“In fact, the part taken by our servants in the purchase and use of almost all articles of consumption makes a necessary increase in the wages paid. Thus even before coming to the kitchen, provisions undergo an increase in cost from the fact that they are bought by the mercenary person who attends to the marketing; this does not include customary augmentations, the sou per pound or the sou in the franc, said to be met by the merchant, and certain others which, on account of their constant increase, deserve special mention.”—Bienaymé, pp. 366-367. “What is done by these servants hired for a limited time? They go to the merchant and impose upon him the law of division of profits. The merchant raises the price, and the stranger buys the article for more than it should cost. These servants even levy a tax upon the eating-house keeper; the livery-stable keeper is obliged to pay them as much as twenty sous a day; these profits have become customary.”—Mercier, V., 156. Bouniceau-Gesmon, pp. 107-113, cites from an unnamed English author a long account of similar practices in England. “My cook always gets three lire from the butcher and three from the grocer at Christmas.”—Italian housekeeper. [355] M. Colletet narrates the story of a young girl from the country who was told of a situation where in addition to her regular wages she could get various profits, such as ashes, old shoes, remnants of bread and meat, and various tidbits.—_Le Tracas de Paris_, p. 229. M. Babeau, p. 283, cites from Fournier, _Vanités historiques et littéraires_, V., 243-257, the advice of an old servant to a new one as to ways of cheating his master, such as burning much wood in order to have many ashes, saving from articles for the table, etc. It is thus that a cook has been able to lay up enough to buy five large farms, while her husband, the coachman, has on his part saved out of the hay and straw bought for the stables. “A large number of cooks increase these profits by illicit gains, and the tradesmen themselves, with no other reason than the fear of losing their customers, obligingly wink at, or rather become parties in, this trickery.”—M. Jules Simon, cited by M. Salomon, p. 549. “The cook either brings short weight or reports paying a higher price than he has paid—he has many dodges. The housekeeper must weigh over again the articles purchased, or go to market to ascertain, if possible, the real price of articles bought, or submit to imposition.”—Housekeeper in Spain. [356] Under this head come cast-off clothing, skins of animals, bones, tallow, drippings, etc. A. Weber, _Les Usages locaux_, p. 48. [357] “Beer (or beer money) is allowed at the rate of about one pint a day for women-servants.”—Booth, VIII., 220 (1896). Miss Collet considers it established that in England the custom of paying beer money is dying out, many employers not only give no beer money but also give no beer. _Report_, p. 29 (1899).