>>281721190
americans, especially the upper crust nouveau riche of the late 19th century, were absolute europhiles. london and paris ruled the world in this time period (much to the consternation of berlin, moscow, constantinople, rome, beijing, etc)
much like how anon had those 19th century advertisements for maids who "must know french," having a housemaid from europe would be an absolute display of wealth, ability, and influence, for the age of the great migrations of the middle century was over, and the barons of Gilded Age would wet their cigars for an educated european to come into their service, so much that they would emulate the same style of Anglo-Frankish butleries and maideries. To raise a child with foreign languages was seen as advantageous then as is now, as the wide world of international commerce was booming and would continue to boom
