Women Workers Swarm in a Modern Hotel
HE BIG HOTEL, of today la a re
munerative field for women work
ers. It demunda the services of
hundreds of them. It largely de
pends upon them for ultimate
It pays them thousands of dollars
In this one thing alone It con-
success,
weekly.
splcuously differs from the big hotel of
yesterday.
The women employes of the spacious
hostelry of a decade ago were all mere
servants. In lis monster counterpart of
the hour they are graded all the way up
from cleaners to college graduated cleiks,
whose abilities to direct the satisfying of
the wants of the occupants of entire floor
enable them to earn comfortable salaries.
Formerly two dozen chambermaids, half
as many cleaners, and three or four linen
room girls, with a none too well educated
housekeeper over them, constituted an es
pecially large corps of female help. At
the most typical example of the up-to-date
hotel the Waldorf-Astoria of New York
this force would be Just about large enough
to take care comfortably of two of its four
teen floors. There seven housekeepers, each
selected for her acknowledged Intelligent
executive ability, employ, discharge and di
rect the tasks of fifteen parlor maids, ninety
chambermaids, fifty cleaners and twenty
seamstresses and other wcrkers along allied
llaes. Each housekeeper has charge of
two floors, and all of them report to the
senior in command.
Large as are these figures, they represent
scarcely more than half the women regu
larly employed. The floor clerks aud
cashiers number thirty-three. Four con
trollers audit the checks of the waiters.
The laundry employs seventy-five, the
kitchen fifteen. The glasa pantries are
taken care of by twelve, the storeroom
by eight, and sixteen, waitresses serve all
theise women, for they live In the hotel
The grand total is 345.
Men Who Are the Women of the Human Race
Copyright. 1903. by James R. Hallam )
HE women of the human race
that is what the natives of India
contemptuously call the Cinga
lese, once the conqnerers aud
rttlera nf Ppvlmi ;in1 the fnlinit-
ers of a mighty empire. They are, beyond
comparison, the most effeminate race of
men on the face of the earth. Nowhere else
can men be found so much like women.
They have not a single manly virtue, but
they possess all the pretty little ways of
women In a caricatured form. They are
as nervous as the most timid Rirl. They
will scream or faint at the bight of blood
or violence. If spoken to crossly, as likely
as not they will cry and go down on their
bonded knees to beg for kindness. If, on
the contrary, they are shown Indulgence,
they will sicken the stranger by behaving
in a coquettish, skittish way just like a
young girl in a dime novel.
Not only do they net like the weaker
kind of women; they actually look llku
women and dress like women. The Cinga
lese man, as seen in the towns of Cey
lon, or on the plantations in the interior
of the island, is hardly distinguishable
from his wife, unices the foreigner knows
the race well.
Ho lets his Jet-black hair grow to its full
length, and then does It up on the top of
his head with two tortoise-shell combs,
back and front. The woman does up her
hair in the same way, except that she
braids it. The man wears long skirts
reaching down to his ankles, adorns him
fcelf with earriugs, necklaces, bracelets
and broaches, and carries a parasol to
proiect his complexion from the hot
rays of the tropical sun. In this cos
tume, supplemented by an effeminate look
delicate features, and mincing ways it is
no wonder ho is nearly always mistaken
for a woman by strangers
The first thing the tourist hears on visit
ing Ceylon, the Island of Jewels and spices
of mystery and romance, is a soft, musical
cry in a delicate womanish voice:
"Matcbll! Matchli! Bahoot khoob match
li. (Fish! Fish! Very RO0( fish1")
Looking over the taffrail of the steamer,
which has Just cast anchor in the JiarbM
or Colombo, he ko,s half a dozen liny
cauoes mauued by Cingalese, who are hold
ing up blue-and-silver fish which thev have
Just caught, and want to sell to the nas
bi nsers.
"What fine looking women!" a .passenger
exclaims. "How tall and graceful they
re."
'Women!" says the old quartermaster
scornfully. 'They Hin't women. They're
the nun if this country."
"But Ihey look jimt like women."
"Well. Ihey are just like women. If yon
cuss 'em. they'll cry. I hit one aboard
"ere last v'yage. an' 'e howled for twenty
minutes. 'Strewth. I felt bad-Just as if
I'd be-n walloping a g.il."
