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1. If
the MISTRESS of a household considers that she is steward
of her husband's property, and that upon her diligence,
knowledge, and capability depends the entire happiness of her
household, she will understand how important is her post, and
how any negligence on her part must necessarily repeat itself in
the conduct of her domestics. It is seldom requisite that a
mistress should perform other work than that of supervising her
household, choosing and paying for household requisites; but it
is imperative that she should clearly understand the "Philosophy
of Housekeeping," and that she should not be the dupe of
designing servants or the ignorant director of an equally
ignorant maid. Every household arrangement must differ in
detail--in way and modes of living as well as in numbers. No book
can give exact laws and regulations which will be found sensible
to every house; but common-sense rules apply to every household
in all stations of life, and the results of years of experience
must be of service to young beginners.
2. The
difficulties which beset young mistresses of households
are great, but an intelligent arrangement soon makes these
difficulties disappear; and once the routine duties of
households are arranged, it is easy to go on with regularity and
comfort.
3. No
amount of love, of beauty, or of intelligence will make
home happy without a "right judgement" on the part of the
housewife. A woman must rule her household, or be ruled by it;
she must either hold the reins with a tight, firm hand, never
parting with, but seldom using, the whip; or the reins fall
from the idle, careless hand, and are seized by subordinates,
and the hard-working husband is placed, by his wife's indolence,
under the control of his domestics, and has to depend upon their
honesty and zeal alone.
4. EARLY RISING
on the part of the mistress is even more
essential than for the servants to the early risers; for if the
maids see that the mistress does not stir at an early hour, they
think that they may indulge a little too: but if their mistress
be regular in making her appearance, the maids do not like a
good, kind lady to have cheerless, undusted rooms to go into,
and take care to be in good time.
5. A MISTRESS
should rise at latest at seven o'clock. This will
appear dreadfully late to some notables, but will be found to be
a good hour all the year round. The mistress should take her
cold bath, and perform a neat, careful, and pretty morning
toilet. Having performed this careful toilet, she will be ready
to descend at eight o'clock, but before leaving per room will
place to chairs at the end of the bed, and turn the whole of the
bedclothes over them, and, except on very rainy mornings, will
throw open the windows of her room. She should then fold her
own and husband's night-dress, which have been airing during
her toilet, and place them in their ornamented cover; she will
put brushes, combs, hair-pins, &c., in their proper places, and
leave her toilet-table clear and tidy, and make the whole room
is neat as possible. Key-basket in hand, she should descend to
the breakfast-room, at once ring for the kettle or tea-urn,
according to the season, and make the tea, coffee, cocoa, or
chocolate, as the case may be. Her eye should now glance over
the table to see that everything required for the table is in
its place, and that all is neatly arranged and ready for the
family -- flowers on the table, preserve or marmalade in cut-glass
dishes.
6. IF A MOTHER,
with a young infant, if she should don a
dressing-gown in place of a dress, and wash her baby before
coming down; indeed, if children of any age take morning baths,
we advocate that no one but mamma should dry them. As soon as
these duties are over, the mistress should proceed to the
breakfast-room and make the tea, coffee, or chocolate, and ring
be bell for the breakfast, as above stated. When it is possible
to get the master to enjoy an eight o'clock breakfast, household
matters go on charmingly. He is usually out of the house by
nine, and by that hour the windows are wide open, every door set
open (weather permitting), and a thorough draught of "delicious
air" is passed through the whole dwelling.
7. As
soon as THE MISTRESS hears her husband's step, the bell
should be rung for the hot dish; and should he be, as business
men usually are, rather pressed for time, she should herself
wait upon him, cutting his bread, buttering his toast, &c.
Also give standing orders that coat, hat, and umbrella shall be
brushed and ready; and see that they are, by helping on the
coat, handing the hat, and glancing at the umbrella.
8. THE
WORK OF THE HOUSEHOLD will proceed with a far greater
regularity and despatch when the mistress is able and willing to
assist in the lighter duties.
9. As
soon as the husband has gone off to his work, have the
breakfast cleared, and go into the kitchen to give orders for
the day; but in some old families, before the breakfast is
cleared a spotlessly clean wood-bowl is brought in upon a tray,
accompanied by tea-cloths; the mistress then proceeds to wash
up the cups, saucers, &c., dries and places them upon a tray,
the servant carrying them to their places. This custom is a
relic of the old Puritan system of orderly work, and is not as
general as could be desired; but some mistresses still wash up
the breakfast things in order to leave the maid time to get on
with her upstairs duties.
10. THE FIRST DUTY
of the mistress after breakfast is to give
her orders for the day, and she naturally begins with the cook.
