190 MORE POT-POURRI 



women, the deadliest is the abuse of servants ; and few 

 seem to realise that it is practically self-condemnation, 

 as in the long run bad servants mean bad mistresses, or 

 at any rate mistresses with unsympathetic natures and 

 without the talent to rule firmly but not tyrannically. 



When we think of servants' homes and training, and 

 how their youth has been passed, especially in large 

 towns, and how they are suddenly brought to face 

 unaccustomed luxury and high feeding, and to live an 

 exciting life of society among themselves, the ceaseless 

 wonder to me always is that servants are as good as they 

 are, and keep as ' straight ' as they do, more especially as 

 they are very often set a bad example by the people 

 they serve. In large households where there are many 

 and consequently idle menservants, keeping up a high 

 standard of morality is hopeless, or at least very difficult. 

 The constant absence from home so common to-day is one 

 of the great causes of unsatisfactory establishments. 



Under- servants in moderate-sized houses are the ones 

 that excite my pity. It is always ' the girl ' who is to do 

 this and that, the half -up and half -down drudge who has 

 two or three people who think they have an absolute 

 right over her ; or ' the boy ' who is to have all work and 

 no play. It is on the same principle, I suppose, as the 

 ' fag ' at school. ' I had to do it once, so now I will 

 make someone else do the same.' Petty love of power 

 and cruelty is so inherent in human nature ! As was re- 

 counted some time ago in the ' Spectator,' ' I'll learn you 

 to be a toad ! ' the remark of a small urchin as, stone in 

 hand, he eyed the offending reptile. 



One of the many causes of disappointment about 

 servants is, that those people who treat them with kind- 

 ness and consideration expect in return more gratitude 

 than the circumstances admit. 



I remember a friend who had been good to a little 