The strangest thing about the averise
Cingalese is that he actually takes a pride
In looking like a woman and In being as
much like a woman In all his ways as
possible. He does not admire any of tha
manly virtues, even from a distance; he
T
nut many other women not in the list
cam their living in such a place. Does the
business man want to answer a day's mail?
A half-dozen stenographers are at his el
bow. Has a woman left home without her
maid? All she has to do to secure the serv
ices of an expert lady'a maid is to make ap
plication to the floor clerk. Does a guest
want her trunks packed? Professional
packers are kept In the hotel for this ex
press purpose. Is a Turkish bath desired?
The attendants are within the four walls of
the hostelry, and manicurists and mas
seures and the like are also within call of
the bell.
In brief, all tnld, the number of women
who find work in a modern hotel is not
much Ices than 500.
Of these women the clerks and the
cashiers probably fill the most important
positions.
The clerks in the Waldorf-Astoria, for
example, number two to each floor. Over
them is a man, but for all practical pur
poses the women direct the work of look
Ing after the comfort of the guests. Thej
dispatch their corps of page boys to answer
calls. They take care of the keys and the
mall for the different rooms. They fill or
ders for flowers, laundry and the theater.
They have charge of the waiters who serve
meals In the rooms, and Just as they see
that a new arrival is installed so they col
lect his bill and direct his departure. They
make it unnecessary for a patron to de
pend on the main office on the first floor,
for anything whatever.
Not an insignificant duty of the clerks
Is to keep complete records of all the rlugs,
when made and what for. These records are
filed, so that If any question is raised con
cerning certain services six months or a
year after rendition, an authoritative an
swer can be given In a few minutes.
It goes without saying that the clerks
must be intelligent, level-headed, quick of
action, polite and diplomatic enough to
regards them as brutal and detestable.
The soldier the man who is hired to kill
and to he killed is an object of horror to
him. In the early days of foreign rule,
European conquerors tried to make native
regiments cut of the Cingalese, but It was
no use. Portuguese, Dutch nnrt English,
all failed in that enterprise. The Cingalese
simply would not learn how to drill or how
to use their muskets. They would throw
themselves upon the ground and weep,
until their drill sergeants. In despair, left
them alone.
It is not surprising to find that those
womanish men do not like hard work. They
prefer to avoid work altogether, if they can,
and live on their pnrents, their wives, their
children, or their neighbors. But If they
have to work or starve, they will invariably
choose some liphl employment.
They are fondest, perhaps, of domestic
service in a European family living In
Ceylon. The work Is easy, and the de
pendent position suits their effeminate na
tures beautifully they feel a comforting
sense of protection.
If they enter the service of an English
man who Is new to Ceylon they are apt to
have a bad time at first. Their womanish
ways Jar upon him, and he gives them the
rough side of his tongue and the toe of hla
boot pretty often. But after they have
wept, copiously he begins to feel like a
brute and loaves them alone. Then they
are happy.
They make good ForvanTS, on the whole,
except for one great fault. Like all weak
characters the trulh U not In them. It Is
as natural to them to lie as It Is to an or
dlnnry man to eat when he Is hungry. They
will tell a dozen falsehoods to save them
selves from the slightest scolding or even
to "please master "
They are complaisant to ft degree. To
"oblige master" Ihey will profess Chris
tianity, but without giving up their own
Buddhism. Al.o to "oblige master" they
will commit perjury by the hour In a court
of law, if told to do so.
Curious as It may seem, their women do
not d'eplsc them for being so unmanly. Use
l everything, and (he Cingalese women are
not used to their men betng anything but
womanish. They ore laught from childhood
that it Is the proper thing, and naturally
they look on the ways of other men as
being cruel and brutal. They all marry very
young, and n Cingalese woman who has
never married Is as rare as a palm tree In
I utddud.
"Women's rights" are never heard of east
of Sue, but the Cingalese women have a
pretty good lime, because their husbands
are so effeminate. If the men recognize
any duty in life It is "to please the
women," a they say. They will make per
fect buffoons of themselves for this end,
llaying lik? children, or capering and
giimaeing like monkeys. If they are told
tiny are silly and undignified, they will
reply. "It Is to please the women," as if
thai were an all-sufficient excuse.
The. Cingalese make excellent mechanics
and agriculturists, provided the particular
work assigned to them U not laborious.
