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MISTRESS AND MAID. A Household Story.
MISS MULOCH, AUTHOR OF
"JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN," "OLIVE," "THE OGILVIES,"
"THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY," "NOTHING NEW," "AGATHA'S HUSBAND," &c,, &c.
RICHMOND:WEST & JOHNSTON, PUBLISHERS.1864. Printed at the Lynchburg "Virginian" Book and Job Office.
She was a rather tall, awkward, and strongly-built girl of aboutfifteen. This was the first impression the "maid" gave to her"mistresses," the Misses Leaf, when she entered their kitchen,accompanied by her mother, a widow and washer-woman, by name Mrs.Hand. I must confess, when they saw the damsel, the ladies felt acertain twinge of doubt as to whether they had not been rash inoffering to take her; whether it would not have been wiser to havegone on in their old way—now, alas! grown into a very old way, so asalmost to make them forget they had ever had any other—and donewithout a servant still.
Many consultations had the three sisters held before such arevolutionary extravagance was determined on. But Miss Leaf wasbeginning both to look and to feel "not so young as she had been;"Miss Selina ditto; though, being still under forty, she would nothave acknowledged it for the world. And Miss Hilary young, bright,and active as she was, could by no possibility do every thing thatwas to be done in the little establishment: be, for instance, inthree places at once—in the school-room, teaching little boys andgirls, in the kitchen cooking dinner, and in the rooms up stairs busyat house-maid's work. Besides, much of her time was spent in waitingupon "poor Selina," who frequently was, or fancied her self, too illto take any part in either the school or house duties.
Though, the thing being inevitable, she said little about it, MissLeaf's heart was often sore to see Hilary's pretty hands smeared withblacking of grates, and roughened with scouring of floors. To herselfthis sort of thing had become natural—but Hilary!
All the time of Hilary's childhood, the youngest of the family had ofcourse, been spared all house-work; and afterward her studies hadleft no time for it. For she was a clever girl, with a genuine loveof knowledge Latin, Greek, and even the higher branches of arithmeticand mathematics, were not beyond her range; and this she found muchmore interesting than washing dishes or sweeping floors. True, shealways did whatever domestic duty she was told to do; but her bentwas not in the household line. She had only lately learned to "seedust," to make a pudding, to iron a shirt; and, moreover, to reflect,as she woke up to the knowledge of how these things should be done,and how necessary they were, what must have been her eldest sister'slot during all these twenty years! What pains, what weariness, whateternal toil must Johanna have silently endured in order to do allthose things which till now had seemed to do themselves!
Therefore, after much cogitation as to the best and most prudent wayto amend matters, and perceiving with her clear common sense that,willing as she might be to work in the kitchen, her own time would bemuch more valuably spent in teaching their growing school. It wasHilary who these Christmas holidays, first started the bold idea, "Wemust have a servant;" and therefore, it being necessary to begin witha very small servant on very low wages, (£3 per annum was, I fear themaximum), did they take this Elizabeth Hand. So, hanging behind herparent, an anxious-eyed, and rather sad-voiced wom