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VIVA VOCE EXAMINATIONS.

THE "DOMESTIC" QUESTION.

Bi S.

It is a humiliating admission to make in
these advanced days, but the truth is I have
always had an inborn and deep-rooted aver
sion to examinations of all kinds, written or

.tea voce. Not that I have ever been plucked
for matriculation, or fared badly in any
competitive examination. No, truly ; such
ignominy has not been mine, for the very
sufficient reason that I have never rashly
tempted defeat by presenting myself before
the examiners. Indeed, in my schoolgirl
days I developed a convenient habit ot falling
ill whenever the time approached to test the
progress made by the different classes during
the year. Measles, mumps, chicken-pock, or
other deterring malady invariably came to
the rescue, and saved me at the last moment
from the dreaded ordeal. And undesirable
as such visitations are usually held to be, I
welcomed them right gladly as alternatives
to dealing with the intricacies cr irregular
French verbs, the dateB o! battles long since
fought and won, and the puzzling peculiari
ties of compound fractions. No illusive
hope of receiving a beautifully-bound book,
with inscription setting forth my attain
ments, no bright dream of seeing my name
figuring in the prize-list, could have nerved
me to tackle the annual examination papers,
and rack my bewildered brains to furnish
correct answers to the alarming enigmas con
tained therein. Since that iar-awsy time 1
have lived, more or less, in an atmosphere
of examinations, have trimmed the midnight
lamp, and prepared the stimulating coffee
for various students, and I have seen many
of my kith and kin come forth from the
ordeal scatheless and even triumphant,
but for myself I have (until quite re
cently) managed to hold aloof not
only from the more severe teat of university
exams., but even from such minor struggles
as competition in the ambulance classes or
classes in domestic economy, which are just
now so much in vogue. Nevertheless, within
the last few weeks fate has been too strong
for me, the prejudices of a lifetime have had
to be overcome, and very much against my
inclination 1 have spent the morning hours
of many days in being put through a viva roc.
examination of the most exhaustive character.

| And certainly my instincts had cot hitherto
misled me, tor so far from gaining honours I
| can scarcely be said to have paeeed credit

ably iu any single subject. My examiners
were many, and numerous were the questions
they asked, but the contemptuous tones in
which they ordinarily couched their inquiries
left me in little little doubt that they con
sidered me a poor creature, hardly worthy of
the trouble they gave themselves in catechis
ing me. The puzzle to me was that though
there were a certain stock of series which
were always fired off to begin with (before
coming to what may be called the honour
test), the answer which satisfied one inter
locutor would not be received by the next.

For instance, having furnished tolerably
satisfactory answers to the tundament&kiues
tions " What wages ?" " How many in
family?" "Any stairs?" "Any shirts/"
" How many evenings out in the week ?" and
beginning to feel that at length I wae coming
to the end of my troubles, and might perhaps
be allowed to pass, I foiled signally at The
query ot "Early or late dinner?" by mildly
venturing " Late." " Oh, no late dinners
for me," scornfully ejaculated my ex
aminer, "I like,;, my evenings free."
Now as her predecessor had said ene
"couldn'tbe hurried, and didn't hold with
dinner right on top of breakfast," and as I
was not quite prepared to promise that the
family should always dine out, the matter,
wl|ich had proceeded fairly enough to this
Btage, tell through, and, disheartened and
wearied out, 1 had to recommence my exami
nation with a new questioner. This one,
even before demanding "What wages?"
startled me with an unexpected query. " Do
you keep a boarding-house 1" was her initial
question. " Certainly, not," said I. feeling
more ruffled by this question than any that
had precede! it (for of all manners of adding
to oue's income this selling the hospitality ot'
one's rooftree has always appeared to me to
be the hardest). " Then you won't suit me;
1 like a boarding-house," was the astonishing
rejoinder: Imagine anyone who had the
opportunity of escaping from such a fate de
liberately choosing service in a boarding
house. Many of my questioners objected to
the locality where I live, though the house
agents advertise it (and with truth too) as
" fashiouable and convenient," and one
really nice-looking girl, who seemed as if she
ought to be able to give a satiefctory account
of herself, said she should not live with anyone
who would ask for a reference. Another pre

sented a llatiering testimony to her proficiency -
in every branch of household work, which bore
a date of three years before, and when asked
"Where she had lived since," replied
"That's my own affair?" That it ebould be
at all the affair of a person who thought or
making her one of her household, appeared
to strike her as an unwarrantable imperti
nence. Too much power is apt to injure ail
natures, except the finest and most richly
dowered, and the fact that servants are
scarce, and situations plentiful, has certainly
done much to develope the spirit, not only
that Jack is as good aa his master, but that
Jane is a liner and much more important
person than her would-be mistre&s. if Jane
would be content that her well-fitting gown
and many buttoned gloves should attest this
superiority, there would not be much harm
done, she has an undeniable right to spend
her wages as she chooses, but when she as
serts it by sittiug down on the only available
chair, while putting her inferior,who.is forced
to stand,through an examination, it amounts
to takine advantage of her position. J udging
from my recent experiences, I should say that
the better-61a9s servants (who have by no
means [ceased to exist) do not much frequen t
the registry-offices. They can always obtain
good situations among people who know
them. Indeed, it sometimes bappeiis that
one's sorrow for a iriend going up country or
on a trip to Europe .is mitigated by the hope
of obtaining her incomparable or
" Ellen, that treasure who has been *ith tor
^VSome few weeks ago I went to an auc

