1883-11-22uu

“There is probably scarcely a housekeeper in the city who keeps a servant girl but knows from experience of the difficulties which meet a person in search of one.”

Hamilton Spectator.    November 22, 1883.

It had had been a problem occasionally in the past, but by November, 1883, the situation of hiring, and keeping, dependable women to work in Hamilton homes had reached a crisis stage.

On November 22, 1883, the Hamilton Spectator carried an article about the situation under the headline, “About Servant Girls.”

The reporter began his examination of the matter with a case which he described in detail:

“Here, for instance, is a lady who for ten or fifteen years has had a servant, one who has been so long in the household that she is looked upon almost a part of it; she knows the ways of every member of the family, knows also how to supply their wants, and does it in a thorough manner; in fact manages the entire house.

“Like all girls, however, she is not satisfied with her position, and, against the wishes and protests of her mistress, she encourages the attentions of an industrious mechanic, and leaves a home where, as a servant, she lived amid luxuries and fashion, in which she could not indulge, to become the mistress of a much less elegant house, but where all that surrounds her is her own, and the voice of a kind husband is heard in the evening instead of that of a mistress, annoyed probably by some trifling error.

“Thus left without her faithful helper, the lady is obliged to get a new one, and though she may get a good girl, she will surely get one whose styles and ways are different from the one whose ways were formed under her care; but the probability is that she will not get a good one, for while there are plenty of girls to be had, not many of them are up to the mark, else they would not be out of employment.”¹

¹ “About Servant Girls : Growing Demand for Farmers’ Daughters : Good Pay, Easy Work and Fine Dresses, the Object of Girls’ Ambition – English Girls Not Good Servants”

Hamilton Spectator.   November  22, 1883.

The reporter then went on to recount a conversation with someone who had recently he had met in his newspaper’s office:

“Not long ago, a gentleman called at the Spectator office one evening to have an advertisement for a girl put in. He said that his wife had a few months before lost a girl who had been with them ever since they were married, twelve years before, and since she left to get married, they had no less than nine other girls.

“The first was recommended to them by a friend, but after trying her for three days, she was told to go. The last of the nine, a colored girl, had in one week broken five milk pitchers, and had on every occasion came to her mistress with the remark, ‘Missie, I’se broke de snout off de pitcher, but I’se a gwine to be mo’ careful next time.’ After breaking the fifth, she was not allowed to try
again, and an advertisement was inserted.”¹

The next interview conducted by the Spectator was with a man very knowledgeable with the current problem as regards domestic help:

“Speaking of servant girls, a gentleman whose business for years has been to supply the best families with girls, told a reporter that of all he had had to do with, none, as a rule, could equal the girls who had been brought up on a Canadian farm, for giving general satisfaction. They enter upon their duties with a clear conception of what a house should look like, and how it should be kept, and, being accustomed to house work all their lives, are strong and healthy, and, at the same time, industrious and cleanly.”¹

The man interviewed also had decided views as regards the nationalities from which the best servant girls are located:

“Scandinavians make splendid workers, but lack the neatness of the Canadian girls, and moreover are hard to get. Then follows the Irish, Scotch and German, the former being the preferred of the three, on account of their willingness to work and their devotion to their mistresses.

“English girls, as a rule, do not make very good servants, not being possessed of the strength and adaptability of Canadian girls, or the willingness of the Irish. When a real good English girl can be got, however, she is a treasure.

“About one-third of the girls employed in this city are Canadian girls, most of whom have been brought up on farms. Of the remaining two-thirds, about three-eighths are Irish, the others being divided among Scotch, German and English, with an occasional Scandinavian, French and African.

“As a rule, the Canadian and English girls dress neater than the others, although they make less show than the Irish. Frequently, a girl leaves a good mistress to go to one where she thinks she will have a better chance to dress well and see fashionable people, but generally they look out for a place where they can get the most money and have the least work to do. A house where other servants are kept also offers greater inducements to a girl than one where one has to all the work.”¹  
    While the “servant girl” problem was deemed to be acute in 1883, it was a problem which would not get better but become much worse in the future.