They excel in the manufacture of tortoise
fchtll combs, which they wear In their hair.
meet and satisfy the whims and caprices of
the none too easy to please traveling pub
lic. The responsible work of the cashiers Is
easily apparent when it is stated that each
of them not infrequently takes in $."i,O0U a
day.
Another Important woman Is the head of
the store room. I'nder her Immediate
charge are the salads, the fruits, the lees,
etc.. and their excellence and proper serv
ing largely depend upon her ability to di
rect her assistants.
The head laundress Is also a factor to
be reckoned with. She not only has charge
of scores of women, but of many men as
well, the latter doing all the washing an 1
also the ironing of such pieces as shirts.
An insight into the nmci.nl of work that
her department is called upon to do may
be gained from the fact that at the Waldorf-Astoria
it Is a rule to have about
22,0(10 sheets and an equal number of pillow
cases for daily use In the 1.3M rooms
nearly 10,000 towels for daily use in 800
bath rooms and about 15.000 napkins, or
six for each gust, for service for the sanio
period.
The housekeeper, while she Is still given
much respcustble work, is not so Important
ns In the old days. Then she not only di
rected the chambermaids, the linen room
girls and the cleaners, Tint he also fre
quently looked after the hangings, the
decorations and sometimes the refurnish
ing. Now she only lo.ks arier -the cham
btr work, the denning and the seam
stresses. The rest of her former duties are
performed by separate forces of men. For
example, men are busy the whole year long
doing nothing but taking down worn lace
curtains and replacing them with fresh
ones.
This specializing of work is a feature of
the modern hotel. There are cleaners,
whose sole work It Is to scrub up the bath
Some of these combs are exquisitely carved.
The artisans of Trincomalee and Poine-de-Galle
have made a specialty of these
combe for more than 2,000 years. Strabo,
the Roman geographer and historian, men
tions that in his day before the birth of
Christ, the Cingalese made tortoise shell
combs and wore them In their hair.
Ptolemy, 1,700 years ago, wrote:
"The men who Inhabit Ceylon allow their
hair unlimited growth aud bind it on the
crown of their heads after the manner of
women."
Proof positive of how unchanging is the
east!
The Cingalese were not always a despic
able race. Two or three thousand years
ago the empire of Lanka, as Ceylon was
then called, was one of the greatest in
Asia. Like the ancient republic of Venice,
It "held the gorgeous eaat in fee." Today
the ruins of the buried cities of Anurad
hapura and Pollonarua more wonderful
even than the Egyptian ruins in the valley
of the Nile attest the magnificence of an
empire greater than Babylon or Nineveh.
Th9 Cingalese were an Aryan people who
descended from northern India and con
quered Ceylon. In the golden age of Lanka
they founded one of the greatest of all the
ancient civilizations, Bpurred on by an In
tense religious enthusiasm engendered by.
the dawn of Buddhism in its purest and
noblest form.
For centuries they prospered, until, grow
ing by degrees more and more effeminate,
they were conquered by Tamil Invaders
from southern India. The Tamils enslaved
them, and soon ground all remnants of no
bility and civilization out of their char
acter. Then came the Portuguese and the Dutch,
who made slaves of Tamils and Cingalese
alike. Now, under the fatherly rule of the
British, the Cingalese are able to indulge
their effeminacy to their hearts' content.
It goes without saying that they are a
very docile people, who give little or no
trouble to their rulers. Their greatest
fault, as citizens, is their Ineradicable fond
ness for perjury. In Ceylon a Judge is un
able to believe a word that nine out of ten
of the witnesses say. He starts with the
assumption that both sides are lying, and
then tries to strike the happy mean.
The Cingalese are passionately fond of
litigation, and so keep the Judges busy.
They are absurdly sensitive. A harsh word
will lead to an inveterate feud between
two families, which finds au outlet In
trumped-up charges in the courts.
Like most cowards they arc bitterly ma
licious. Doctors practising In Ceylon say
that a Cingalese who had been treacher
ously stabbed by another will often make
tip his mind to die out of sheer spite, so
that his enemy may be hanged for murder.
More remarkable still, his relatives connive
at his plot. They keep his wound open,
give him improper food and let him go
without medical attendance. They mourn
for him, but they think that he is dying In
a noble cause.
One case of this kind la often quoted In
Ceylon.
A certain Cingalese rallej another a fool.
