There are stories of great and even royal households being left in critical moments at the mercy of servants' tempers, of head cooks "on strike" or negligent personal attendants.

And from these down to the humblest employers of a general servant the complaint is the same--servants so independent, so exacting, good servants not to be had, so difficult to get things properly done, etc.

These complaints give very strong warning that helpless dependence on servants is too great a risk to be accepted, and that every one in ordinary stations of life should be at least able to be independent of personal service.

The expansion of colonial life points in the same direction.

The "simple life" is talked of at home, but it is really lived in the colonies.