tion sale with a friend, not to secure
some ot Mr. 'a valuable and well-kept
furniture, but to try if his excellent cook
were disengaged. Alas! we were only aecoud
in the field, a lady close at hand had been
before us, and had snapped up the matchless
Mary, and my poor friend had to begin
aseriea of visits to the offices. Before settini?
forth on that dreaded expedition, she anxiously
scanned over the morning's paper in the
hope of seeing some way out o£ her difficulty.
Suddenly her brow cleared, and she ex
claimed joyfully, "Perhaps I may escape
going to the ollices after all; this sounds

(For Continuation of Viva Voce Ezamina
i lions iS'te Page 552.)

hopeful. ' Wanted a situation as a cook and
".£*
Yarra ' " A. hansom was immediately called,
i u.,» set The street and cottage were
botl momi- nVsulelv Kate would not d.s
»oint u" ^ e lound ber interviewing. or
ffi interviewed, by a lady in search of n
cook and aa we entered tbe room she looked
un and with great self-possession said to my
friend. " I think 1 have seen you beiore. fco
she had. as a matter of fact, lor she had been
for a few days in her service., but it was
etraive that she remembered the circum
stance as she had come to the house 111 a
state ot semi-intoxication, begun her service
by stealing a bottle of sherry, and been sin
away as soon as she was sumciently recovered
from the effects ot that stimulant to walk
steadily. I have heard it said that a good
cook should not be parted with for any crime
short of murder, and that all such Jewer
offences as intoxication and larceny should
be cheerfully put up with as long as they do
not interfere with the due serving ot dinner.
Perhaps such selfish leniency was the secret
of her three years' referenceUf, indeed, it
were authentic), though if employers are to
be found willing to condone Buch blemishes
in a cook, it is still a marvel that the
dinners of artistes with such diaablmg habita
should contiuue tor any length of time to give
satisfaction. If murder be the smaHest pro
vocation for which one dismisses a cook, a
uiistres6 may be abandoned for any protes ,
however inadequate. 1 knowmyself ofone
excellent servant, %vho, when giving warmnB
to si lady with whom she had lived lor some
lime, and who ereatly prized her lor her ex
quisite cleanliness and orderly method oi
-retting through her work, vouchsafed no
Sther reason for her departure than thatshe
" could not live any longer with peopie ao
mean as to make cherry jam. As she was
not called upon to make this despicab-e con
serve, nor even to eat ot it, this seemed an
insufficient reason, but none other did she
. rive though ehe may have had others as
plentiful as blackberries, and must have had ,
atlt has become very much the fashion of late
for the young ladies of the family to take
lessons in cookery either lrom the household
cook or at some of the various classes held
in town by efficient teachers, and very useful
and interesting these lessons o ten are, bu
that they in return should give lessons is not
so usual. However, here is a story for the
truth of which I can vouch. A young f»end
of mine, juat returned from boarding school,
and with a good deal of spare time,.spent
several hours a day at the piano, keeping up
her music, and trying over new pieces, bne
noticed that while she played the housemaid
lingered over ber dusting, and spent as much 1
of the morning as possible in tbe drawing
room. It is always pleasant to have an
appreciative audience, even though this
audience should be merely a housemaid, and
my young friend unconsciously put more
light and shade into her pertormance. struck
her bases with more precision, and took her
_ca]e passages more evenly while the dusting
continued. One morning, to her astonish
ment, the maid came np to the piano and
said-" Miss Ethel. I like your styje of play
in<* very much ; you have ft beautiful touch ;
I "should be very glad to have some
lessons, and it you will give them to me
will pay you whatever you think lair . it a
housemaid, or any other maid, have a real
"ift for music, it is a pity that it should not
Oe cultivated; but as the number ot girls
who play indifferently and just in the eame
half-hearted manner is unlimited, it would
really be a monetary Iobs that hands trained
to household work, and able to win good
wages should devote themselves to the
niano.' The girl who plays the piano com
norts herself modestly when she seeks em
ployment, and is thankful if her attainments
be considered sufficient; the girl who ousts,
washes, and cooks, or even pretends to do
these useful things, makes her own terms,
and if it be her good pleasure to put her
would-be employer through a regular ex
amination, and in the end tell her she won t
suit, does not exceed her rights. Instead,
then, of encouraging housemaids to the
study oi music, it would be well to teach
musicians to take their share in the house
hold work, to let them learn how to order
their homes harmoniously, to mingle house
keeping with Handel, baking with Beethoven,
mending with Mozart, washing with \\ eber,
mangling with Mendelssohn, and so on
through all the great masters. In the mean
time and waiting the happier days in the
.ood times which are always coming, we
must for the present answer the various
tiuestions put to us by inquiring servants ae
beet we may.
$