194 MORE POT-POURRI 



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 

 Swiss nurserymaid, and reproached her for leaving her 

 to go to another situation with slightly higher wages. 

 The girl put out her hands, shrugged her little 

 shoulders, and said : ' Mon Dieu ! madame, que voulez- 

 vous ? J'ai quitt6 ma mfere pour cela ! ' How true it 

 was ! And not only her mother, but her green Swiss 

 valley, with the beautiful sunlit mountains all round — 

 to live in London, with its smoke and its darkness ! My 

 friend was convinced, and said no more. 



Servants stick very closely to what they consider 

 their own duty, but I have never found servants object 

 to anything if told of it beforehand. They do not like 

 unexpected duties sprung upon them, and this is merely 

 a safe rule for their own protection. But the mistress 

 of a house must reserve to herself the right to ask a 

 servant to do anything, and if the refusal is at all 

 impertinent, there is nothing for it but to part. There 

 is reason, too, for this irritating attitude of servants 

 declaring they will not do work they have not been 

 engaged to do. The common -sense of the matter pro- 

 tects them from each other, as one masterful, selfish 

 servant would get all her work done for her by another 

 (as boys get their lessons done at school), if public 

 opinion amongst themselves were not strongly against 

 such a shufaing of duties. 



Servants almost always behave admirably when their 

 common humanity is affected. At times of sorrow or 

 joy, births and deaths, or any sudden change and loss 

 of fortune, they are shaken out of their attitude of 

 habitual selfishness. But, as time goes on, they resent 



