OTHER PEOPLE'S EXPERIENCES OF LABOUR-SAVING HOMES
I
A Five Bedroom and Three Sitting-room London House.
"I have been much interested in your labour-saving articles. I send you
a description of our new house. We have adopted many of your ideas.
"The family consists of myself and husband and two just-grown-up
daughters.
"It so happened that some months ago we lost a little money, and we
also came to the conclusion that we had been for some time spending
more than we should have spent. Our house was rather expensive for our
means; we kept five servants, entertained considerably in a simple
manner, and lived easily. Finally, we decided to sell the house and
take one which was smaller and possible to run with a lessened staff,
and, at the same time, if the servant difficulty became more acute,
such a house as would attract domestics by reason of its labour-saving
arrangements. A house was found, light, airy, quiet, in the required
position, of suitable size, but absolutely lacking in modern
improvements. As it stood it consisted of:
"_Basement._--Large front kitchen, back room (dark), lavatory, good
wide shallow front area, easy stairs up to first floor, a washhouse
built out from back room, two cellars, small wine cellar, no larder.
"_Ground Floor._--Dining and back dining-room (double doors), fairly
wide hall, and passage out to garden at back, and lavatory (very
old-fashioned).
"_First Floor._--Front and back drawing-rooms--total length, 28 feet;
width of front room, 18 feet; back room, 12 feet.
"_Second Floor._--Two bedrooms.
"_Third Floor._--Two bedrooms, large cupboard on top landing.
"Neither electric light, bathroom, nor hot water. A satisfactory lease
could be had, and owner would put in new drainage and put house in
outside repair. Rent only £100 a year if tenant would spend a certain
sum on the house.
"For convenience I will call ourselves Mr. and Mrs. A. After much
consideration Mr. and Mrs. A. came to the conclusion that they would
take the house and spend £350 in structural alterations.
"After this had been decided, and the work begun, the war broke out,
and Mr. A.'s income fell (at all events temporarily) to about £1,100 a
year. He was, however, still in a position to spend £350 owing to the
sale of the first house, for which a good premium had been obtained,
and, being a person of some wisdom, he realised that the £350 would
certainly swell into £500, though of that sum a part would be spent on
decoration and moving expenses.
"The arrangement of the house was to be as follows:
"_Basement._--_Front Room_ (already fitted with white-glazed sink
and tiled back) to be used for pantry, servants' hall, workroom. Gas
stove, linoleum on floor, green paint (varnished), light floral paper.
Room was very light when furnished, and pleasant. It was supplied with
a large linen cupboard and fitment cupboard for work materials and
dress stands, pantry things, spare glass and china, chintzes, pillows,
blankets, etc. This was fitted right across the end of the room.
"_Back Room: Kitchen._--Here a hot-water furnace to burn coke and
rubbish and to heat water for pantry and kitchen, three lavatory
basins, two bathrooms, and one large radiator in hall was installed;
gas cooker, white-glazed sink, white-tiled paper, green varnished
paint; service lift from kitchen to back dining-room, cleverly arranged
to open either from pantry or kitchen, and to serve dining-room
or back dining-room (to be used as smoking-room). A door was cut
into the washhouse, which was connected by a lobby with a door with
perforated zinc panels, opening into back area to ventilate kitchen and
prevent the hot air from reaching the larder; large window in larder,
white-tiled walls. Back area enlarged to give more light and air to
kitchen. All basement paint green varnished, white-tiled paper, stairs
recased, telephone bells to all floors.
"_Ground Floor._--_Dining-room._ Panelled walls, mahogany finished
doors and lift hatch. By means of lift servant need not leave the room
while waiting. Gas fire and ring with heater for hot plates, etc., over
it; linoleum parquet surround, square carpet.
"_Smoking-Room._--Ditto in all respects save for furniture and gas
ring. Telephone here, can be heard in basement; lift also opens into
this room. If dinner-party for more than eight is given, the double
doors can be opened and dinner served from this opening of the lift.
"_Hall._--Linoleum and rugs; passage into garden continued and widened,
making extension large enough for a cloakroom, hot water, w.c., basin,
etc. Over the hall extension, small new bedroom, just large enough for
folding bed, dressing-table, fitted washstand, tiny hanging cupboard.
Large window and glass doors, muffled, to give light to stairs.
"_Double Drawing-room._--The only coal fire and fitted carpet in the
whole of the house; pile carpet up to next half-landing, after that
fitted linoleum with rubber treads to edges of stairs.
