th astonishment at a hare which had been sent to her master
as a present, and declare that it was 'impossible to make soup out of
that thing.' After a little persuasion she was induced to try to make
hare-soup after Mrs. Beeton's recipe, but the result was such as to try
the politeness of her master's visitors. This lack of decent cooks is
principally due to the lack of establishments large enough to keep
kitchenmaids. Would-be cooks have no opportunity of acquiring their art
by training from their superiors; they gain their knowledge by
experiments on their employers' digestions; never staying long in one
place, they learn to make some new dishes at each house they go to, and
gradually rise in the wages-scale.

Directly you come to incomes below a thousand a year, the number of
servants is often reduced to a maid-of-all-work, more or less competent
according to her wages, which run from seven to fifteen shillings a week.
At the former price she knows absolutely nothing; at the latter something
of everything. She cooks, washes, sweeps, dusts, makes the beds, clears
the baths, and answers the, door. All is grist that comes to her mill;
and if she is Jill-of-all-trades and mistress of none, one must admit
that an English-bred servant would not be one quarter so suitable to
colonial requirements. Of course she is independent, often even cheeky,
but a mistress learns to put up with occasional tantrums, provided the
general behaviour and character are good. When we were first out here we
used to run a-muck with our servants about once a week; but now we find
it better to bear the ills we have than fly to others which we know not
of. Our present Lizzie is impertinent to a degree when reproved; but then
she can cook decently, and she is the first decent cook we have had since
we have been out here. When you have lived on colonial fare for a few
months, a good plain dinner covers a multitude of sins.

Unfortunately, four-fifths of our servants are Irish--liars and dirty.
These Irish are less impertinent than the colonials; but if you do get
hold of a well trained colonial, she is worth her weight in gold on
account of her heterogeneity. Your Irish immigrant at eight and ten
shillings a week has as often as not never been inside any other
household than her native hovel, and stares in astonishment to find that
you don't keep a pig on your drawing-room sofa. On entering your house,
she gapes in awe of what she considers the grand