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the; tr ainin g of female servants. 149
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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-Ess— Plutaech In His Usually Picturesqu...
ing way rotten " into beams and a down small of a in harbour curious the low old where of . woo sunset a den few . p like ier boats , were thing , moored rocking 's full of to and life tlie . danc half The - -
other up end of the _sbreet extended g to the top of a hill , and opened out on a common or down . We gained this common , and paused to
inspect the ruins of a monastery , which , in the days immediately was precedin relig now ious g desolate h the ouses wholesale , was and remarkable crumbling spoliation for and and its but wealth suppression for the and ivy importance of which the greater closel . It y
clasped its walls , would have been , a shapeless heap of rubbish . The wind sighed mournfully round its defaced angles and through
its broken arches , as if all its departed abbots were lamenting" its a decay decent in wom sad unison an past . the Here middle we were period overtaken of' life by a three girl very persons neatl , — y .
, attired , and a singularly handsome youth , whose dress and brown lexion showed that he was a sailor . Theylike ourselveshad
comp , , friends come up learnt from Brackensbury from the woman and were that going her daug across hter the Margaret downs . Our had .
with difficulty obtained leave of absence from her mistress for a few hoursand that she herself and Edwin were accompanying her a
part of , the way home . "We must not go , _" said the mother , " the whole with Margaretfor her mistress does not like persons to
call on way her at the house . " , Edwinwe learntwas to start the next morning on a three years' voyage . , He had , been engaged to
Margaret for some time , and was remarkably steady and intelligent . He had that open , manly sort of countenance , which you would
have said ought to belong to a midshipman . Margaret was evidently a thoroughly sensible girl , but she could not conceal the
regret she felt that this was the last time she would see Edwin for three yearsand that she could not ask him to the house where she
, lived as servant . . This simple incident , in connection with our evening stroll ,
reminded us of the manuscript on which we had been working in the morning . Here , thought we , is a fact illustrative
enough of our subject ; another instance of the want of intelligence , of consideration , nay , of charity , in the management of
domestic servants . In some respects , they are frequently treated too delicately ; in others , most unreasonably and harshly . The golden
mean is wanting . We were led to think of the numerous cases in which cruelty mistresses so frequentl have y expressed perpetrated in , the and stereot do still yped perpetr phrase at , e , ' the no
followers are allowed . " Strip off the verbal covering , and look at the naked fact involved in that phrase . It means that servants as
soon as they enter service , must resign all share in the ordinary interests and feelings of humanity , that their lot is dreary isolation ,
that the house in which they live is a prison-house , and natural ties make up a figment . This prohibition respecting " followers " not
unfrequently extends to relatives—to mothers , fathers _^ brothers , and
The; Tr Ainin G Of Female Servants. 149
the ; _tr ainin g of _female servants . 149
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1859, page 149, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051859/page/5/
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