"_Second Half-Landing._--Bathroom. Tiled dado, lavatory, and wash
basins, glass shelves.
"_Second Floor: Bedrooms._--Green linoleum, rugs, small beds, gas fire
and gas ring for kettles.
"_Third Floor: Half-Landing._--Bathroom. Tiled dado, lavatory, hand
basin, and hot cupboard for airing and for housemaid's brushes.
"_Third Floor._--Girl's room in front, gas fire and ring. Room for two
maids at back. Linoleum everywhere, small beds.
"All paint on stairs, hall, gentlemen's cloakroom black. Electric light
everywhere.
"The house now consisted of a double drawing-room, dining-room,
smoking-room, five bedrooms, kitchen, pantry, servants' hall and
workroom combined, gentlemen's cloakroom and two bathrooms.
"The income did not permit of more than two servants being employed,
namely, single-handed cook and house-parlourmaid; wages £26 each. In
addition they arranged two days a week for a charwoman. One week, on
Wednesday, she turned out the drawing-room, which contained valuable
glass, furniture, and china (not at all a labour-saving room!); the
other week turned out the dining-room and tidied the drawing-room. In
the afternoon she washed and ironed blouses, handkerchiefs, etc., which
had already been put to soak, and in some cases washed, by one of the
girls. On Friday she turned out the hall and cloakroom, and scrubbed
out the basement, and did the cook's work, that being the cook's day
out. The dinner, of a suitable order, was left ready by the cook. The
regular work of the house was arranged thus:
"_Cook._--Clean doorstep, do hall and dining-room and cloakroom, all
kitchen work and sweeping and dusting of servants' hall, clean boots.
"_House-parlourmaid._--Do smoking-room and drawing-room and first
flight of stairs before breakfast at 8.45. Bedrooms, etc. Dressed for
lunch at 1.30; usual parlourmaid's duties. Each Wednesday fortnight,
as she has nothing to do in the drawing-room, turns out smoking-room
before breakfast. Special work: Monday, silver; Tuesday, one bedroom;
Wednesday, silver; Thursday, one bedroom; Friday, silver; Saturday,
stairs and bathrooms.
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXII_
SUGG'S HOOD AND PLATE RACK FOR GAS KITCHENERS
is strongly made of wrought iron with nozzle for flue and with grid
shelf, having cast-iron brackets for fixing securely to the top of
kitchener, japanned white inside and black outside, or any colour to
order.]
"It was arranged the family would use the bathrooms and that no bedroom
or washstand work would be needed. Each person stripped and turned back
her bed and left it to air and ready to be made. One daughter helped
to make beds and did a certain amount of washing of oddments, using
the nearest bathroom and keeping a folding table for ironing in her
bedroom, where there was a gas ring for the irons.
"The three ladies undertook all mending, and arranging of flowers. Each
member of the family promised to leave lavatory basins washed and wiped
out after use and to avoid by untidiness and carelessness giving any
extra trouble.
"Arranging the work in this way the trials of a two-maid household
were banished, for there was ample time for pantry work and the
house-parlourmaid to be dressed in time for lunch, while days out made
no difference to the household.
"With a little careful management of the menu and the help of the
lift the one maid could wait on eight people at lunch or dinner if
necessary, and there was no necessity for the harassing 'Oh, we mustn't
ask people to tea on Wednesday or to lunch on Friday' atmosphere.
Needless to say, without a lift, telephone bells, and fitted 'washing
rooms,' linoleum-covered floors, uncrowded rooms, gas cooker, and
hot-water furnace, which does not require flue cleaning and needs but
little attention, it would be impossible to keep a London house of the
size spick and span, and run in the way in which people accustomed to a
larger establishment expect. The furnace consumes about two scuttlefuls
of coke a day, and needs paper, wood, and a little coal to start it.
Half an hour suffices to heat the bath water. After breakfast rubbish
of all kinds is burned, and but little heat is needed for the remainder
of the day, unless baths at night are required. A kettle is kept on the
furnace, or when any dish is to be simmered slowly it can stand on the
furnace, and the gas stove burned only when quite necessary. In hot
weather the furnace is let out after lunch."
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXIII_
AN ALL GAS KITCHEN IN A BASEMENT HOUSE
This sketch shows the gas cooker with hot plate over. A small bungalow
cooker for use when one or two persons only are to be served, and a
coke boiler which heats the hot water required in the house (including
2 baths and 2 radiators) and is surmounted by a useful flat plate upon
which a stock-pot or casserole can be kept simmering for hours without
use of extra fuel. The coke boiler in this instance serves to heat the
kitchen without further firing. On the left of the boiler is shown the
service lift.]
