The inevitable tea pot filled with scalding hot tea; half a dozen of those diminutive' wooden stools; few boxes full of needles and Jeottons strewn. on the floor; the sound of high-pitched feminine Voices raised in clamorous argument, and you know that your amah is holding a tea party. You know also, if you have had any experience' with amahs, that you jand various others amongst your lady friends are being discussed in uncertain terms; that your family secrets are being cheerfully dragged into the light of day, and that your domestic habits are being openly criticised. You also have shrewd suspicion that these secrets will sooner or later reach the ears the said lady friends, but you will console yourself with the Prospect of a most enlightening conversation with your amah when [the members of the tea party have dispersed to their various homes. in fact it all boils down to the uncomfortable admission that you are just as fond of gossip as your amah.
And yet, in spite of her shortcomings, would you do without that amah of yours? Is there anything more completely characteristic of life in the East than the amah? She who devotes all her life to the service of the foreigners who have chosen, for some unaccountable reason, tO live in her country. She who deserts her own numerous offspring to care for white children adopts them as her own and lavishes fall her mother love on them; she who neglects her house and husband to wash clothes for the babies and their parents, who with infinite patience bears with the pranks and Raughtinesses that fill most small boys' minds between the ages of five and ten; who, in fact, gives up ber very home to'live and have her being in a few square feet of space the house of her master and missy: No household—however far down the Yangtszepoo Road it may. be—is without this symbol of res pectable domesticity. "She may belong to the humblest of her kind, the wash-amah, or she have reached the highest pinnacle of her calling, the lady's maid. There is a large gap between the two; a gap that is filled by a procession of trousered and aproned feminity, The wash amah is: one of two types; she may be old and ugly, one who has never had sufficient initia tive or good looks to rise to the next step on the ladder; but through long experience she will have developed inimitable skill in dealing with Master Tommy's tar-bespattered, and oil-stained pants, or young missy's mud splashed breeches. The other type of wash i, amah is a flighty young lady who finds light conversation with the leoolie infinitely more diverting than soapsuds. Her amours frequently interfere with her: work, for—and who can blame her—she finds it difficult to extract romance out of tub of hot water and a pile of soiled tablecloths. She also excellent taste in silk 1gs—the finely woven expensive kind—to the distinct disadvantage of her mistress. Handkerchiefs, especially embroidered ones, have an unconquerable fascination for her...... For some unknown reason all wash amahs' relative from the aged grandmother to newly-born baby nephew, invariably reside in or near a place called ningpo; this necessitates frequent interviews with the mistress of the house. The wash amah announces with a winning smile that her grandmother is just about to die, and "please Missy" can she go for a few days to Ningpo to attend the funeral "Permission granted she for and Weturoe after a. week's off happily to mythical Ni
absence. If there are any questions jas to why she has.been away Tong, she goes into a detailed and avid description of her grand-other's ailments, "and concludes ith the good news that she did' ale of of which goes fo ipcate hat the wash aah, Ramble though her position in fe depot so stupid as one might think! that encdimther will come, nue: fol agains the next time she feels Fike taking © litle holiday.
ind next comes the bey amah; ape is feminine from the tap of bet SRlay black hai to the soles of her SMjuite feequenlly bound—fect, her ionzve seldom store waging, she inordinately fond of gossip, and when she is not attending to the children she is creating enormous confusion in-the servants' quarters, [She is invariably having a row with tone of them, and complains tearfully to her mistress that her life is made quite unbearable by the coolie who. "any time make' too" much fwallah wallah." But after all, what will you? 'The children adore her and Women were always disturbers fof peace......S0. the amah cone tinues her' tyrannous reign in the household.
'She is also fond of sweetmeats and is continuously bringing' into the -house all. manner of strange land unappetising looking foods. if by any chance one should be so indiscreet as to look into her room, fa trail. of those tell-tale little black husks would show her affection for sunflower seeds; weird, glutinous substances fill chipped rice bow! fand in a cap, minus the handle, the inevitable "tea." Also—though she will always accuse the other servants—it is really she who has the taste for that particular kind Jot cabbage which, when cooking, fills the house with' indescribably levilsmelting and powerful. funnes, She generally chooses. the evening when there is a dinner party to ook this dainty for her. supper.
With the children she is all affectionate devotion; they' like her because she spoils them, nding it easier to give in to their requests than to forbid or punish them. If it is. a cold day liber small charges "go out, 30 wrapped up in layers of woollens that they can scarcely breathe. If they protest at being made to walla a long distance, all the better, the amah will stop at the nearest bench Jand join in full-throated and joyful conversation with her friends of the park; her small charges meanwhile becoming engaged in mortal combat ox the fascinating pastime of mak ting mud pies. If the good lady happens to have small "fect, her young tormentors are in "luck, They can be as naughty us they please and evade punishment. by vy they take full the situation,. which throws a" certain the epithet "foreign devils."
But sooner or later, the small must grow up; it becom sary that they should be sent, to an exciting place called school? in a wonderful country called 'Eng-Hand', and the services of the faithful amah are required no longer. [She sighs a little and sheds a few tears, but being by nature philosophical (nobody could look after children who was not) she accepts ithe inevitable and turns her devoted attention to the cure of other little boys and girl Then there is the nail amah; you have noticed no doubt, that the wash amah is not called the laundry maid; the baby amah is not called the nurse, and similarly therefore the Jady who manicures your nails called quite simply" the nail mah; for after is ing her a not only that, sinher that there ig a definite distinction between the two; the work of a manicurist and jo nail amah are manifestly the me, but they are two - different people; the former being preferred by husbands and latter by wives.
She, the nail amah, likes to indulge'in a little gossip now and she has one—bo-ion she is a Mahjong one all-absorbing
Being of 8 higher oe sisters, she is more discriminate in the matter of her family, and 20, providing she has a fairly industrious husband, she can spend all her earnings at the tables. And spend them she certainly does—when she is not multiplying them—that is evident when she arrives in the morning heavy-eyed and lan-j: vid, to start on her task of trying to create beauty where beauty is not.
And after the na'l amah comes the lady's maid; but for several Jzood reasons we will not dwell too ling upon her. First of all," this country is the only one in which Jamahs are to be found, whereas Jalmost every other country in the world has lady's maids. "And Jonce an amah rises to the height lof becoming a Indy's maid she be-Jcomes commonplace and. flonger characteristic of her type. [Secondly, time and space are getting scarce, and finally... well, we've just come to the end of the rage, that's all—acas
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.