Why Mrs. D Needs a Maid
Mrs. D wants a family, but she also wants to write, so she needs a maid to keep the house clean, cook and serve meals, and help care for the children. The expense of keeping a maid will be compensated by the money Mrs. D will earn writing.
One of the Earliest Maids is One of the Best
Our darling Nellie. All I had to struggle to attain was a perfect maid, which is our most phenomenal achievement. We can’t get over our luck as she moves like a dainty angel about the house doing her duties with absolute perfection.
But Nellie’s Health is Not Good
We are still having maid trouble because our very sweet maid is not really strong enough for the job and is constantly out sick which makes it quite a problem to know what to do. We have had her examined by the doctor and he has told her to get X-rays taken of her lungs so we will know by the end of this week whether we can even hope to have her any more at all.
Nellie Writes From the Sanatorium
I hope you will forgive me for not writing to you and tell you that I am sick in the hospital. I didn’t want you to worry I hope you will forgive me.
I’ve been in the hospital 8 months And I miss home and every one. Im in the ward with 8 girls and like it very much we get along swell. In December Walter father had a x ray taken and the doctor said he have Tuberculosis so I had my taken and he said I have it. Oh I wish you cold see me the first two months all I did was cry.
I am coming along fine. If you see me you wont know me.
I will send you a snapshot in my next letter. I have gas on my left side. I dont know how long I have to stay here. I hope it wont be long cause it’s lonsome.
I’m dying to see the baby.
I re’cd your Card and thanks a lot I will never forget you you been so good to me.
I dont think I will work any more not for a long time any way.
Doctor said I have to be quiet when I go home.
Give my love to the baby.
I really miss you All. Love to All. Nellie Bingo.
Mrs. D Answers an Ad
I am writing in response to your advertisement in today’s Traveler, since I shall be hiring a maid very soon. I should be glad to have you telephone me at Kirkland 0524 if the following details about the job are of interest to you.
We are a family of four. I must spend all my mornings at my work of writing. We live in a modern, convenient house.
The job is not an easy one, since there is all the housework to be done. I like to care for the baby as much as possible myself. We all regard that as a family pleasure as well as a duty, but of course he adds greatly to the washing. We enjoy eating, and we would hope that you like to cook and know how to use leftovers in appetizing and flavorsome dishes. But we do not require fancy cooking.
Anyone who works for us will have the chance to earn regular increases as long as she continues to make the house run so smoothly that my own work is in turn made more profitable.
We need someone who has the kind of temperament to fit into our house, of course. She should be cooperative, willing to accept and put into practice new ideas, especially in handling the baby, and calm, patient and firm in dealing with him. Meals should be prompt.
I should be glad to hear from you, and the sooner the better.
Yours very sincerely.
The Impression She Gives
Mrs. D gives the impression, in her letter, that she is sensible, efficient, and well organized, and that her family life is orderly.
She likes a clean house, but she herself is casual in caring for her things — after removing a sweater, she will drop it in a heap. But she has acquired for the house, often at low prices, well-made, handsome furniture and rugs, and when she and the maid have given the house some attention it looks attractive to outsiders.
She herself is only sometimes calm, patient, and firm, but it is true that the family enjoys eating.
A Bad Experience Follows
I have finally got rid of Anna the Grump.
Mrs. D Publishes a Story
The story is called “Wonderful Visit.”
Time Goes By
The family are now living at their third address in this college town. Mrs. D composes an ad herself, with several false starts and extensive revisions before she is satisfied with the result:
Writer couple with well-trained schoolgirl daughter and year-old baby
Writer couple who must have harmonious household with wife free for morning work
Woman writer who must be free of household problems every morning requires helper able to do all housework including personal laundry and part care baby; must be cooperative, like to cook, have high standards of cleanliness, willing to accept new ideas, calm and firm in dealing with baby. We should wish to have dinner guests about once a week and at that time have good table service. Job is not easy but return will be fair treatment
Return for heavy job will be fair dealing, definite time off, wages $16 per week to start and chance to earn quarterly increases. Kirkland 0524
The Well-Trained Schoolgirl
It is true that Mrs. D’s daughter is well trained, though not in all respects. She is polite and sensitive to the feelings of others. She works hard in school and earns high grades. She is not very tidy in her habits, however, and does not keep her room very neat.
She is rather beautiful, according to Mrs. D, and remarkably graceful, but not phenomenally intelligent. Mrs. D describes her to friends as a tall, tense young child, and complains that she is subject to enthusiasms and anxieties that she herself finds “very wearing.” She complains about her daughter’s high voice. A speech therapist may help.
She remarks that sometimes, when the child is with her, she herself “cannot behave like a civilized being.”
Fair Treatment, Cleanliness, and New Ideas
It is true that Mrs. D is fair in her treatment of her maids. She also tends to develop intensely personal relationships with them. She is inquisitive as to their lives and thoughts. This can inspire affection on the part of the maid, or resentment, depending on the maid’s personality. It can lead to complicated patterns of vulnerability and subsequent ill will not always comfortable for maid or employer. Mrs. D tends to be highly critical of her maids, as she is of herself and her family.
At First Mrs. D is Pleased With the Results
Mrs. D confides to a friend:
The best thing about it, the really unbelievable thing, is that she can be an excellent maid and at the same time a person capable of appreciating the kind of qualities such families as yours and ours have.
A Family Like Hers
Mrs. D sees her family, and the families of her friends, as enlightened and sympathetic to the working classes, as well as stylish, smart, witty, and cultured as regards literature, art, music, and food. In the area of music, for instance, she and her family enjoy certain pieces by the classical composers, although they also favor the more popular musicals and, over the years, will spend Sunday afternoons listening to recordings of Oklahoma, Finian’s Rainbow, South Pacific, and Annie Get Your Gun.
Soon there are Problems, However
Just when I run into the most marvelous dream of a maid that won’t happen again in a century, we sublet our apartment for six weeks and this maid doesn’t want to leave town. She may be influenced by her boyfriend, a twenty-four-year-old who is somehow intellectual looking despite his position as driver of a florist wagon.