The San Francisco call. [volume], January 09, 1910, Page 2, Image 2

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
NORAH REGAN is my name, and
I can cay I know my profes
sion. Like any other, the pro
fession of .housemaid has to be
learned from the ground up, and 'it
takes years of experience to learn all
the requirements, from lying truthfully
to callers about the lady not being at
home to pacifying the gentleman when
he has a touch of d. t.'s. But now,
after 20 years of service, there is not
much about housework and giving
parties and weddings and the like I
don't know all about, and what Is
more, the peopla. who give them. \u25a0
I mipht have been a school teacher
if I hadn't been thrown out of a home
bo early, for none of my people had
ever been servants; but. after all, I
chose the least overcrowded line of
work, where there is more than stand
ing room at the top, so that Is why I
em now living comfortably on the in
terest of my earnings and eavings.
In no other way does one get to
know people bo well as serving
In the capacity of a hired girl, for
when you have once worked your way
into the life of a family they unlace
their innermost character before you
as if you were the dog on the mat. You
ccc both sides of all the family skel
etons, too, and I say it as my experi
ence that there is Ecarcely a family in
this town without one of some sort.
Most of them keep them out of the
papers, and from their friends, too, but
in . all the big houses I've worked in.
and I never would work in any' other
kind, the dry bor.es of one kind or an
. - •.-\u25a0_\u25a0 .. \u25a0 \u25a0 - - i
other rattle pretty load.
You hear the rights and wrongs of
the workinjwoman discussed from
women's clubs and the pulpit and in
illustrated magazines, where you see
cuts ' of "servants' sitting room" or
'•neat bedroom for servant," and such
discussions always end by the wrongs
being suffered by . the employer, but
after you have spent your life as a
house servant you come out of the m,lll
feeling toward your employer about as
the lemon feels toward the squeezer.
Nobody knows the true standing of
the "best" families of this yity better
than I, because^ I keep ray ears and
eyes open to all that goes on around
me for my diversion. Instead of read
ing silly book stories about Impossible
CONFESSIONS of a HOUSEMAID
Social Lite or San Francisco as Seen by an Intelligent Lducated
Woman Who Served for Years in Many of "Our Best Families':
people and things that never happened.
Fiction is tame and tiresome, too, com
pared with the thrills running through
the everyday life of some of the people
I know.
By the same token nobody looking on
from the outside half suspects the hero
ism and meanness, the selfishness and
sacrifices, tlie nobleness and niggardli
ness, the cankering sores and the sub
terfuges to keep them in the back
ground, the struggles, defeats and tri
umphs smoothed over by a gracious
manner and held in leash by a social
training- I could tell you of a house in
this town where the father, many times
a millionaire. Is so mean and close
with the family he has to be cajoled
and cheated — positively robbed and his
pockets .picked — for every cent they
get. Just because he likes to feel his
power over them. He would not dare
to grind a man under his heel to such
an extent, so he takes It out on his
family of defenseless women. Within
my hearing, only a portiere between us,
he has laid violent hands upon his
daughters, actually struck them with a
force that sent them reeling, and has
taken his wife by the shoulder and
shaken her until she cried for mercy.
And how do they take it? Without
one exception, although they never get
a decent word from the old codger and
can not possibly feel anything but
hatred for him, they choke it back and
try to live it down and always speak
of him in the kindliest manner. The
girl? — before company— -call him "papa
dear," while there is, perhap6, the blue
Imprint of his hand upon their shoul
ders. Of course . they are all, down
in their hearts, looking forward to the
time when "papa dear" will be safely
stowed away underground; . they can't
help it. but no one has ever by a look
or word from them gotten hold of the
fact that he is not a model father and
husband. Is the quality of cour
age and honor that made the martyrs
in the early^church. but these^women,.
living up to asocijfl standard merely,
in order to keep down a scandal, keep
on with a dogged allegiance to duty,
with no faith or religion of any sort as
far as I can see.
It is just this matter of living up to
one's standard that makes a hero or
coward, whatever that standard, may,
be, you know, and the most pathetic ex- |
ample of heroic courage was made in
the, to me, most foolish little cause in'
the world. But I don't doubt the poor
soal got her reward in heaven. Mrs.
all her life had been struggling
to get into society; she had plenty of
money and was a nice enough person,
but rather, commonplace, and the soci
ety class didn't seem to take her up.
