10 AUGUST 1918, Page 13

[To TEE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I have noticed that

several of your correspondents draw attention to the undoubted fact that among unthinking people domestic service is looked down upon. Many people would, I alit convinced, share my opinion that the best chase of servant includes some of the most meritorious persons in Great Britain. If there is such a thing as skilled labour, surely the term would apply to a first-rate butler, coachman, cook, housemaid, or lady's-maid. If this is admitted, why should not such efficiency be officially recognized? I would suggest that the State should bestow a medal for long and faithful service in privatCfamilies—say a gold medal for twenty-five years' service, a silver medal for fifteen years', and a bronze medal for ten years'. This would constitute a State re- cognition of a splendid type of British man and woman, and might do something to stamp out the contemptible idea that faithful domestic service deserves anything but the highest respect. Hal it ever been seriously suggested that there should be schools for training servants in Great Britain, as there have been for years in some countries where domestic service is taken up as a serious