WHICH TO MARRY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 72, 14 March 1908, Page 3

WHICH TO MARRY

IXMKSTIC OK SllOl'iilUl.

(By Edwin t'ugh, in J lome ra[,w.) " i licse uiung men u! t■'i• ■ i.nwci Classes —or do Iney call - i.:r:;;.-cKe; u! the fjower .\liddle Class. - I i.i i-,il!j not equal to these very line :h*-ui :i us —these young men are so sill\." *.: id .Mrs. Autrobus. •'What sort of young uieu do ,um mean ?" I inquired. " Wol'kiug-men, clerks, shopmen, and so on."

" J'hese young men art usually ,-o silly in their choice of » wife. Tiie. marry shop-girls, and milliners, ani dressmakers, and even the more superior type of factory-girl sometimes. Ao- , why do they? .Why don't they man,, domestic servants, who are lar more likely to make them good wives than Jbese over-dressed maids who priii ■ themselves on being young ladies, hot. ly because they don't have to soil their hands;"

" l'erhiips they can't afford to man domestic servants," I remarked. "What nonsense! 1 should think i:. would be Ihe other way round. Jim. 'of course, you are only a num. Let me tell you, then., that domestics won!! make simply ideal wives for (ho average thirty-shillings-a-week young jn ;n, if only that exceedingly short-.lighted

and impracticable person could b, brought to see it. J)oinestic servants know how to scrub and scour and clean, and eook, and look after children. 'I hey are used to the drudgeiy of keeping rooms spotless and tidy. "Awl their association, with psopie ol some refinement and taste teaches th"in

to appreciate the comforts of a wellkept, we'll-managed household. They have no false notions us to their .stations in life, either. And I have found (hem, as a rule, most industrious and willing and obliging. They nro healthier, too, than Ihe girls who toils all day in a stuffy iiitmosphere, and often does not get enough to eat, preferring lo spend on finery what she ought to spend om food.

] '' Mind, I am not blaming the poor j 'girls for wanting to make the best of \ themselves. All nice women nre lik" •that. And I daresay domestic servants would :1h» just the same if they were similarly dreumstanced. But then they are not. Their food is provided for tiiem. There is never any stint. And it is good ami .wholesome food. Again, they do their vvwk in strong print dresses, and so ean .reserve their gowns for higfr-daya and holidays; whereas, the other "ills have ulwny™ to a smart appearance, and natulan,V out far mow clothes.

" I grant .vou, though,'' Mrs. Ai'truhus wont 0)1, '• t.Vit these yotnw l.idi-vs <>f the shops and .workrooms are nciii-vally more fascinating as sweethearts I'" 1 - 1 domestic servant.*. Thev have , l h'dr

evenings and th-'ir week-ends to the 'n-

selves. They are usually more presentable altogether. Mixing v.ith all sort-, and conditions of people a s ilicv do. and having more opportunities of goim> about and seeing things, tlney im doubt possess more 'savoir laire. 1 Tl:e. aspiring young clerk can take 4(10111 practically anywhere—to restasrajus and theatres and so on—without frniug that he is discounting his own airs of gentility and uian-of-tlie-worldliiKi'ss iti any way. For. it must be admitted, f'm afraid, that domestic servants do raOi" l ' stiller liv contrast with other girls nj their class in the matter of social graces.. Somehow domestic service brands it girl and proclaims her for what, slit' is in any company. "1 am ready, you see. to anticipate all your objections liv conceding so much. At the same lime it is to be remembered that the period of courtship

forms onlv a small part of one's life, and not "the most important part. That eomes after marriage. And it is then that the domestic servant scores all the time."

! smiled the smile of ,superior wisdom. " That's all right, theoretically, of course." [ said. "But I repeat that the young man under discussion—may I call him the thirty-bobber— cannot all'ord to marry a domestic servant." "Really," exclaimed Mrs. Antrobus, lietraymg annoyance, "I have known echoes that were quite as intelligent as you seem to be."

•'Hut not more truthful," I said. "And 1 do not claim to be intelligent. For instance, 1 eoufess I had never realised those objections to the domestic servant as a sweetheart which you have I been good enough to point out to me. | I was merely thinking of what happens ' after marriage. Now the average doj mestic servant leaves her home when ' she is fourteen or fifteen, and hence- | forth she is thoroughly well cared for , and looked after by her mistress until , she sets up an establishment of her own. I She only visits her people at intervals, and then descends upon them in the guise of a ministering angel, laden with discarded line clothes and largess of silver and gold to swell the exchequer. Hut the other kind of girl sleeps and eats her chief meals and spends most of her spare time in the bosom of her family. She knows ail about them at first hand: their daily shifts and contrivances and troubles and privations. She hears her equal part ill all their struggles to make both ends meet. She knows the prices of things, helps her mother in her shopping, and learns how to striko a bargain. " The domestic servant, on the other hand, has never had to worry about any of these sordid details at all. And so, when she marries the thirty-bobber, she is suddenly brought face to face with a barbod-wire eptapglement of difficulties witty which stye lias never previously had to grapple. Stye js wittyout any experience 111 that direction, She lias always been used to good food and plenty of it. Her husband ean'l afford to buy such food. As you say, she call cook; but she is accustomed to having an abundant supply of tilings to cook, and things to cook with. She hasn't the least idea of how to make a shoulder of mutton last a week and present a tasty appearance 011 Friday; to do with a. woeful insufficiency of butter and lard and sugar and milk and eggs, and all the other concomitants of really good cooking. She hasn't learql how to deal «-ith g jtyyvtago of pans and plattens anil all the other proper utensils to be found in any wellequipped kitchen. She can't make one small saucepan serve half-a-do/.eii dill!-., cut purposes. In the same way sl|.; misses a full supply of pails ami mop., and brushes and brooms and so on In her cleaning operations. But the homebred girl has learnt to do and to do without all these things. "Again, the domestic servant lias hitherto had to do only one thing at a time, and has had plenty of time and space to do it in. Tll one small room that must, serve both as living-room and kitchen, and llirce or four tilings to do at once, and a baby to attend to as well, she is completely at a loss.

The other kind of girl, •- muuicr at odd times, isn't. Then she cannot make her own clothes or do her own shopping c.oonomicalK. She lias never learnt the value of chance farthings; and she knows nothing about knocking up a palatable dish out of the leavings from a previous meal. The home-bred girl lias, and docs. Finally, the domestic servant has heroine so used to good food and good air. and a certain amount of leisure that, deprived of these things, her health suffers. She grows rapidiy slatternly and peevish and stupid. She is, in short, a failure as a poor man's wife. She " "That is quite enough," interposed Mrs. Ant robin. "T withdraw what T said unreservedly." "Mi. I knew you would see "

•• Yes.' 1 said Mr-. Antrohus. and no>v 1 perceived 'hat she was very cross with 111" for so'u" mysterious reason. "T withdraw what \ said. T said: 'Of nun's;' \'-m ire oiilv a man.' For the haM' i-' i-ion about you T apologise - to tlie men!"