Skilled Domestic Service

meie is 1.0 aepartment ot Amencan life so tiursed wini ignortinoe ani lnck of skill ts th.tt of' dun est iu service. There aiu thousands ot' families in this city - iiid the same i';iet obtuins in "ther cities - vho have no batistactory service from yeiir's end to year's ead. The servants come and go, and lie and waste, and gpoil Hiid quariel and s-tcal. They Lave no loyalty, no faithfulnese, no kiJl t"ó notbe dutit s which tliey undertake and which tluy loudly and coniiilinlly piofess to uiuierstand. Tlieir ignurunco is onl}' matched by their insoiunce. They have ! no dispusition to team, no ambiticn to I b-jconie excellent, no desiie to please, and no wish to remain for any considerable lengtb of time in oue place. Xhesailors' bourding-housfs, from which the men are dragged and shipped for evtiry linef voyüge, (lonotsceni to bc more demoralized and hopeless places than many of those holes so stfangely misnamed "intelligence offices," lroni which scores of girls mi) sent into families every day - j iris who are kuown to be inefficiënt, and who are expeoted back in searoh of another placa before the iirst moiith is out. The waste of luel in rich inen's kitchens would keep all the poor people warm. The lood thrown away, or ruined by recklessuess nnd ignoranci , would feed tens of thousands. Foreigners wonder that the American faruily takea to the boardingh'nise and the hotel, bot thesecret of this strange liking t'or hotel life is in the wretebed service of domestic life. Women get tired and diseouraged witli house-keeping, and give it up. It' we could see tuy tendency to irap'ovement tn domestic service, we should nut trouble ourselves to write tbis article; bat tliere is no such tendency apparent. We are every year more thor oughly satisfiod thut there must be soine concert ot actiou among tht Indios of the city, on Vario ua points, before thero can be diiy iniprovement. These points are: Fiist. That no lady shall give a servant n oertificate of character or skill that ovei-states the facts in the slightest degree. Second. That no servant shallbe eniaged who cannot bring a satisfactory certificate from her last place, or give competent refeiences. Third. That when a mistress finds herself imposed upon by false reprosentations, she imuiodiately dismise her servant, so that, at last, ail iucompetent servante be driveii inti, placea where their wages shall bear sume proper relatioa to the value of their work. tío long as poor und dishonost servants ace tolermed, and find no molive to make themselves better, tiiey will not become better. The exporieuce oí' our housek epcra lias proved tlus. A poor se v;:'H who küows tliat she oan walk out of une good housüditattly 1 1 1 1 aoottker will not try to beuome excellent Slie gels used to iioating, mJ does not Object to it. Tb we i a uleasant excitement in it, to vvhioh she becomes accustouied. There aio Liuiiiifd;-, it not thousands, of servi.nis in New Yuik who oever stay three luoiiths in a plae;, and are in no way unliappy about it ; and the good housekii i . is ot the cuy are respoosible lor Uieir existeiice. Ir their cretleutialawere pioperly loufccid into, they would find theixiselves c.iivtn into inferior places, or j made humblfi and willing to learn. ■ do uut know ui. y it is ihat it is supposed timt eooking, as au art, tl Bever to be learnod. Good cfooking is muoBg the be.st and most useiul of all th'j alt. u aiü uióio d'jjt'iidfeiit upon it I for health, oomlort and the economical adinniistiation of home Ufe thao upon any oüjr art whittever ; yet rot o;ie in t.ite iiuïidud ot ü.ii cu tka ■ 4:1 le;iii;s Ler bueines, or ever tiiinks of learning it. e are ttriven to professional bakens lor our biead and to ta ooui'ectionersibr our pastry, cake, puddings and crearns. Our lady oi the kitchen calis lierselt' a couk t she can roast u juiut so that it can be eateii, ur broil a bleak so that it canuot be eateu. lf adinnei party is to begiven, ii pruse.-.-iuiiul cook must be called in to save the lady of ihe house tiom torment oi' di.-grace. We pa y ior good sorvice, and get that which ia wieteuedly iu competent. Taeie are two possible raeasures which might relieve us. It' the city authorities would estiibiish and maiutain a bureau ut registry whioh would reoaive no ñames but tliose of uien and women who can establish, by the most reliable testimony, theii oompeteucy in the different departinents of domestic service, and go make it: a ijrinio object with all servants to get thfir nanies upon it, they would open ;t way out of our diffioulties. The trouble is that no om; is responsible now for anything. A good-natured mistress gives her good-naturi-d servant a "charaóter" whjcb docsniot belong to'her, andon tliis she trades A bureau like the ono we propose could be made self-supporting, and do incalculable good. It should be made so high an honor to get a place upon this ïegistry, and so sure a guaranty ot good wagcs and permanent service, that a motive tur excellence is held con staiitly beforo those who expect to rely upon service tor a hvelihood. Then those who are willing to pay good wages i'or goud service nhould nuver resort to any Other souice for it. lf a servant applies for a firut-class jilace who canuot get her name upon tho regiater, she should not obtam it. Tho second measure to which we alinde is the establishment ot' tt school of domestic service, so that any servant who really wishes to improve hertelt can be titted for her work, whatevcr it u:ay be, whetber cooking, or waiting, or laundrywork, or the care of chambers. üurciiy is f uil ot' rich men - men with suptifluous wealth. They will leave this wealth to charities and museums, and various objects moro or less practicable and praisaworthy. What gieater favor can these men do the city in which they have acoumulated their money than by founding a school of domes! ii; service, where uien and woiueu who havo failed to learn tlnir business, or who wish to enter upon ser vice, can acquire a practical knowledge of their work V Surely there must le, in a nation lilre ours, soiue way out of our present troubles. We have put nearly everythiug in a way of mending but tbis, and before it we seem to stand helpless. Are not the remedies wo propose practicable 'í If they are, then they should be applied. The firsi measure we ptopose would nut be complete without the other, and the latter, established iu sorne way, would not work well without the f'ormer. We want not only the instruction, but the public, authoritative recoguition of it. We want a standard that shall ostabtiêh and maintaiu a distinction - honorable on onu side and dighonorable on the other - betwoen good servants and bad servants. Sucii h Standard would, while increasing the comfort and economy of hüme-life, msike service an intelligent andrespectable art, and elévate the inunde oí all engiiged in it. - Di J. O. Holland, ocribner' fur July. A ycmnL man in a Suburban town sent off his lirst postal cir.i a lew days since. Atter writiug ti message on tLe bick hu inclesed it iu ;n Bpvelope, clappád oü a cent atahi] pped it into the postofEoe, remarking that it was a vèry handy arrangement, and bhuuld havo been introduoed years ago.