A Labour-Saving Country House.
"I have just read your article, and should like to tell you of a
house my husband and I have just built. We have occupied it for
eight months, and therefore have tested the various labour-saving
contrivances. It was built and designed under my direction, in order
to save all unnecessary labour. The house is warmed by central heating
and electric radiators, and there is a radiator and complete gas range
in the kitchen. We have a double earthenware sink, with two sets of
taps, in the kitchen, and no scullery. The furniture is oak, and only
needs dusting, and there is no brasswork anywhere. The fireplaces are
entirely of white tiles, and we have no use for fireirons. The steps
to the front and side doors are of marble, and the stair-rods are of
oak. Each principal bedroom (three in number) has its own bathroom,
completely fitted, adjoining, so that we have no washstands in the
house. The servants' bedrooms have each a lavatory basin with hot and
cold water, and a radiator. Drinking water is laid on to each bedroom.
Hot water, which is really hot, is from a furnace in the cellar, and
the central heating is worked in the same way. These furnaces work
quite smoothly, and give no trouble. We have a well-heated linen room,
which keeps linen and blankets well aired, and a light and easily
handled vacuum cleaner.
"We have had no fire anywhere all the winter, and the temperature of
the house, hall, stairs, passages, etc., has been very steadily at 60°
Fahrenheit, day and night. During a frosty spell we keep the furnace
going a little more strongly. All the principal rooms have powerful
electric wires to enable one to boil kettles, cook, iron, etc.
"So far I have kept three servants, but I find they are so opposed
to all my labour-saving devices--refusing even to touch the vacuum
cleaner!--that I am parting with them, and am engaging two ladies
instead; and although the house is large enough to require six servants
if differently fitted, they and I confidently expect to run it easily
and comfortably, with plenty of time to spare for recreation."
"Consider, on the other hand, ... if these women did the work of
their homes, and saved the money which they waste on ... incompetent
servants, the chief cause of their worry and troubles ... they could
travel ... and come back to England ... with the thing which more
than anything else we stand in need of ... ideas."
"Life without Servants."
By a Survivor.
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXIV_
GAS REFUSE DESTRUCTION
The Davis Domestic "Burn-All" with cover and lid of feeding aperture
removed, inspection door open, ash tray drawn out and parts described.
The Davis Domestic "Burn-All" can also be supplied in a larger size
(of double capacity) for use where the model illustrated would not be
adequate for the service required. Particulars on application to The
Davis Gas Stove Co. 60, Oxford Street, W.]
II
A Labour-Saving Flat.
"I live by myself and have until lately kept two servants. In
consequence, most of my income has been spent on housekeeping. I prefer
many other things to food, soap, dusters, and servants, so now I have
altered my arrangements.
"My flat consists of two sitting-rooms, kitchen, and three bedrooms.
The block ought, of course, to have been supplied with a constant
service of hot water for heating and cleaning, but we are behind the
times in England in these matters. So now I have gas fires in all the
rooms and a gas circulator and a gas cooker. Electric light everywhere.
I have made the third room into a box-room, dress-room, etc., and
have table, dress-stand, and machine, and a work-woman sews there one
day a week and keeps me mended and tidy, and also makes covers and
lampshades, and so on. Sometimes she comes two or even three days if I
need her, and except for tailor-mades, hats, and a good dress now and
again, she makes all I wear. I find this a great economy.
"All my floors are covered with linoleum. I have weeded out unnecessary
furniture, only keeping really good pieces. I have muslin screens made
to fit the windows, so dirt does not come in, and having no coal fires,
the rooms keep extraordinarily clean. I have a fitted bathroom and no
washstand work. My breakfast I have in bed as early as I please, and
it consists of tea, a boiled egg, and jam or fruit and toast. It is
all put ready on a covered tray and I have an electric arrangement
for boiling water and making toast by my bedside. I turn on the gas
circulator and my gas fire and go back to bed and have breakfast and
read my papers and letters.
"By the time I want to get up my room is warm and the bath water hot.
I generally breakfast at seven, as I like to read a good deal before
getting up. My daily servant comes at eight and stays till after
lunch. She is able to clean and cook and leave my simple dinner ready,
sometimes in a hay box and sometimes put ready for me to heat. I am
seldom in to tea, and if I am it is a simple matter to prepare that
meal.
