Do You Appreciate Your Modern Servants?

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Wouldn’t you love to have a maid to help you keep your house? Someone to do all those random chores to free us up for those things that only we can do. We do have modern servants everywhere in our homes, helping to make our lives easier. We’re so used to them, though, that we tend not to notice them.

Old Time Servants

In our modern life, it’s easy to think that keeping house with a household staff to help was a dream. We imagine life consisted of sending menus to the cook every morning. Then we could watch our maids dusting and washing everything in sight. While they worked, we’d have plenty of time to entertain company on the veranda. In reality, every task was more tedious and time-consuming than it is today. It was difficult to maintain a household without help, even in simpler times.

My wardrobe would be significantly smaller if I had to make every item of clothing I owned by hand. I’d wear each outfit until it was truly dirty if I knew I had to hand wash it in a tub of water in the middle of winter. What’s the appeal in a large home if you have large carpets that have to be pulled out and beaten a couple of times every year? Or one that has to be scrubbed completely on hands and knees?

Cleaning and filling lamps, maintaining coal stoves, hauling and heating bath water, cooking everything from scratch–maintaining a household was intense, physical work.

Modern Servants

I mentioned the concept of modern servants some time ago, which were really inventions that made housewives of the 1930s thankful. Some of them have become basic tools we couldn’t imagine doing without, like a water heater.

I recently came across another list of “labor savers” compiled by a housewife, this time, from 1919. It highlights more “conveniences.” I think nowadays, we’d just call them essential basics. I’ve never seen them for the servants they are. Here are just a few things on her list…

• A cherry pitter
• As the previous list also mentions, a long handled dust pan (She mentions it helps a lady crippled with rheumatism still able to do her housework.)
• Five-cent brushes “Try a brush for washing overalls instead of rubbing them on a washboard.” (Duly noted for the next time I wash overalls. No more washboard for me.)
• vacuum cleaner “Too much cannot be said in favor of these cleaners. No amount of “elbow grease” can remove dirt to compare with the vacuum cleaner. Its invention is one of the best things ever done for the housewife.” I agree!
• the kitchen cabinet “The woman who uses one has a place for everything and has everything in its place.” (Living without a cabinet, much less a whole kitchen of them? We’d call that camping.)
• a wire basket for deep frying
• egg beater, rubber window drier, measuring cup, funnel, corkscrew, can opener

I have to concur on her appreciation for the vacuum cleaner. My house used to have all hard flooring and only after many years did I get a vacuum. I truly enjoy sweeping by hand. Plus, my broom never broke down and I never needed electricity to clean my floors. But. Mylanta. What a dream. I still like a broom for edges and corners, but overall, it does a better job of cleaning my floors and it’s lightweight, easy to clean, makes quick work, and doesn’t stir up dust…. Why didn’t I think to get one sooner?

Also, after a lifetime of washing dishes by hand, we bought a house with a dishwasher. Now, speaking of life-changing modern servants… Don’t get me wrong, I love washing dishes by hand. In the middle of winter, it’s the coziest, warmest household chore. If the dishwasher disappeared tomorrow, I’d cope just fine. But to be able to finish a meal, tuck all the dirty dishes out of sight, and have a clean kitchen within a few minutes is a treat.

The Servant Problem

On a side note– in case you think that housewives still had it easier with servants to help every day….

I’ve read many articles about the difficulties of employing cooks and maids in the early 1900s in America. Clever women, those hired helpers, often referred to as “Bridgettes.” Their employers relied heavily on them, so maids often used their employer’s desperation to their advantage. Stealing household valuables, buying lesser quality groceries and pocketing any extra money in the budget, cutting corners in cleaning, and demanding extra time off were a few of the common complaints. It created a cycle of poor treatment and resentment on both sides.

A maid who felt overworked, underappreciated, or had any complaint could walk off the job yet still receive a letter of recommendation. Any employer who refused to write a positive reference for her maid was blacklisted. Then, no other maids would be willing to work for her. References became meaningless and communities had revolving doors of the same maids.

The “servant problem” was a real thing. Given that perspective, hiring and keeping a maid seems complicated and stressful. All in all, I’ll take an appliance any day, however wonky and impersonal it may happen to be.