10 AUGUST 1918, Page 13

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I am a lover

of domestic servants. I feel those who live with me my friends in the deepest sense. I enter with real in- terest into their family joys and sorrows, and find them ready Is enter into mine. I consult with them day by day instead of giving orders. I reason with them rather than make complaints. encourage them to tell me their grievances instead of talking to others who are legs understanding. I never engage a maid whom " I cannot love or with whom I could not worship. I am more careful to supply their needs of every kind as years go by, but never let them feel they are hired servants by bribing them with higher wages year by year in return for love and faithful service. "Every one can have a friend who knows how to be a friend." My ideal is to make them feel they share my home, and as far as possible give them as much freedom as a faithful woman would be likely to have in her own home, with its various claims and duties. I feel it is unreasonable to offer higher wages year by year unless my own income increases, or the claims on my purs? are fewer. A thoughtful woman easily understands this, and so does a right-minded girl. Domestic work is not the same as skilled labour. Its monotony lessens rather than increases energy