Frost's Laws and By-Laws of American Society: A condensed but thorough treatise on etiquette and its usages in America, containing plain and reliable directions for deportment in every situation in life.Frost, S. Annie (Sarah Annie)
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Frost's Laws and By-Laws of American Society: A condensed but thorough treatise on etiquette and its usages in America, containing plain and reliable directions for deportment in every situation in life.
Frost, S. Annie (Sarah Annie)
Etiquette -- United States
There is one thing a man-servant values beyond all that your
kindness and consideration can do for him--his liberty; liberty to
eat, drink, and be merry, with your things, in the company of his
own friends; liberty to get the housemaid to clean his
candlesticks and bring up his coals; and the housemaid wishes for
liberty to lie in bed in the morning, because she was up so late
talking to John in the pantry; liberty to wear flounces and
flowers. The cook desires liberty too. For this liberty, if you
grant it, they will despise you; if you deny it, they will respect
you. Aim at their esteem; despair of their love or gratitude; make
your place what the best class of servants will value, and, though
in their heart they may not thank you for it, you will gain,
perhaps, one servant out of twenty who will keep gross imposition
and gross immorality at bay.
"These remarks can never be intended to deny the warm attachment
of female servants to the children of their employers. Deep love,
no doubt, is lavished by many a woman on the babe she has nursed.
There is a great deal to be said on the chapter of nurses; which
would require to be dealt with by itself. Much wisdom is required
in the administration of a nursery, to which but few general rules
would apply. Cruel is the tyranny the nurse frequently practises
on the parent, who often refrains from entering her nursery, not
from want of love for her children, but positive dread of the sour
looks which greet her. Let her be firm; let no shrinking from
grieving her darling, who would 'break his heart if his Nana
went,' deter her from discharging the encroaching servant.
"On the choice of servants much of the comfort of the young
housekeeper depends. It often happens that her choice has been
determined by appearance rather than the value of character. If
such be the case, she will have many difficulties to encounter. It
is, in the present day, hardly safe to take a servant if there be
a single objection to character, however it may be glossed over by
the person referred to on this point; for there is now an
unhealthy disposition to pass over the failings of servants who
have left their places, and to make them perfect in the eyes of
others. In respect to sobriety, many people will not acknowledge
that a servant had had the vice of drinking, but will cover the
unpleasant truth with such gentle and plausible terms that it
becomes difficult to comprehend how far the hint is grounded, or
not. Be assured when a lady or gentleman hesitates on this point,
or on that of honesty, it is wiser not to engage a servant. Nor
are you deviating from Christian charity in not overlooking a
dereliction of so material a sort. The kindest plan to the vast
community of domestic servants is to be rigid in all important
points, and, having, after a due experience, a just confidence in
them, to be somewhat more indulgent to errors of a more trivial
nature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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