What that woman contrived and suf
fered to get herself recognized was
enough to wear out a castiron constitu
tion, and as she was; not 'strong . any.
way it was the death of her just as she
had reached her goal. By the time her
daughter was grown arid out • of Bchool
she had accumulated a calling list
among prominent people long enough
to enable her to give a tea that 'would
really fill her parlors, and sheV was
hoping that: by. the time the girl came
home from her school and took a. little
trip; to Paris she could have this great
'reception, and that by giving It very
\u25a0early in the. season before there were
many functions the people would come
to it. She knew her grasp was .not
strong and there were still many slip
pery places In her skyward climb.
All the time she was working' and
scheming she did not say a word about
the cancer that .was eating into her
breast. She would not even admit it
to herself, I imagine, but put "the
thought from her as too terrible to con
template.
In her, weakened state the disease
made fearful inroads and she began
losing strength; still yiobody suspected
it. All during the summer she dragged
herself around after the girl, giving
her every point she could and training
her, in a very, fever of anxiety, into the
history and antecedents of the people
she must cultivate. The girl didn't
seem 1 to share her mother's social am
bitions, so it'was a' constant effort to
keep her up to the scratch.\ Being "in
society" seemed to the poor woman all
life-was worth living for. and it was,"
I guess, about all her life had meant to
her.
When at last she was ready to give
the tea, however, the doctors told her
she was to go to bed and be built up
for an operation, but she laughed at
them. Day after day she worked away
with decorators arid dress makers and
caterers and the Lord knows what not
to make her reception a great success.
She stood up three hours receiving her
friends and introducing her daughter
into the social world while burning up
with a fever. The girl, who was a very
nice, good looking girl and very much
more sincere and genuine than ' her
mother, seemed to make a good im
pression upon everybody and the moth
er saw her future assured in the world
stte had been shut out from. all. her
life. That was reward enqugh-for her.
The next day she took to her bed
and suffered tortures until she died.
But the look iof peace that overspread
her countenance as she lay In her cas
ket was not so much from the Joys
of heaven, I am sure, as from the fact
that she had succeeded in getting her
daughter "In society."
In another house, where . there are
big dinners and grand receptions every,
season and where there is so much
glitter'* and glare you ca*n not think
shadows could lurk anywhere, the son .
of- the house is bringing the srray hairs
of his parents in sorrow to their, grave,
while every one who knows him on the
outside holds him up as a model son.
He does not dissipate, Is attentive to
business, takes an "active -interest 'in
political reform, is recognized in busi-1
ness circles as the soul of honor* and
integrity, and people congratulate.hls
parents 'upon having, such • a' praise
worthy,son to lean on in their/declining
years. Yet all the while they are siriks
ing; under' the "burden- of life -because
they, simply have '\u25a0. not \ the V courage to
live. -The father, a plaint old Scotch
man, brought : the "boy ~ up Vas- he had
been' brought;up, by stern and -rigid
discipline^ — he , knew no other, way.' Ho
brought the girl- up in, the same way,'
and as. she' grew_ older, and' understood
his manner-and the kind heart;back of
it, . the deepest love- grew, uu' ; between
them. But .the son had something of
the littleness of the mother in his na
ture, and"* as: he grew up and*felt the
strength of hi* youth : dominating his
father's old' r a*gjvh?i:took : it. upon him
self to retaliai^j sxyiisy iisi i$| v i-he old man. for
what be called'^ hartj|fness in ;his child-.
