igo MORE POT-POURRI 



responding story is of a lady who wrote to a French 

 friend for a holiday tutor. He also was to be a 

 lump of perfection. The Frenchwoman wrote back : 

 'Je ferai tout mon possible, mais si je trouve ton homme 

 je I'epouse.' 



A wit of fifty years ago used to say: 'I marry my wife 

 for her money, I engage my footmen for their looks, as 

 those are the only two things that can possibly be 

 known beforehand.' As is common enough with a 

 cynical remark, there is a good deal of truth in this. 



Now we come to what I consider to be one of the 

 greatest changes that has occurred of late years; viz., 

 the extreme facility for women getting employment with- 

 out any character at all ; that is to say, without any 

 prying into the private conduct or personal character- 

 istics of any individual. For example, all shops and 

 stores, laundi-ies and many other houses of business, 

 engage their employes from their general appearance and 

 the account they give of themselves. If they do not do 

 their work, if they are insubordinate or unpunctual, they 

 are dismissed on Saturday night — sometimes even with- 

 out the usual week's notice and without any reason 

 being assigned. This often appears a great hardship, 

 but my point is that one of the chief objections to 

 domestic service is that, from the very start, some sort 

 of recommendation is required from someone who is 

 supposed to be in a responsible position. I do not say 

 this is not necessary, but I do think the custom might 

 be considerably relaxed, with advantage to everybody. 

 The usual characters given are often clever skating on 

 very thin ice, and convey little real knowledge of the 

 servant's faults or merits. Servants, like other people, 

 have undoubtedly the defects of their virtues, and the 

 wise way is to make up our minds what we are prepared 

 to give up. If we go in for youth and good looks, we 



