CHAPTER XV. 



THE YELLOW AND WHITE AGONY. 

 (A Chapter on Western Servants, by Mrs. Baillie-Grohman.) 



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WHEN I first went out to British Columbia with my husband, 

 although, of course, the early pioneer days were a thing of the 

 past, I do not think that there were more than three families 

 in Victoria, the capital, employing white servants. These could 

 not be obtained in the country, but had to be imported at their 

 employers' expense from the old country. The white girls thus 

 brought over seldom stayed in their places long, as they quickly 

 married, or left to obtain higher wages. 



It is difficult to give an entirely satisfactory answer to the 

 question so often asked : " What kind of servants do Chinamen 

 make ? " It must always depend on the individual man ; as an 

 average they are good, comparing more than favourably with the 

 ordinary Western help, which is generally an untrained white girl 

 who has to be taught all her work, and who expects to be treated 

 as an equal. It is scarcely fair to compare poor John with the 

 .trim English maid in her cap and apron, who has been well trained 

 in modern civilities as well as her duties, nor can his culinary 

 productions compare with those of a finished European cook ; but 

 with the average plain cook and the inefficient housemaid the 

 contrast would be all in his favour. He does twice the work, he is 

 far more cleanly in his manner of doing it, he is always sober, and 

 fairly honest. It is marvellous how he adapts himself so well 

 to the many strange duties required of him. It is less difficult 



