who would get from L22 to
L30 in England, and more in America. But the wages of German servants
are supplemented at Christmas by a system of tips and presents that
has in course of time become extortionate. Germans groan under it, but
every nation knows how hard it is to depart from one of these
traditional indefinite customs. The system is hateful, because it is
neither one of free gift nor of business-like payment, but hovers
somewhere between and gives rise to much friction and discontent. In a
household account book that a friend allowed me to see I found the
following entry. "Christmas present for the servant. 30 marks in
money. Bed linen, 9.50. Pincushion, 1.5. Five small presents. In all
42 marks. _Was not contented._" This was a general servant in a
family of two occupying a good social position, but living as so many
Germans do on a small income. But then the servant's wages for doing
the work of a large well-furnished, well-kept flat was L14, and these
same friends told me that servants now expect to get a quarter of
their wages in money and presents at Christmas. A German servant gets
a great deal more help from her mistress, and is more directly under
her superintendence, than she would be in a household of the same
social standing in this country. I have heard an English lady say that
when she had asked people to dinner she made it a rule to go out all
day, because if she did not her servants worried her with questions
about extra silver and other tiresome details. All the notable
housewives in England will say that this lady was a "freak," and must
not be held up to the world as an English type. But I think there is
something of her spirit in many Englishwomen. They engage their
servants to do certain work, and hold them responsible. The German
holds herself responsible for every event and every corner in her
husband's house, and she never for a moment closes her eyes and lets
go the reins. The servants are used to working hand in hand with the
ladies of the household, and do not regard the kitchen as a department
belonging exclusively to themselves after an early hour in the
morning.

"Why did you leave your last place?" you say to an English cook
applying for yours.

"Because the lady was always in the kitchen," she replies quite
soberly and civilly. "I don't like to see ladies in my kitchen at all
hours of the day. It is impossible to get on with the work."

But in Germany the kitchen is not the co