terms:—­’Do you happen to know of a really good girl that would suit us?  You are aware of the scale on which our household is conducted, and how very modest our requirements are.  All we want is a strong, healthy, honest girl, ready and willing to work and to learn, and who will take an interest in the place, and who will not ask too extravagant a price.  She can have a good home with us as long as ever she likes to stay.  My dear, you really cannot tell what a difficulty we experience in getting servants who are not “uppish,” and who are trustworthy and do not mind working, and if you can find us one in those pretty villages round you, we shall be so much obliged,’ &c.

The fact that a servant from the country is supposed, in the nature of things, to be honest and willing, hardworking, strong, and healthy, and almost everything else, speaks well for the general character of the girls brought up in agricultural cottages.  It is, however, quite a mistake to suppose the supply to be limitless; it is just the reverse; the really good servants from any particular district are quickly exhausted, and then, if the friends in town will insist upon a girl from the country, they cannot complain if they do not get precisely what they want.  The migration, indeed, of servants from the villages to the towns has, for the time being, rather overdone itself.  The best of those who responded to the first demand were picked out some time since; many of those now to be had are not of the first class, and the young are not yet grown up.  After awhile, as education progresses—­bringing with it better manners—­there may be a fresh supply; meantime, really good country girls are difficult to obtain.  But the demand is as great as ever.  From the squire’s lady down to the wife of the small tenant-farmer, one and all receive the same requests from friends in town.  The character of the true country servant stands as high as ever.

Let us hope that the polish of progress may not too much overlay the solid if humble virtues which procured that character for her class.  Some efforts are being made here and there to direct the course of young girls after leaving the village schools—­to put them in the right way and give them the benefit of example.  As yet such efforts are confined to individuals.  The object is certainly worth the formation of local organisations, for, too often, on quitting the school, the young village girl comes in contact with anything but elevating influences, and, unfortunately, her own mother is not always the best guide.  The position of a servant in town is well known, the antecedents of a girl before she reaches town perhaps not so thoroughly, while the lives of those who remain in the villages drop out of sight of the great world.