g.
One friend told me that when she stayed with her family at a German
hotel her German relatives told her she should give the chambermaid a
tip that was equal to 20 pf. for each pair of boots cleaned during
their stay. It seems an odd way of reckoning, because the chambermaid
does not clean boots. However, the tip came to L3, which seems a good
deal and helps to explain the ease with which German servants save
enough for their marriage outfit on small wages. It is usual also to
tip the servant where you have supped or dined. Your opportunity
probably comes when she precedes you down the unlighted stairs with a
lantern or a candle to the house door. But you need not be at all
delicate about your opportunity. You see the other guests make little
offerings, and you can only feel that the money has been well earned
when you have eaten the elaborate meal she has helped to cook, and has
afterwards served to you.

Domestic servants come under the law in Germany that obliges all
persons below a certain income to provide for their old age. The Post
Office issues cards and 20 pf. stamps, and one of these stamps must be
dated and affixed to the card every Monday. Sometimes the employers
buy the cards and stamps, and show them at the Post Office once a
month; sometimes they expect the servant to pay half the money
required. Women who go out by the day to different families get their
stamps at the house they work in on Mondays. If a girl marries she may
cease to insure, and may have a sum of money towards her outfit. In
that case she will receive no Old Age Pension. But if she goes on with
her insurance she will have from 15 to 20 marks a month from the State
after the age of 70. In cases of illness, employers are legally bound
to provide for their domestic servants during the term of notice
agreed on. At least this is so in Prussia, and the term varies from a
fortnight to three months. In some parts of Germany servants are still
engaged by the quarter, but in Berlin it has become unusual of late
years. The obligation to provide for illness is often a heavy tax on
employers, especially in cases when the illness has not been caused by
the work or the circumstances of the situation, but by the servant's
own carelessness and folly. Most householders in Berlin subscribe 7.50
a year to an insurance company, a private undertaking that provides
medical help, and when necessary sends the invalided servant to a
hospital and maintains her t