[348] In certain quarters of London the boarding-houses are full of waiters who have come over from the continent to learn English. Many waiters not French by birth took advantage of the Exposition in 1900 to improve their French by going to Paris at that time. It is not unusual for travellers to be asked concerning possible openings in hotels and pensions where waiters would have an opportunity of learning a new language.
[349] For wages in England, see Miss Collet, Report on the Money Wages of Indoor Domestic Servants, and Booth, VIII., 217, 221-224, 227-228, 231-235; for wages in France, M. Bienaymé in Journal de la Société de Statistique de Paris, November, 1899, and M. Salomon in La Nouvelle Revue, February 1, 1886. I have been unable to find satisfactory statistics concerning the wages paid in Germany and in Italy. Numerous inquiries lead me to believe that they are somewhat lower in Italy and in Spain than elsewhere (an English housekeeper residing in Spain for twenty-five years reports that general servants in Spain receive from $1.25 to $2.00 a month, cooks, who are considered “artists,” receiving somewhat more), and that in Germany the variations are not so great as in England in the wages paid in different classes of society. This, however, is but an impression, and the judgment cannot be considered authoritative.
[350] “We understand that the plan of paying board-wages throughout the year instead of providing food is increasing, and is usually at the rate of 16s. per week for upper men-servants, 14s. for footmen, and 12s. to 14s. for women-servants.”—Booth, VIII., 230.
“Another disturbing feature in many Irish households is the practice of paying ‘breakfast wages’ in some cases, and ‘full board’ wages in others.”—Miss Collet, Report, p. 10.
[351] M. Babeau says that in France as far back as 1692 a good cook expected presents at Easter and on Saint Martin’s day as well as at New Year’s. P. 283.
“To the 600 francs (given a domestic in the fashionable quarters of Paris) must be added gifts and New Year’s presents.”—M. Jules Simon, cited by M. Salomon, p. 549.
“A usually substantial Christmas box is given the waiters in West-End London clubs.”—Booth, VIII., 231.
In Germany, while a servant cannot legally claim presents at Christmas, New Year’s, and similar times (Welche Rechte und Pflichten haben Herrschaft und Gesinde? p. 30), the custom of giving them is universal. “I would not dare to give less than thirty marks at Christmas to the cook and twenty marks to the chambermaid.”—German housekeeper, Dresden.
It is not uncommon in Germany for housekeepers to give presents on the anniversaries of the days their servants come to them, and medals on special anniversaries, as the tenth or twenty-fifth. This explains the custom of the German Housewives’ Society in New York of presenting $10 gold pieces to employees who have served faithfully for two years in the home of a member of the society. The Evening Post (New York), December 12, 1900.
“I always give my cook twenty lire at Christmas and ten lire at the fête of the Madonna.”—Italian housekeeper, Milan.