An American “Help.” — 558
The following amusing description of an American servant we extract from a letter from New York:—An American “help” is no menial. She is spoken of, not satirically, but in simple good faith, as “the young lady” who “picks up” the house and “fixes” the dinner-table. Before she agrees to enter a family she cross-examines her mistress as to whether the house is provided with Hecker’s flour, and Berbe’s range; brass pails; oil-cloth on the stairs; and hot and cold water laid on. Then she states the domestic “platform” on which she is prepared to act. “Monday I bakes; and nobody speaks to me. Tuesday I washes; I’se to be let alone. Wednesday I irons; you’d best let me be that day. Thursday I picks up the house; I’m awful ugly that day in temper, but affectionate. Friday I bakes again. Saturday my beau comes. And Sunday I has to myself.” The “help,” I repeat, is a young lady. She attends lectures, and may some day become a member of a Woman’s Rights’ Convention; and it is because she is a young lady, and the persons who require her assistance do not choose to run the risk of being driven raving mad by her perversity and her impertinence, that so many married couples in the United States never venture on housekeeping for themselves, but live from year’s end to year’s end in uproarious and comfortless hotels.