gr. ordered the grocer to send , her one pound ; of rice and, two stone of mustard?, ,Often have^, we laughed over,, her mistake, for since ; that ocourred she has, tried, and' most snccesefjilly,', to do better,; so much 1 so that at the' .time I write, I do not know of any house ,more perfectly ordered than hers is.' ' un " * Myothar friend : called one day* in» great distress to see -me; Her little baby, 1 ten months old,' was very ill. She had been obliged to p&rt with her nursie' some days previously on very short notice for] some misdemeanour,' and. she was trying to attend to^'baby » herself until- the' toew ■ nurtse could come. In' the course of conversation mentioned that, since she had had charge of the chil*}, she had fed, it principally on oyoters and f porter,; at'ehe heard it was very Btrengttioning.* JPoor mother ! tipor child t

In talking of the olden times to an old "B©xvftnti"fwhof- e -in"^Bpeaking' | "'agawpßiH«»'th©"7 > domestics of the present day, eaid, "" They iho^hJWy kn^^lvXr^fchj^whiEil knew nothing at all," she v summed up her ideas of the present generation of servante in the following irhy me, 'which I copied at the time into an old. pocket book ;—; — The man for tbe plough, the woman for the com.. The boy for to mow, the girl for to sew. The riifth ially-ho ! {he wife piano ! ' ' ' *"* l A The boy.. Greek and Latin, the gir^ silk and satin.. ." t •' ; '" ," , , —"Queen." T