28 OCTOBER 1916, Page 12

A SOUND SUGGESTION.

[To THE EDITOR OF THZ SPECTATOR."] Sra,—In America the scarcity of domestic servants is a serious problem. Cooks, able to do only plain cooking, are receiving from forty to sixty dollars a month, with room and board; waitresses and chambermaids thirty to forty dollars a month. Many families have half the usual number, and the ones they have most indiffer- ent. Daily, I might almost say hourly, we are asked for contribu- tions for the widows and orphans of France, Belgium, Serbia, and Poland. Is there not some way that these widows could be sent to help the American housewife and live on earnings instead

[The suggestion is thoroughly sound, and should prove a double blessing. May Mrs. Pontefract's scheme prosper 1—Ea. Spectator,/