Wood. ' The fact that'' his,; father had
educated him and ; given aim every ad
.vantage lie wanted nothing
against "thedisclpline the boy resented
in the light of the laxity of other boys''
parents.:
-.; As the -father grew older and leas
active in business, the son got the af
THE SICKROOM BOOSTER
His Smile Winning Tale of a Giant Swede and a Loaded Cigar
' • \u25a0 \u25a0 ' - \u25a0 • . \u25a0.:»-' ~ .' •\u25a0 - ' - : \u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0.-. ' « \u25a0 ' • . . *-*
(While the writer of the stories
to appear under this heading was con
fined to his room by illness a friend, a
mari'of wide experience and many ad
ventures, visited him regularly and
cheered the invalid with droll stories
of happenings in his own life. The
talcs of "The* Sickroom Booster," as
the writer came to call his friend,
were so full of humor and cheerful
ness and proved such a splendid tonic,
that the ; writer has resolved to pass
them on in the hope that they may
brighten other sickrooms even as they
did his own. And the man who isn't
sick ; will- enjoy, the stories even more
than the man who is.)
Charles Cristadoro
LET me tell you of a fishing trip I
once started out to take, but, where
we got lots of .trouble, but no fish',
said- the' sickroom booster as he drew
up a chair beside my bed. . y. :
\u25a0v Jim :\u25a0. had been : bragging all , the win
ter about some heavy bass he had taken;
the previous season in a: small.; lake
away back In the 'woods," about 10 miles
from town. There was no road and
y^ou had* to drive through wood^ and
prairie to . get there. I generally":
laughed at Jim when he told me his
fish 'yarns, and he J was determined .to
prove his story of that lake to me. He
had made all ready, slung his boat un^;
der the wagon to carry easy, got some
provisions and a supply of whlsky.yJlin
Nvould forget grub arid water jug some
times, ;but never' the whisky. He came
around in the evening W see if I was
all ready to make a daylight start, and
I was. : 'When daylight came we were,
in. the wagon and off.
It was a beautiful spring- morning, i
due course we began : to leave
• the prairie behindhand enter the tim
;; er,*and' when finally Jim said we must
be close to the lake now, we ran' into
a barbed wire fence. There miist be
'settlers 'in here, > sure thing*, but we
loosenea the wires and' lowered them
arid rode over them.
Then we' came.to a clearing,' and in
the distance. we saw a shack iand stable,;
and *it was ' but a few,' moments befpre
a rawboned, six foot six, light haired,;
blue, eyed, bewhiskered Swede farmer"
opened ; the door of i his house, grabbed
\u25a0up a stable forkVand, swearing; in
Swede,' or j some '• language which, like
the. heathen Chinee,- we -did not- under
stand,came for lus fairly r frothing at
" the i mouthl It -was a' Gettysburg' charge
"arid we were in f or^it. He \u25a0; knew ;we
'-\u25a0 must"'; have jbrokeri^his' fences,? and was
.*mad, . furioußly'Tmad. ; clear along > bis
fairs of the firm into his own hands,
and now will not let the old man say a
word. He refused to keep the books
by : the old system his father under
stood, so the old man. lias no idea of
how the .-affairs are going in the busi
rieste he built up by a-ffTetime bf selfl
denial and hard work. For la years
that I know of he has scarcely given
the poor old man a decent word, except \u25a0
before other people, and has run rough
shod over the whole family, so that no
one dares, to call his soul his own. .The,
old man's^splrit is . so broken now he*
has given the business up. If he asks \u25a0
whole length .from cellar to roof.
Jim sat there paralyzed, speechless,
while I simply, reached into the", grip
under my knees and {lifted out one of
the quart bottles of whisky and gotTtho
cork out with' my.,' teeth- (a corkscrew
was ; too, slow) synchronously with* his
coming— remember ;that : word,' for :mo
ments justjthen had to be psychologic
ally with 4 his arrival. ..
..Well, 'like .'William . • offering
gifts of to -the; savages, I. 'offered
the bottle to .. that \u25a0 savage "Swede and
sald^VHave a drink!" V
Whether .it. was the fancy label,' the
new, "full .bottle, or -he was
whisky : thirsty. I ,' don't* know; '; but , he
took;.the bottle, and if you can't hear
It^" gurgle, 1 gurgle, gurgle down his
throat,; l-can.' "".: >..'
When, thatvgigantic Swede .untangled
the neck-of .the ;bottle.frol[rf his whisk
ery , undergrowth; he ; was,- smiling .,- all
over. '-[]. I ; saw< ; that '\u25a0: ii tt } had \u25ba hi t - the spot.