"I have no objection to answering my door, but if I wish to be 'Not
at home' the hall indicator proclaims that fact. The porter takes in
parcels if I ask him to do so, and cleans boots, carries luggage, and
gets cabs, or in these days doesn't get them! I do various little jobs
of polishing, cleaning, etc., because I like a very clean house. In
the drawing-room I have an electric fire cleverly made to flicker like
real flames. It is nice to sit with because it has the movement that
one misses. Sometimes I have a friend to stay, and if I have friends
to dine I engage a waitress and keep my out-worker all day. I often
have friends to lunch, but more often entertain at my club. I am more
comfortable than when I had two maids and my expenses are far less. I
think my two young ladies must have been very hospitable, for my bills
were decidedly high. Also they seemed to live on soap and dusters, and
to consume incredible quantities of electric light and gas. Of course,
if I had fires and coals and a kitchen range and crowded rooms, and
wanted elaborate meals, I could not manage as I do; but as things are,
I am both clean and comfortable."
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXV_
AN ALL GAS KITCHEN IN A LARGE HOUSE
Three gas boilers are shewn, one or all of which can be in use as
occasion demands. These supply the storage tanks and a continuous
service of hot water to four bathrooms, wash-basins in lavatories and
sinks. The hot closet is served by coils from hot water service so that
dishes can be kept hot. There is a supplementary method of heating
this closet by means of gas burners, which can be used when the large
gas boilers are not required. Hot water for a bathroom is provided by
a geyser when only one or two of the family are at home. A condensing
stove heats the kitchen in winter.
This house is warmed throughout by hot water pipes heated by a coke
boiler which is used during the winter months only and gas fires are
fitted in each room for occasional use. The makers represented are:
Boilers: One John Wright Boiler: One Davis Boiler: One Potterton Boiler
Cooker: John Wright & Co.
Hot Cupboard fitted up by the Gas Company to special measurements
Condensing Stove: Richmond Gas Stove & Meter Co., Ltd.
Refuse Destructor: Davis Gas Stove Co., Ltd.]
A Three Sitting-room, Hall, and Six Bedroom Suburban House.
"I call this house suburban because it is within 'daily bread' distance
of London and therefore the neighbourhood is much built over. This
enables us to have electric light and a telephone, and the London
stores deliver three times a week. I was told that servants were simply
appalling, so bad and so hard to find. So I thought we had better
be as independent of them as possible. We had taken a small house
and were rearranging it, so I decided to have a coke furnace for hot
water and radiators and little electric fires in the drawing-room and
smoking-rooms, for cold weather and for the cheering effect a fire
gives. The gardener undertakes the furnace and stokes at seven, at
midday, and when he leaves at night. The house is beautifully warm, and
we have no trouble with radiators or hot water. I have no scullery,
but cook by electricity, and have a sink in the kitchen, where there
is an alcove with a table and armchairs for the maids, and they have
their own little piece of garden to sit in. There is a pantry, and the
house-parlourmaid can sit there if she wishes. There is a buttery hatch
into the dining-room, and the cook has only to hand the dishes through
it. I keep an oil stove in readiness should the electric cooker go
wrong, but so far it has not. The cook's work is greatly lessened when
cooking by electricity. We have three bathrooms and no washhandstand
bedroom work. The house has polished wood floors, and rugs and
linoleum. It is simply but well furnished, and I have glass over the
mahogany toilet tables, sideboard, and side tables. Very little metal
work, and the doors and woodwork are unpainted. This saves much labour.
We have a polished dinner-table and save the cost of buying and washing
tablecloths, side and toilet cloths. Unfortunately, I had knives of
the old-fashioned kind, but use a knife machine, and long-handled
mops, Bissel sweeper, etc. In normal times we entertained a good deal,
and then had a woman to help wash up; but now, of course, there is
practically no entertaining.
"I hate linoleum. I like nice, bright coal fires. I abhor sparsely
furnished rooms. I think your ideas are detestable!!"
I knew you would say that. Most people are antagonistic to the ideas
of other people until they have had time to become used to them and
regard them as their own.
Still, the title of this book is not "The House of My Dreams," or "A
Castle in Spain," but
"The Labour-Saving House."
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXVI_
METER READING
In order to check expenditure on gas and to detect wastage, leakage, or
faulty registration, the gas-meter ought to be read regularly, say once
a week, and a record kept of the amount of gas consumed.
Meter reading is quite simple, and it should be no more difficult for
an educated woman to learn to read her own gas-meter than a reasonably
intelligent child to learn to tell the time by the clock.
