Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/160

 its readers have contributed to various funds are included £2,662 to the Lifeboat Institution, £2,167 to the Bengal Famine Fund, £1,378 to a Quiver "hammocks fund" for the Training Ship Chichester, and £1,528 to the Silver Thimble Fund.

During the war the Quiver readers were particularly active. They raised sufficient money to buy and equip two motor ambulances for service to the wounded, these costing some £1,400. They also generously subscribed to St. Dunstan's and other war relief funds.

Another phase of the work of the Quiver ought to be mentioned. The "servant problem" was debated with warmth so far back as the 'nineties. At that time it was alleged that the old-time domestic servant who was faithful in her attachment to the fortunes of one family was practically extinct. As a means of testing the accuracy of this statement, the editor published a scheme for a new Order for Honourable Service, to consist of domestic servants of either sex who had held their present situations for seven years and upwards, with a special class of distinguished members who could show an uninterrupted record of fifty years' service in the same family. This latter provision was looked upon by many as not very seriously intended, and it was thought that the publishers would find few claimants of the "handsome Family Bible, published at one guinea," which was offered. Month after month, however, two or three duly authenticated cases of fifty years' service in the same household appeared in the list, making a very respectable muster-roll of veterans at the end of the first year.

As soon as this movement had given evidence of vitality H.R.H. Princess Christian consented, at the editor's request, to become the Patron of the Order, and when about 2,000 members had been enrolled they enthusiastically adopted the suggestion that they should offer the Princess a token of their appreciation of her support of the movement. Their little keepsake took the form of a gold brooch, the setting of which held the