s a form most housewives
insist upon. You may be taking the bread out of a 'girl's' mouth by
denying her a scrap of paper."

Nevertheless, I shall not give Katy a reference. I have said to her in
plain but temperate terms:

"You are a poor cook. You are wasteful, dirty, ill-tempered and
impertinent. You have been a grievous trial and a money loss to me. I
am willing to write this down, together with the statement that you
are sober, strong and quick to learn, and that you would probably work
well under a stricter mistress than I have time to be."

She has informed me in _in_temperate terms, that "it is aisy to see
you are no leddy, an' fer the matter o' that, no Christian, ayther, or
you'd not put sech an insult on to an honest, harrd-wurkin' girrl as
has her livin' to git."

She pronounces furthermore, that she "was niver so put upon an' put
about in all her life afore as since into this house she come;" that
she "will have the law o' me for refusing her her rights." Finally,
and most intemperately, that "the Lord will dale with me for grindin'
the face of a pore, defenceless young cre'tur' as has had such a pile
o' throuble already. If her pore, dear brother what was drownded las'
summer was alive, I wouldn't dare trate her so cruel."

I stand fast, between breaths, to my resolution. I relate the true
history of the transaction to enforce my appeal to my fellow
housekeepers, all over the land, to join hands in a measure which
would, I am persuaded, go far toward rectifying a crooked system.

Let each housekeeper, in dismissing a servant, write out without
prejudice for or against the late employee, her claims to the confidence
of the next employer, and her faults,--in short, a veritable
"character." Let her pledge herself to her sister-housekeepers and to
her conscience, not to receive into her family one who cannot produce
satisfactory testimonials of her fitness for the place she seeks.

In England, a mistress who engages a maid without such credentials is
regarded as recreant to her order. In England, too, the former
mistress is held partly responsible for the mischief done, if she turn
loose upon other households a woman like Katherine Brady.

The proposed remedy for a crying and a growing evil is so simple that
some may doubt its practical efficacy. Yet the most casual thinker
must see the strength as well as the simplicity of a plan which would
make skill and fidelity in service the only road to success