11. ON ENTERING THE KITCHEN,
invariably say, "Good morning,
cook" (a courtesy much appreciated below stairs), go into the
larder--do not give a mere glance, careless or nervous, as the
case may be, but examine every article there; never let
anything that displeases your neat eye pass: it is much easier
to correct as you go along, than to overburden a maid with
directions or reprimands. Do not allow any shy fear of
strangers, as new servants of course are, to interfere with the
careful discharge of your duties as a wife and mistress of the
household. Look in the bread-pan and see that there is no waste.
After all joints a good basin of dripping ought to be in the
larder.
12. IN ORDERING DINNER
it is best to write down what you intend
having; for instance, one o'clock dinner, "Cold beef, potatoes,
greens, apple pudding;" six (seven or eight) o'clock dinner,
"Julienne soup, fish, roast fowl, gravy, bread sauce, boiled
bacon, browned potatoes, spinach, plum tart, custard pudding."
13. Another
good result from writing down the dinner; it keeps
both mistress and cook up to the mark in seeing that every
proper accompaniment to a dish is served with it.
14. The COOK
then knows exactly what she has to prepare, and the
order-book is a useful check on butcher, grocer, and
greengrocer.
15. IF A LADY
is content to order daily what is wanted, she
will not have the excellent dinners obtained by a little
forethought. Few butchers can be relied on to send meat in prime
condition for roasting; there are but few weeks in England
when it is not safe to hang meat; in autumn mutton will often
hang for eight days, in winter fourteen or twenty-one will not
be too long. A good housekeeper will always arrange so as to
have a joint or two hanging in the winter, and one joint hanging
nearly always. The day decided on for cooking a leg of mutton,
order another in for hanging.
16. WELL-HUNG MEAT
"goes further" than hard fresh meat; and does credit to buyer and cook.
17. IF A MISTRESS
devote careful thought to her dinners for
servants and husband she is doing her best to keep the health of her household.
18. COOKS
will frequently suggest dishes: this is a great help
to a young wife; but a mistress should possess courage to say,
"I cannot afford this."
19. IF A SERVANT
find that her mistress is determined to see for
herself that her orders involve no extravagance and no waste,
she will do one of two things--either enter fully into her
mistresse's views, or leave her place. Both courses are good for
the mistress, but naturally the first is the pleasanter to all
parties.
20. We
once told a good-hearted but extravagant cook, that we
should much like to give her carte blanche in cooking details,
but that if we did so and spent all the housekeeping money on
eating and drinking, we should be unable to do what we have
always done -- give the maids good medical advice when they were
ill, pay for their medicine, and give them wine if ordered by
the doctor. Her only reply was, "Lor, mum!" but a speedy change
took place, and she remained a careful, faithful woman, until
her marriage.
21. Invariably
speak the exact truth to servants, be firm, but
mind and never address an unnecessary word to a new servant ;
old tried servants are privileged, but new ones must be kept "in
place," and all temptation to gossip checked at once. This is
not easy to do kindly, but tact and dignity will make it easy.
22. YOUNG WIVES
are often lonely and talk to their maids for a
change; it is a bad plan, depend upon it, and often causes
disagreeable liberties to be taken.
23. BEFORE
LEAVING THE LOWER REGIONS, the mistress should look
into scullery, washhouse (larder she has been in), and kitchen
proper; see that all is neat and tidy; remembering that she
is steward of her husband's property, and accountable for any
misuse of it. All things in the house belong to you and to him,
and if you do not care to see every article clean, bright, and
tidy, you cannot expect your maids to care about it.
24. ON LEAVING THE KITCHEN,
it is the duty of the mistress to go
into every room of the house to see if all is cleanly and in
order; she should first go into her own room, which ought by
this time to be arranged, unless it is the regular day for
cleaning it thoroughly, when the housemaid should be busily
engaged on it. The mistress should carefully inspect every
portion of the room, as it is her careful and observant eye
alone that will detect careless or unhealthy habits in her
maids.
25. WINDOWS
should look bright and clean; no dust should deface
the furniture, or thread or speck the carpet; all water-vessels
should be clean, and filled with pure water: a small quantity of
hot water should be placed in the chamber utensils. The towels
should be taken out to air in the garden, weather permitting, or
dried in the kitchen.
26. The
bed should look neat, the counterpane being smoothly
drawn over it, and curtains arranged in seemly folds. The
blinds should hang evenly, and the window curtains be neatly
looped back.
27. In
the MASTER'S ROOM the bath should be dry and spotless,
the water-cans filled, and standing on a Kamptulieon mat, the
sponge drying in its basket, the toilet-table neat, brushes put
by, and all things in order: boots arranged in pairs, and
slippers (if worked) brushed and put ready for use.