The only thing to remember is that as meat is measured in "pounds"
and calico in "yards," so gas is measured in "thousands" (of cubic
feet). If, therefore, you have burned ten "thousands," and gas in your
district is, say, half-a-crown a thousand, your bill will be ten half
crowns. If gas is 3/- a thousand, then your bill will be ten times 3/-,
and so on.
A copy of instructions mounted on a card can always be had from the
local gas manager, and hung up in a convenient place near the gas meter
until it is mastered by constant use.
The meter consists of five dials. Of these the top one should be
neglected; then the figures indicated by the four lower ones should be
written down from left to right, and 00 added to the end. If the hand
is between two figures the lowest should always be written down, with
the exception that when it is between 9 and 0, 9 must be recorded. That
is all there is to do: and by this simple procedure it is possible
to find out exactly how much gas has been used during the week,
and whether it is more or less than the amount consumed during the
preceding week. If it happens to be more, then the careful housewife
will set about considering the circumstances and seeing in what points
she has failed to practice the economies suggested to her.]
III
"My labour-saving ideas were put to the test, for the gardener was
called up, and the cook was ill, and I could not get anyone else for
nearly a fortnight. My husband fed the furnace night and morning,
and he and I gardened (he was in London five days a week from nine
till seven). The house-parlourmaid (a capital girl), and myself,
cleaned and cooked, and by careful planning we kept the house nice,
and fed well--that is, as well as one does feed nowadays. I was able
to go on with my war work, and my maid went out often, as I do not
approve of shutting up young girls for days together. We covered up
the drawing-room and the unused bedrooms and bathroom. When you have
no coals to bother with, housework becomes a very different matter. I
put your idea of cooking mornings into practice, and found that if I
cooked three mornings a week I need do very little on the intermediate
days. Then cooking by electricity is so easy. There is no stooping to
lift things out of ovens, and the cooker can be put where you want it
as regards the light, and the pots and pans don't get dirty outside.
I used earthenware, and cooked and served in one pot, and so saved
washing up. Alice, the maid, and I quite enjoyed ourselves, and we made
no trouble of stoking the furnace at midday.
"One thing struck me: how tiresome to servants it must be when they
see people using just as many knives and spoons and forks and plates
as they can--for I must own I began to feel rather mean about the
washing up. I think meals had become too long, and the service far
too elaborate, and the result not worth all the time and trouble it
entailed. It makes me sad to think of all the girls and women there are
who are tired to death doing work which they could be saved. I often
think of the working-class women toiling along, and having to bear and
rear babies all the time!"
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXVII_
MAKING GOOD USE OF THE OVEN ON BAKING DAYS
Note the two pies one behind the other, not side by side.]
A Labour-Saving House in a Provincial Town.
"My experiences may interest you. The family consists of myself,
husband, a girl of six, and a boy of three. I kept a nurse, cook,
house-parlourmaid, and a 'tweeny.' The wage bill was high, the
housekeeping bills, including replacements, coal and light, food and
cleaning materials, excessive, and we found it hard to get even a
fairly good cook.
"Suddenly I decided to try the following plan. The house was modern
and rather well planned. Dining and drawing-room, small square hall,
kitchen and pantry on ground floor, a little garden back and front,
and a mosaic doorstep, only one step. First floor, four bedrooms and
a bathroom and dressing-room. Above, two rooms and box-room. Gas is
dear here, and electric current moderate in price, so I had electric
fires and cooker put in. There already was hot water on ground floor. I
managed to plan a service lift from outside the kitchen to first floor.
"I then looked over my possessions, and put away unnecessary things
and simplified the style of living somewhat. Then I engaged a trained
lady nurse, capable of teaching the children for a year or two. The
nurse agreed to dust her nurseries, and I gave up to her a nursery,
night nursery, and the dressing-room opening into the night nursery.
The floors of all bedrooms, bathrooms, landing, top stairs, kitchen and
offices were all covered with linoleum. The nurse agreed to dust and
tidy the nurseries and take the dishes, etc., out of the lift, and to
replace them. I arranged a pantry cupboard for her and she had electric
fires and heater for food, irons, etc. The bathroom with hot and
cold water was next door. My husband and I had the other two rooms,
and he had a bath and hand-basin fitted in the one he used for his
dressing-room. We thought it cheaper to have a gas circulator rather
than an electrical heater for the hot water, and we had a radiator
fitted in the hall and on the first landing. These keep the house so
warm that we need wonderfully little in the way of extra firing. Nurse
has everything she needs to hand, and says she prefers it to having to
ask the maids to fetch and carry for her. She has friends near, and we
can often let her go out when the babes are put to bed, as I can sit in
the drawing-room and hear at once if they call.
