e realized that above the number necessary for essentials, each
additional chambermaid, parlor-maid, footman, scullery maid or useful man,
is made necessary by the size of the house and by the amount of
entertaining usual, rather than (as is often supposed) for the mere reason
of show. The seemingly superfluous number of footmen at Golden Hall and
Great Estates are, aside from standing on parade at formal parties, needed
actually to do the immense amount of work that houses of such size entail;
whereas a small apartment can be fairly well looked after by one alone.

All house employees and details of their several duties, manners, and
appearances, are enumerated below. Beginning with the greatest and most
complicated establishments possible, the employee of highest rank is:

=THE SECRETARY WHO IS ALSO COMPANION=

The position of companion, which is always one of social equality with her
employer, exists only when the lady of the house is an invalid, or very
elderly, or a widow, or a young girl. (In the latter case the "companion"
is a "chaperon.")

Her secretarial duties consist in writing impersonal letters and notes and
probably paying bills; she may have occasional invitations to send out,
and to answer, though a lady needing a companion is not apt to be greatly
interested in social activities. The companion never performs the services
of a maid--but she occasionally does the housekeeping. Otherwise her
duties can not very well be set down, because they vary with individual
requirements. One lady likes continually to travel and merely wants a
companion, (usually a poor relative or friend) to go with her. Another who
is a semi-invalid never leaves her room, and the duties of her companion
are almost those of a trained nurse. The average requirement is in being
personally agreeable, tactful, intelligent, and--companionable!

A companion dresses as any other lady does; according to the occasion, her
personal taste, her age, and her means.

=VARIED SOCIAL STANDING OF THE PRIVATE SECRETARY=

The private secretary to a diplomat, since, he must first pass the
diplomatic examination in order to qualify, is invariably a young man of
education, if not of birth, and his social position is always that of a
member of his "chief's" family.

The position of an ordinary private secretary is sometimes that of an
upper servant, or, on the other hand, his own social position may be much
higher than that of his employer. A se