28 Environment and Efficiency 



cooking, laundry, house and needle-work. The older girls are 

 in school about half the time, and for the rest are at work 

 under direction either in the kitchen, laundry, or workroom, or 

 cleaning about the house. 



" The girls have all the housework to do under the care of 

 assistants, so they have ample opportunity for all varieties of 

 domestic work, including house and parlourmaid work, in the 

 superintendent's house. 



" All the washing and needlework are done in the house, so 

 that there is a large amount of practical work always at hand." 

 I went through 129 of the records. Of these : 

 80 were satisfactory. 



27 were doubtful or only fairly satisfactory. 

 22 were unsatisfactory. 

 Of the 49 unsatisfactory or doubtful cases : 

 7 were definitely mental, 

 2 " almost deficient," 

 i " hardly responsible," 

 and i had an insane parent. 



The average length of 74 of the 129 records of which I 

 have copied the dates is 10.1 years, 26 of these being kept 1 for 

 periods of more than 10 years. 



As the girls are committed to this school until the age of 16, 

 and only in very exceptional cases are discharged at 14 and 15, 

 we may reckon the average age to which these 74 records are 

 kept as 26. 



It will be seen that the majority of these records are of 

 girls employed in domestic service. To anyone having the 

 most superficial knowledge of the " servant question," it will 

 be apparent that the fact of a girl remaining for several years 

 in the same place does not necessarily imply any very high 

 standard of efficiency. There are mistresses who will put 

 up with any imperfections rather than face the alternative 



1 In some cases I find that I have omitted to enter the length of record ; in 

 others the final date was not given, though all conform to the 4 years' minimum. 