"I then dismissed my cook and 'tweeny,' as I did not like them very
much, and asked the house-parlourmaid if she would like to stay at an
increased wage if I undertook the greater part of the cooking and had
a charwoman two days a week. Our hall floor is mosaic, and there is a
little shed for the perambulator, so it does not come into the house.
We are all called by alarum clocks, and we make our early tea on the
electric heater in our room, so that the maid has no hot water or tea
to bring or calling to do. When dressed, she goes straight downstairs
and lights the gas to heat the water, does hall, dining-room and
smoking-room.
Many people live in a continual state of worry because they feel
obliged to have a little more of everything than they can afford: not
because they want it, but because other people think they ought to
want it.
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXVIII_
LARGE JOINT SUSPENDED, AS IN ROASTING BEFORE AN OPEN FIRE, WITH PIE ON
TOP SHELF]
IV
"This is rather a clean town, and with no fires the rooms do not get
dirty, and are quickly swept and dusted, and of course there are no
coal boxes to fill or carry, and no grates to do. We find the doorstep
only needs doing three times a week, except in very dirty weather, and
there is no polished metal on the door. We have a simple breakfast
of porridge (cooked the day before), toast, done on our own electric
toaster on the table, fresh and crisp and hot. We make our own tea
and coffee, and boil eggs if needed, and very often have a cold dish,
but about three times a week the maid cooks bacon, or fish, or eggs.
My husband goes off to work after breakfast, and is seldom home till
six. The maid cleans boots, and we have the new washable knives. I
clear breakfast things and wash them up, tidy the flowers and see to
plants, etc., and set to work at my cooking. I follow the plan you
once suggested, and have three cooking mornings. It is wonderful with
practice what you get through, washing up as you go and never getting
into a muddle. On the other days the cooking seldom takes me more than
an hour. Two mornings a week I housekeep, doing accounts, shopping,
etc., and on one I clean silver. We breakfast at eight and lunch at
1.30, so I get a long morning. The maid has all morning for housework,
and nurse helps her make the beds. We wait on ourselves at lunch, and
nurse and the children come down. After lunch the maid clears and
washes up and tidies the kitchen. Nurse gets and washes up the nursery
tea, and if I am in and alone I have it with her. I don't expect any
washing or mending done by the general servant, as I consider she
should have two hours' free time in the afternoon. Our dinner is very
simple--three things, such as soup or fish, meat or bird, sweet,
savoury or cheese. The charwoman cleans kitchen, back doorstep, pantry,
passage, and hall; washes out rubbers and odds and ends, and washes up
and tidies after dinner. My maid has her family near, so she goes out
two evenings a week from half-past five to a quarter to ten, and the
charwoman stays here till 8.30 on those days. It suits her to come to
me at eleven o'clock, and I pay her 3s. instead of 2s. 6d. as she stays
late, and of course she gets her supper. I have fitted her out with
dress and aprons. She won't wear a cap.
"Indeed, we manage most comfortably, and the saving is great. I cook
well, and make the best of all we have, and the economy in gas and
light and cleaning things and breakages is considerable. Our nice
maid, Ethel, is quite one of the family, and says that getting out on
Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, 'there is always something to look
forward to.' In winter I consider she should go out by daylight, so I
often send her off early on the charwoman's day. If I went away from
home I should engage a temporary cook, and if we wanted to have a
party I should have a cook by the day, and a waitress. I work at a war
depot every day, and often have my tea there. But even after the war
I doubt if I shall alter my ways, provided I remain in good health,
for I cannot see why it should be _infra dig._ to work in one's own
house when it is absolutely 'the thing' to be a general servant or
kitchenmaid in a hospital or canteen."
Man and the ape shared a common ancestor.
Is it a reversion to type which causes us to scramble about on all
fours when we scrub and clean?
Our developed intelligence should deter us from adopting monkey-like
attitudes and time-wasting methods.
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXIX_
A STEAMER WHICH CAN BE USED TO COOK A WHOLE DINNER OVER ONE GAS RING
This is made of block tin and boils with very little gas. Several forms
of steamer, with from three to six compartments, can now be bought. The
multiple steamer costs much less than three to six single saucepans,
and burns much less gas.]