36 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



is $37.56 less than $310.01 which represents our average yearly 

 income of servant girls. 



The feeling of social degredation seems, then, to be the chief 

 barrier against a servant's position for girls. 



If we endeavor to discover the reasons for this feeling, we must 

 remember that times have changed, and these changes are felt in 

 all departments of life. A spirit of freedom and independence has 

 ruled this countr}' from the very beginning. This spirit has grown 

 and has brought with it a hatred of superiority and a desire for 

 equality which affect all classes of people. 



Some one says, "The declaration of independence, universal 

 suffrage, and unrestricted immigration are the causes of our minor 

 domestic woes." However this may be, it is certain that we can- 

 not now expect to find the old fashioned family servant who has 

 devoted her whole life solely to the interests of her employers, and 

 who seems almost part of the family possessions. 



Another cause for this prejudice is to be found in the fact that, 

 thovigh slavery has been abolished in this country, there are feel- 

 ings and relations closely connected with that institution which 

 have become so deeply rooted in the minds of the people that it 

 will take more than the civil war and the emancipation proclamation 

 to destroy them entirely. 



Moreover, Americans are proverbially a restless people. Wage- 

 earners, as well as other classes, enjoy the change and variety which 

 city life affords, and house work in the country is therefore to 

 many distasteful. 



Comic papers and the stage have done not a little with their 

 jokes at the expense of servants, and their slurs against the posi- 

 tion to bring domestic service into disfavor. 



Then, too, girls feel, though without cause, that their position 

 in the social scale has been lowered when they cease to be called 

 "Miss" and are known only as " Bridget " or "Maggie." Small 

 disagreeable kitchens and other apartments for servants, poorly 

 regidated work with no definite and well defined hours, are re- 

 sponsible in no small degree for the prejudice of society against 

 the position of servant. 



Again, we must consider the not unnatural effect produced on 

 the minds of the people by the poor class of untrained servants 

 which has to be tolerated for lack of better. The comparatively 

 few faithful, well-trained and intelligent servants are compelled to 

 suffer for the short-comings of their associates. 



Now, cannot something be done to make this profitable occupa- 

 tion more desirable for young women, and to remove from it the 



