et up a large
Public Registry in Charlottenberg, where both sides can get what they
want without paying fees. But servants are not as scarce in Germany
yet as they are here and in America. German ladies tell you they are
scarce, but it is only true in comparison with a former state of
things. In comparison with London, servants are still plentiful in
Germany. When a lady finds a likely looking girl at an office, she
either engages her at once on the strength of the good character in
her _Dienstbuch_, or, if she is very particular, she takes her home
and discusses things with her there. The engagement is not completed
until the lady has filled in several forms for police inspection;
while the servant has to take her _Dienstbuch_ to the police station
both when she leaves and when she enters a situation. It is hardly
necessary to say that when a girl does anything seriously bad, and her
employers record it in the book, the book gets "lost." Then the police
interfere and make things extremely disagreeable for the girl. A
friend told me that in the confusion of a removal her own highly
valued servant lost her _Dienstbuch_, or rather my friend lost it, for
employers usually keep it while a girl is in their service; and though
she took the blame on herself, and explained that the book was lost,
the police were most offensive about it. In the end the book was
found, so I am not in a position to say what penalties my friend and
her maid would have incurred if they had never been able to produce
it. But Germans have often told me that servants as a class have real
good reason to complain of police insolence and brutality. Here is an
entry from a German servant's _Dienstbuch_, with nothing altered but
the names. On the first page you found the following particulars:--

GESINDE-DIENSTBUCH

Fuer Anna Schmidt.
Aus Rheinbeck.
Alt Geb. 20 Juni 1885.
Statur Schlank.
Augen Grau.
Nase } Gewoehnlich.
Mund }
Haare Dunkelblond.
Besondere Merkmale

_Official stamp._ (_Official signature of
Amtsvorsteher._)

Then came the record of her previous situations:--

Key:
A: NR.
B: NAME, STAND, UND WOHNUNG DER DIENERSCHAFT
C: INHABER IST ANGENOMMEN ALS
D: TAG DES DIENSTANTRITTS
E: TAG DES DIENSTAUSTRITTS
F: GRUND DES DIENSTAUSTRITTS UND DIENSTABSCHIEDS--ZEUGNISS
G: BEGLAUBIGUNG UND BEMERKUNG DER P