The cap and apron are in themselves not only unobjectionable, but they have certain very definite advantages. They are conducive to neatness and economy and moreover form a most becoming style of dress. The picturesque effect of both is appreciated by all young women who take part in public charitable entertainments, it was understood by the matrons of an earlier generation, and it has formed the theme of many letters written on foreign soil. No costume in itself could be more desirable or better adapted to the work of the wearers, and a more general rather than a more restricted use of this form of dress should be advocated on theoretical grounds. But the cap and apron as worn do not always indicate a desire on the part of the wearer for neatness, economy, and tasteful attire, nor always an appreciation of these things on the part of the employer. They are regarded as a traditional badge of servitude, and while so regarded it seems unwise to force them on those unwilling to wear them. Moreover the cap and apron while serving admirably their place within the house have no _raison d’être_ out of doors; the cap affords no protection from heat, cold, or storms, and the apron is inappropriate for street wear. The cap and apron are appropriate and desirable in all places where they would be worn by the employer under the same circumstances, they are inappropriate elsewhere and hence out of taste. If employees as a class would recognize the many advantages of the costume within doors and adopt it universally, and if employers would accept its limitations out of doors and abandon the requirement of it there at all times, the vexed question of livery would seem to be answered. The servility of manner demanded—at least in public—of all domestics is an anomaly in a country where there is no enforced recognition of social and political superiors. The price paid for it—high wages, poor service, constant change, household friction—seems a heavy one and the excuse for it small. As long as domestic service lacks the safety valve of personal independence and the outward expression of self-respect, just so long is there danger of too great repression and consequent explosion. No genuine reform in domestic service is possible while this theory of outward servility is enforced. The most objectionable of all the manifestations of social inferiority—the feeing system—has its economic as well as its social side and will be considered by itself in the chapter on profit sharing in domestic service.