Of , course -we* could fish.v fish all, we
liked. y- He told ;us' about : his! farm, when
he p came ! /in and'.'! what, " hind : - he \ had
cleared, and .what 'he Iwas to plant 'and
all.aboiit : it,' and. no thing .must- do^. but
Jim. feeling; good ; over -the \fact that
our troubles 'were all-over; must; pull
out our.'other'i quart- .bottle and ask-, the
old Skandihoovian to have" another. 'And
heihad it., ':' : : . J :?\u25a0",,"\u25a0 V-v-"-' . ..\u25a0
.-'. Not to _;be ioutdone ;in hospitality and
maririers^byJJim^andi remembering \ that
Jim had.'.unsmoked in his syest , pocket, 'a
cigar noaded^witW; powder _r that ;I had
given < him : that .rnornins/and ! which' he
.\u25a0was ;innocentl>*' saving" frtr an"after'din
The - San Francisco ' Sunday Call
a' question about how things are going
he gets nothing hut a Burly, insolent
answer; yet if he doesn't protest
against the way things are carried on
he sees he is being run into debt. The
papers have said lately that the son Is
going to marry Miss in the spring.
She is a sweet little thing. I used to
see her when she was a child, and
lived in the next block above the fam
ily I worked for. Nobody will dare to
tell her what her life will be with him.
If they saw her plunging headlong
over an embankment that meant sure
destruction they would not hesitate to
warn her, but they will let her marry
this monster of heartlessness and die
of disappointment and grief. God rest
her soul.
It is being an upper housemaid and
given free- run of the house that-lets
you Into the family life. . I could tell
you, if I chose, things about the people
you know and read about in the society
columns that would turn black into
white and white to black. For in
stance, who would ever guess that the
beautiful and charming Mrs. , as
.she is always described, is what she is,
vijk-acious and witty, merely from a
nervous reaction when she gets away
from home? A less keen sighte^l per
son than I might have lived in\ her
house years without seeing through
her as I do; and put her down as^not
having fine sensibilities, but I, who
know her through and through, regard
her with an admiration near to rever
ence when I think of the life she lives
every day in the year. I give you my
word for It, that woman whom half the
town envies for her good fortune, her
good looks and her good timers, rises
ner smoke, I said, "Now that he has had
a couple of good drinks give him "that
cigar." "Certainly." replied Jim, and
the moment the Swede got it he reached
for and. found; a match, and striking it
on' his jeans, -was soon drawing on the
cigar like a; porous -plaster. Jim had
put'the bottle back and had picked up
the reins and' was Just saying "So long"
when 'something happened...
It was; for «iire la -Swede fourth of
July, for- when, the cigar exploded the
Swede's whiskers looked' like a brush
fire and. the air was full of tobacco
dust, powder, and ashes, and so .were
the. Swede's eyes, nose and whiskers.
-.We got off with our lives. V Jim was a
good.drlver and the horses, tired of the
woods^' and mosquitoes, took" the back
track with' alacrity. The' Swede was
so ' flabbergasted between the ,whlsky
and the'powderj and. tobacco "dust 'that
his aim .was bad, and missing the horse
with ;hlsVpitchfork,; he stayed the boat
air.to-^pieces,' so 'that it meant .two or
three' new boards and other repairs
when; Jim patched it up later. I don't
know- just J<how' we , escaped. \u25a0 I think
it, was Jim's driving and the horses that
saved; the; day,- and ; had we not dis
"tanced him" so we never' could t '- have
spared the' few seconds. we required to
getUhejrig 'over those. fence wires. But
we j made \u25a0 a good ? getaway 'and our .'• boat
alone • suffered ; from • the . swing of., that
murderous r _f ork, which would \u25a0 have
'killed, thejhorses first and us afterward,
> f or,we, were defenseless against the-in- ;
;f; f uriated ' isix~: footer : who] •wielded "the
f ork f about \u25a0 as I AJax ; must have ; wielded
his^spear or Neptune" his* trident.
V Well, It sure was for certain a. lively
above more troubles every day of nor
life than you do in a year.
