Nor is this class-feeling
greatly to be wondered at. The contrary would be astonishing.
From the primitive household, where a poor neighbor comes in as
"help," to the "great" establishment where the butler and
housekeeper eat apart, and a group of plush-clad flunkies imported
from England adorn the entrance-hall, nothing could be better
contrived to set one class against another than domestic service.
Proverbs have grown out of it in every language. "No man is a hero
to his valet," and "familiarity breeds contempt," are clear enough.
Our comic papers are full of the misunderstandings and absurdities
of the situation, while one rarely sees a joke made about the other
ways that the poor earn their living. Think of it for a moment!
To be obliged to attend people at the times of day when they are
least attractive, when from fatigue or temper they drop the mask
that society glues to their faces so many hours in the twenty-four;
to see always the seamy side of life, the small expedients, the
aids to nature; to stand behind a chair and hear an acquaintance of
your master's ridiculed, who has just been warmly praised to his
face; to see a hostess who has been graciously urging her guests
"not to go so soon," blurt out all her boredom and thankfulness
"that those tiresome So-and-So's" are "paid off at last," as soon
as the door is closed behind them, must needs give a curious bent
to a servant's mind.
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