[LETTERS FROM A LAWYER.]
PART VI.
The Temple.
My dear Dorothy,—The leaving of perishable articles at houses where they have not been ordered is a very common trick, and one which often succeeds, because people imagine that they have incurred a responsibility by taking them in—which they have not.
If tradespeople choose to leave butter, milk, bread, meat, or wine, etc., which you have not ordered at your house, they do so at their own risk, and if you do not use the articles, they cannot compel you to pay for them, neither can they make you pay for them if you do use the articles under the impression that they were a gift; this last is only likely to arise in the case of wine or game being left without any indication of where it came from.
Servant girls are often inveigled into purchasing rubbishy articles, which they do not want, such as musical-boxes, silver watches, etc., by men who go about selling these things on commission, and who, refusing to take “No” for an answer, leave the article in question with the servant, saying that they will take so much a month for it.
In a day or two the girl receives a letter from the makers saying that they understand she is prepared to purchase the article in question by payment of instalments of so much per month. The chances are that the girl will be frightened into purchasing the thing in this manner; but if she writes declining to buy the article they will try to bully her into taking it by threatening legal proceedings, etc.
Girls who are treated in this manner should at once inform their master or mistress. The latter should then write to the firm, saying that their servant has no desire to purchase the article left at their house, and that if the firm want their goods back, they must come and fetch them.
Servant girls, especially Irish ones, are very fond of joining burial societies. Such girls should be careful to have a receipt for every payment they make, and should not allow themselves to be put off with vain excuses by the collector. It is the duty of the collector to give a receipt for every payment he receives, and if he fails to do so, it can only be because he is putting the money into his own pocket and not paying it over to the society.