and later on sides with Mary Ann against despotic mistresses who advertised for parlourmaids and cooks who must not wear fringes. In 1891 _Punch_ published a set of verses inspired by the dismissal, after nine days, of a maid who refused to wear a cap. But the extremists who would make the mistress the "woman" and the servant the "lady" found no favour in his sight; he was no more a supporter of tyrannical servants than of exacting mistresses, and in 1884 our sympathies are distinctly enlisted on the side of the graceful young wife, terrified at the prospect of having to give warning to a formidable cook, and begging the page-boy to stand by during the ordeal. [Sidenote: _Mistress and Maid_] [Illustration: JEAMES: "They tells me as the _Mornin' Post_ is comin' to a penny! When I fust heard of it, constable, you might 'ave knocked me down with a peacock's feather!!"] In 1886 _Punch_ discussed the formation of an Anti-Tipping League, but came to the shrewd conclusion, verified by experience, that it called for too much courage to prove successful. A year before, in a series of papers on "Public Grievances," he had published a set of letters written from different points of view, showing that mistresses and maids were both at fault. The sketch of "My Housemaid" in 1892 reverts to the old complaints of destructiveness and "followers," and notices, as special traits, a love of funerals and Exeter Hall. Nine years earlier the _Daily Telegraph_ had published a sensational report of the impending importation of Chinese labour for domestic service. _Punch_ was not inclined to take the report seriously, but it cropped up again in 1882 in the _St. James's Gazette_:-- Domestic servants will view with well-grounded anxiety a decision arrived at by the Chinese merchants who met in conference a few days ago in London. It was resolved, among other things, to send letters to various Clubs in China, recommending emigration to England. If this recommendation is acted on, we may be on the eve of a great domestic and social revolution. There will, no doubt, be a prejudice at first in some households against the introduction into the family circle of the "heathen Chinee." But when his merits are discovered, it is not impossible he may be warmly welcomed as a valuable acquisition, meeting one of the most pressing requirements of the day. _Punch_ contented himself with publishing a mock protest from "John Thomas" of Belgravia against this "rediklus" proposal:--