n the shops it is
almost impossible to get anything satisfactory in this line; and until
the exhibitions, nine Australians out of ten had no idea what was meant
by hand-painted china. The difference between china and earthenware is,
it goes almost without saying, little if at all appreciated, much less
that between hand-painted and stamped ware. The display of cut-glass at
the exhibitions was almost as great a revelation to colonists as that of
porcelain; hitherto all middle-class and most wealthy households have
been contented with the commonest stuff. Table-cloths and napkins are
also very second-rate, and sheets are almost invariably of calico.

SERVANTS.

That servants are the plague of life seems to be an accepted axiom
amongst English ladies of the upper middle class. When I hear them
discussing their grievances over their afternoon tea, I wish them no
worse fate than to have the management of an Australian household for a
week. It is not every Englishwoman whose peace of mind would survive the
trial. Many a young English wife have I seen unhappy in her married life
in the colonies, mainly on account of her domestics. And yet I doubt
whether the colonial mistress makes as much fuss about her real wrongs as
the English one about her imaginary grievances. Of course she can, if
drawn out, tell you enough ridiculous stories about her servants to fill
a number of _Punch_; but if they are only fools she is well content, and
it is only when she is left servantless for two or three days that she
waxes wroth.

Where mistresses are many and servants are few, it goes almost without
saying that large establishments are out of the question. Given equal
incomes, and the English mistress has twice as many servants as the
Australian, and what is more, twice as competent ones. Even our friend
Muttonwool only has six coachman, boy, cook, housemaid, nurse, and
parlourmaid. I don't suppose there are a hundred households in all
Australia which keep a butler pure and simple, though there must be
several thousand with what is generically known as a man-servant, who
gets twenty-five shillings a week, all found. A coachman's wages are on
the average about the same. The 'boy' gets ten shillings. Man-cooks are
rare. A decent female cook, who ranks out here as first-class, earns from
fifteen shillings to a pound a week. For this sum she is supposed to know
something about cooking; yet I have known one in receipt of a weekly
guinea look wi