With a handsome home, plenty of
money, automobiles and servants and
trips wherever ahe chooses, beautl*«**'
herself and always faultlessly gowned,
people call her a "darling of the- gods."
becanseshe has everything heart could
wish and always seems so happy.
But I know- that I would be the most
wretched creature in the world, on the
verge of suicide, and so would you. If
we had to contend with the conditions
of her life. Can you imagine- any
thing more wearing on a high spirited,
life loving woman, still young and full
of human interests, than a sour, irri
table, nervous .invalid for a husband,
who gives his peevishness and bad tem
per free rein, with never a thought
ofanybody else in the world, and who
gets his sole diversion from picking at
his wife? He la not bad enough off to
be in bed. but too bad off to be in
business, so he is around the house all
day long, . finding fault with everything
and everybody, especially his wife. He
complains of the way she talks and
the way she does her hair. After a
caller has left he criticises everything
she s&id and the way she said it. H»
takes oft her little-, mannerisms and
calls her affected and insincere, until
Jie exhausts hi* imagination. Then he
finds fault with the weather, with the
way the mllkm.ii'slams the gate, with
the way. the clock ticks at night, "with
the lights In the neighboring houses,
and sends her around the neighbor
hood upon these disagreeable errands
in regard to their habits of life that
. disturb him. He finds fault with her
friends who come to the house, and
with them for not coming when things
get toe quiet, and if the fancy strikes
him, whatever her 4 engagements for
the day may be. she has to stay by hia
side.- and bear this sort of thing from
early morning till late at night. When
she goes out she has to be at,home on
the minute he sets for her, and if she
happens .to he five minutes late hia
feelings are hurt, and he sulks in si
lence for days at a time, not deigning
to speak tr> her.
The worst of it is that I think she
really, loves? this man. or else, feeling
her obligation to him. she will not ad
mit It to herself If she does not. Day
In and day out I have watched her with
him. never losinjr her tamper, always
tryinsr to be brlprht and cheerful, di
verging his mind from himself by every
means in her power, and. not once, that
I have «ver discovered, fretting discour
aged and giving up the fiffht. It Is
my opinion that she realizes that if
she once goes to pieces she knows she
will never get this tight rein on her
self she has r.ow, so she goes on putting
down her own feelings and keeping
sunny and bright. There. are often great
troubles that, like boulders in life's
pathway, may be surmounted or gone
around, but it is these little, constant,
nagging troubles one must walk over
with bleedins: footsteps aid smile at
the same time.
I have bftn a better^ woman myself
for my contact with this noble." sou!./
and, when I have seen her the sjayest,"
brightest creature in the room, the *-»mi«
ter of everything, sparkling 1 and brilj
liant and grivin.sr every one around her
a Rood time. I have looked beneath th*>
diamond sunburst and ropes of pearls
to the big. true, generous heart that
enables her to put herself aside and
live for the happiness of others.
quarter hour for' us and now we es
caped alive I can't tell even now.
As we 1 Jogged home empty handed
with no fish or anything els« to show
for our trip and our boat broken Jim
was doing a heap of thinking, and I
let him think. It was doing him good.
It 'is exercise for somo people to thVik
now and again. But finally I broke in
and began to guy him about his .won
derful lake, and this is what ho said:
"Old man. you are a great fellow for
jokes: you always were; but you must
be careful and watch yourself^ for
maybe some day you might play a joke
on the wrong fellow and perhaps get
yourself into serious trouble.**
>I said nothing in return, but kept
turning over in my mind a refrain I
had heard somewhere about not troub
ling trouble till trouble troubles you.
and Tasked myself whether we hunted
trouble when we put that Swede
through the forty-third degree, and iC
his aim had b»en better and we had
not had such swift and spirited horses.
whether we. really should not have
found real trouble in the p«rson of that
terrible Sw*de. Evidently Jim was not
very sure about it: he was not really
familiar with trouble, for he had not
served four years at the front during
rebellion, as I had. But I gu>g 3
we ran against trouble all right. My!
but.it was an exciting moment to sit
there and know, that cigar was loaded'
and wonder what it would do to that
Swede's bushy, front and then _to see it
actually ro off like a , torchlight pro
cession on a stampede, and . then to
wonder, what; the Swede would do \u25a0to