Belles of the Kitchen and -Their Experiences.

The " Stylers" which the Head of the House Hires,

Sly Things On the Quiet"—Life in the Basement and the Bedroom.

The story of the queer incidents occurring in the relations of servant and master, chambermaid or kitchen cook and her "missus" is vividly set forth by our artists. There is no occasion to indicate to the observing reader the very palpable difference which exists in the styles of female servants as preferred by the old man and the young ones of a household, as compared with the style of female servant which is acceptable to the "old lady." Youth and beauty, comeliness of feature, symmetry of form, plumpness of figure, a small foot and a shapely and suggestive ankle—none of these things commend the applicant for a situation as servant to the favor of the "missus." On the other hand, attractive qualities of personal form are to her the most serious of objections. The older, the uglier, the more ill-shapen and juiceless the applicant, the more she is likely to obtain employment and find favor. Give the old man and the boys a chance, which they obtain occasionally, to make a selection of a house-girl, and you'll surely see the most luscious and bewitching creature obtainable duly brought home and installed in state, and it is very certain that there hasn't been any great amount of inquiry into her capacity for work or her knowledge of her duties. In a man's eyes, a servant girl answers if she's only pretty and complacent.

Other aspects of life up stairs in the chambers, life down stairs in the basement, and life on the stairways are graphically set forth by our artists. The stolen kiss on the stairway, the little "buzz" with the chambermaid engaged in her duties, the high old times which the old man or his sons have with "our girl" when the old lady is out for an evening, the high times which reign in the basement when the family is away for the summer. Why explain all this to the hundred thousand or two of POLICE NEWS readers, who all know just how it is themselves? Life and human nature are the same the world over, in high life and low life. The "belles of the kitchen" are no better and, certainly, no worse than their female superiors in station. They have all the virtues of their sex and no more of the vices than their mistresses. It needs no text or description to tell the story—our illustrations vividly convey the idea, and whatever is lacking. the reader's only knowledge and observation will readily supply.

Illustrated Police News, February 22, 1879.