The aggrieved rarty nurse his wrath for
room floors. The sweepers of hulls are not
called upon to clean rooms. The women in
the glaus pantries do nothing day In and
lay out except to wash the glassware by
hand. Even the humblest woman employ
has her own special task and is never sad
dled with another.
For this reason, the hotel does not find It
a difficult matter to secure the best ter
vants In the world. I'nlike domestics In
private houses the chambermaids know
that when they have finished making th
beds they will not be ordered to polish Mm
slher or to scrub the front door steps, or
be set at cleaning windows. Servants aro
only too eager to sec;ire employment in ft
place where their time Is their own after
certain tasks are ended, and wages are lib
eral to boot.
In general, managers of modern hotel
have come to recognize the fact that, ex
cepting the waiters and a few others,
women are better equipped than men In
many respects to do much of the work;
necessary In the making of a successful
establishment, of the l.ar.5 men employed
In the Waldorf-Astoria, the greater pirtara
waiters. Women are used as cashiers, bo
cause, unlike their masculine rivals, they
can be said never to make mistakes, so
rare are they. The glass pantries are In
charge of women for the simple reason
that experience has shown that men smash
delicate glassware whon they try to cbano
II. A woman floor clerk Is as good and.
because of her tact, often superior to
man. And so It goes, even the kitchen,
the stronghold of the imported chef, be
ing generously given over to women.
While niirses for children and s'ck
guests or shopping guides for out-of-town
patrons are not yet on the list of the
women employed .by the up-to-date hotel.
It does furnlfh itself and those within iU
walls protection by means of women ait
well as men detectives. And these petti
coat sleuths are found to be extremely
efttclent.
months, and then brought a false charge of
burglary aealnst his enemy, supporting It
by the evidence of a host of his relatives.
The Judge, knowing the facts, acquitted tho
accused, who thereupon argued to himself:
"Well, I didn't steal as that man said I
did; but now I'll have revenge by waylaying
him some dark night, robbing him of all ha
has and giving him a good thrashing."
So he got his friendd together and next
evening they attacked the man in a bamboo
grove, knocked him senseless and stole his
money.
When the man came to he decided lhat
to send his ten assailants to Jail for rob
bery with violence would not satisfy hi
hat rid, so he died nnd won the fli;ht by
leaving them charged with murder.
The Cingalese are not without their good
points, and some travelers profess to find
them fascinating people. They talk en
thuslaptlcally of their "soft, glraffe-llka
eyes" aud their "clinging affectlonal eness
of manner." Excellent ( haracleristlcs In a
woman, but disconcerting In a man. A
Cingalese man, especially if be be young. U
wonderfully graceful in Ms movements,
composed In his manner and gentle In his
speech nnd wave. There Is a surface charm
about him which Is attractive If his ef
feminacy can be forgotten.
Not all the native Inhabitants of Ceylon
are of this womanish tvpe. The Tamils,
who conquered the Cingalese, are u hurdler,
braver race; hc "Moormen." descendant
of Arab settlors, have the maullncss which
seems Inherent In the Mohammedan every
where, and the KandUns, the hinhlanders
of Ceylon, though allied to the Cingalese
by blood, are rritiRouhir. bearded, man!
giants, who fought like Spartans for cen
turies to save tbelr country from the yok
of foreign rule. It is only the Cinralosn
proper. Inhabitants of the towns nnd th
hot plains, who may be counted as "th
women of the human race."
Discretion the Itettcr
The Boss-Did Mr. Crumpey pay the bill?
Clerk On the contrary, he threatened l
throw me out of the window If 1 didn't
leave thf- premises lustunter.
The Boss You ought to have let blm do
It, Mr. Meeker; we could have collected a
pretty sum In damages.
Clerk Jut it might have killed me; In
that case I couldn't have been used as a
witness.
The Boss True; I didn't think of that.
On the vhole. perhaps you were right in
not putting him to the test. Boston Tran
script.
Change for the Hctter
"Farewell, then," he cried, melodrama!
leally, "you will regret your refusal cf my
proffered love. I shall take to drink, an
then sul.dde!"
"O don't say that!" the fair girl pleaded.
"I am resolved," he said. "I shall not
change mjr plans unless"
"O chaige them Just a little. I should
hate to tj Ink I drove you to drink; try sul
tide flrv "Washington Star.
