English essays -- 19th century; Great Britain -- Social life and customs; London (England) -- Description and travel
You concede, however, that there is a touch of humor in the two
tragedies here mentioned. Why? Is it that the idea of persons at service
is somehow ludicrous? Perhaps it is made more so in this country by the
splendid appearance of the liveried domestics of great people. When you
think that we dress in black ourselves, and put our fellow-creatures in
green, pink, or canary-colored breeches; that we order them to plaster
their hair with flour, having brushed that nonsense out of our own heads
fifty years ago; that some of the most genteel and stately among us
cause the men who drive their carriages to put on little Albino wigs,
and sit behind great nosegays--I say I suppose it is this heaping of
gold lace, gaudy colors, blooming plushes, on honest John Trot, which
makes the man absurd in our eyes, who need be nothing but a simple
reputable citizen and in-door laborer. Suppose, my dear sir, that you
yourself were suddenly desired to put on a full dress, or even undress,
domestic uniform with our friend Jones's crest repeated in varied
combinations of button on your front and back? Suppose, madam, your
son were told, that he could not get out except in lower garments of
carnation or amber-colored plush--would you let him? . . . But as you
justly say, this is not the question, and besides it is a question
fraught with danger, sir; and radicalism, sir; and subversion of the
very foundations of the social fabric, sir. . . . Well, John, we
won't enter on your great domestic question. Don't let us disport with
Jeames's dangerous strength, and the edge-tools about his knife-board:
but with Betty and Susan who wield the playful mop, and set on the
simmering kettle. Surely you have heard Mrs. Toddles talking to Mrs.
Doddles about their mutual maids. Miss Susan must have a silk gown, and
Miss Betty must wear flowers under her bonnet when she goes to church
if you please, and did you ever hear such impudence? The servant in many
small establishments is a constant and endless theme of talk. What small
wage, sleep, meal, what endless scouring, scolding, tramping on messages
fall to that poor Susan's lot; what indignation at the little kindly
passing word with the grocer's young man, the pot-boy, the chubby
butcher! Where such things will end, my dear Mrs. Toddles, I don't know.
What wages they will want next, my dear Mrs. Doddles, &c.
Here, dear ladies, is an advertisement which I cut out of The Times a
few days since, expressly for you:
“A lady is desirous of obtaining a SITUATION for a very respectable
young woman as HEAD KITCHEN-MAID under a man-cook. She has lived four
years under a very good cook and housekeeper. Can make ice, and is an
excellent baker. She will only take a place in a very good family, where
she can have the opportunity of improving herself, and, if possible,
staying for two years. Apply by letter to,” &c. &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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