28. The SPARE ROOM
should next be inspected, whether in or out
of use, the window opened, and well aired.
29. Then
the SERVANTS' ROOM. There is no need for a mistress to
do more than take a glance in if to see if the window be open,
the room aired, the bed made, the slops emptied, and the floor
neat and clean. A lady should tell her maids that she looks in
once a day to see that all is right and comfortable in their
room or rooms; this puts everything on a straightforward open
footing, and prevents unhealthy, untidy habits, and gives the
mistress a chance of making all within the house comfortable.
30. The
CLOSEST INSPECTION should be made of every room in the
house, not excepting the very smallest; and nothing should be
omitted to be placed where required. Bedroom, clothes, and
other closets should be kept scrupulously clean, and everything
wanted should be put ready to hand. Water supplies and drains
should be carefully and regularly supervised, and newspaper, it
should be remembered, is apt to stop up the drain and cause much
expense, which curling-paper does not. The mistress should
ascertain that the water supply is plentiful, for it is on these
apparent trifles that the health of households depends.
31. Nor
let any one feel surprised at the details of a
mistress's work being clearly set down; for it is to ignorance
of these facts that we owe the minor miseries of life. A few
hours' neglect of a drain may breed pestilence, and the cause
of such a disaster is the mistress's neglect of sanitary
precautions.
32. The GARDEN
should now be inspected, and orders given to the
gardener, and the plants in the house attended to by the lady.
33. As
it is good for the maids to have a settled plan of their
work, so it is good for the mistress to arrange her day, by
rule, as far as possible. Interruptions will occur from time
to time, but a resolute woman will generally carry out her plans
for the week satisfactorily.
34. It
is impossible to arrange the time of any individual. The
following work the mistress should do. Two hours devoted to the
house and morning duties brings one to eleven o'clock; on
Monday the mending must be carefully executed up lunch time. A
daily walk should be taken, weather permitting, and the lady
should first go and order anything required for the house, then
return visits, or take a good constitutional until four o'clock.
From four to five write letters, or read for an hour (serious
reading, leaving light reading for evening). At five, when
necessary, go downstairs to speak to cook, glance round to see
all preparations are getting forward for the six o'clock dinner
; then go upstairs, inspect the housemaid's performance of
needlework, always laid in your room for that purpose, and dress
for dinner. Go into the dining-room, and see all is ready, put
out the wine, arrange dessert and flowers. Then be ready at a
quarter to six to receive le mari, and see that he has his hot
water, slippers, &c. At six, dinner, after which coffee and
amusements of music, reading, cards, or needlework of a light
nature.
35. TUESDAY,
Thursday, and Friday mornings may be devoted to the
garden and plants, the afternoon to walking or driving as
before, or any particular hobby or study.
36. MINOR DETAILS
OF HOUSEWORK should be attended to by the mistress,
who should see that her servants attend to the little
things that give a neat and cared-for appearance to the house.
For example, the doorsteps must be cleaned and whitened daily;
the blinds drawn down and shutters closed regularly as soon as
it is dark; all windows closed at sunset, and opened as soon as
possible in the morning. The mistress must look at the outside
of her house as well as see that the inside is all right. She
should survey her house on all sides from a little distance, and
note if it is as nice as she could wish in respect to repairs,
arrangement of curtains, blinds &c. The forecourt and garden
also must the trim and neat, if not gay with flowers.
Periodically the roof and gutters should be examined, and all
refuse matter removed, and free passage given for the
rain-water. Even in London soft water they may be enjoyed by
the careful housewife who will take the trouble and go to the
expense of starting a proper system of catching and preserving
it.
37. First,
she must purchase an ordinary water-butt, provided
with a tap near the bottom, and with a removable lid; the water
from the roof passes naturally through an ordinary pipe into
this butt. A tank, about ten feet deep and four feet in
diameter, bricked and cemented, must be provided as near as
possible to this, and from the water-butt to the tank a pipe is
carried, one end of it being cemented in the tank, the other
carried up to within six inches of the top of the water-butt,
and fitted with a rose. As soon as the water-butt is filled,
the water flows down the pipe into the tank; a common pump in
the house brings it in fresh and clean, ready for use. "But how
clean?" asks an anxious matron. "How can London roof-washings be
clean?" For ten minutes after rain "sets in," turn the tap of
your water-butt, and allow the water to run. In less than this
time a smart shower will have thoroughly cleansed your roof.
Then stop the flow, and allow the water-butt to fill; all the
deposits in the water will be left at the bottom of your butt,
while the clean, pure, bright water will fill the tank; and
this simple plan is all that is required to obtain the great
luxury of clean soft water.
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