The Lady’s Maid

The lady’s maid, though she may wear all-white for her morning duties, has a black dress and apron for afternoon and evening; the apron may be pleated or plain. The costume above is from Madame Joseph’s Shop.

The single word “maid” means lady’s maid in that society which has always provided its women with personal attendants. But later-comers to the social game like to make sure there's no mistake about the fact that they have an individual attached to their persons, and so “personal secretary,” (when “private secretary” would be right) and “personal maid” (when “maid” would do) have come to be very usual expressions in this country.

The duty of the employee properly called lady’s maid is that of waiting upon the lady, or ladies, of the house. She would be expected to keep the entire wardrobe in order, and, sometimes, house-linen also is under her charge. This, of course, depends upon her position in the household and on the size of the staff.

With several ladies to look after, especially if their service were exacting, a maid might not be able to do more than meet the obligations of her office, in which case a housemaid might have charge of the up- stairs linen, and the waitress, or parlour-maid, (in some households, the butler) might have charge of the table linen. But in many places the maid has time to take full care of the whole linen-closet and give out its stores.

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