THE HOUSEMAID’S CLOSET, AND GLASS AND CHINA.
One of the very first things to be recollected, either in the kitchen or
housemaid’s pantry, is that there should be a place for everything, and
yet no holes or corners where dilapidated dusters, old glass-cloths,
bottles, and other _débris_ could be stuffed away; and another axiom to
remember is that every glass, tumbler, cup, saucer--in fact, every
possession one has--should be neatly scheduled and kept in a book, which
should be inspected and gone through twice a year, or when any change
takes place in the establishment. That disagreeable remark, that so
often completely floors a mistress, ‘’Twasn’t here when I came,’ would
in this case never be heard, as the sight of the list, duly signed and
dated by both mistress and maid, would of course be a complete answer to
any such statement; and seeing at stated intervals what glass and china
had fallen victims to the housemaid is a wonderful deterrent, and also
saves any large and sudden call upon the purse, which always comes at a
time when the exchequer is at its lowest, but which need never occur in
an appreciable manner should each article be replaced the moment it is
broken. I am no advocate for having what is called best things, holding
that one’s everyday existence should be as refined and cultured as when
one has ‘company,’ yet it is necessary in most of our households to have
best glass and a best dinner-service, and these should be kept in a
proper glass closet, under lock and key, as indeed should all spare
glass and china; for, if the most trustworthy housemaid has an unlimited
supply at her command, she will never tell of each separate smash, and
reserves the grand total for the bi-annual day of reckoning with the
book, when the mistress has often to make an outlay that is most
disheartening to her, as regards not only the cost, but the blow it is
to her to discover the carelessness and deception of, perhaps, a
favourite maid, who would have been neither careless nor deceiving had
she had to come to her mistress for every single glass over and above
the few she had at her command.
Nothing has altered more in the last twenty years, both in character and
price, than glass and china, and nothing shows the taste of the mistress
of the house more than her plates and tumblers. No one has now any
excuse for having ugly things, because good glass is as cheap as bad,
and good china can be had by any one who has the taste to choose it, and
the knowledge where to go and buy each separate thing. Granted that we
have selected our saucepans, our basins, and other necessary things
known to any one, and to be chosen from a list either sent for from
Maple or Whiteley--for Maple, I have discovered, issues these lists
too--and which, it seems to me, would only be waste of paper and time
for me to enumerate here, we must, of course, now proceed to think about
our dinner set. The best everyday one I know of is a species of plain
white china supplied by Maple, and which has the owner’s monogram on the
edge of the dish. These plates and dishes are so extremely cheap that
when I say they are 2_s._ a dozen I scarcely expect to be believed, and
even now I cannot help thinking there must be a mistake; but the rest of
the service was equally inexpensive, and I really do not think I am
making an error in giving this as the price. I invariably have my
soup-tureens, sauceboats, and vegetable dishes made without handles--a
pretty, rather oval shape, with the monogram on the side and on the top
of the cover. There is nothing makes a table look worse than chipped or
mended crockery; and how often has quite a nice service been spoiled by
the fact that either the handles were knocked off and smashed, or else
they were riveted on. Now if we have no handles or ornamental knobs to
be knocked off, the service lasts three times as long as it otherwise
would. The plain white service also insures cleanliness and absence of
greasy or black finger-marks, and one never tires of this as one does of
the elaborate patterns and colours some people prefer, and which are
extremely difficult to match once the manufacturers have broken up the
design.
I remember some friends of mine who had a service with a whole flight of
red storks on, flying over each plate, and anything more ugly and
incongruous it is difficult to think of. I never dined there without
remembering the storks, whereas a plain service would not have been
noticed in any way. For a best dinner service we should have something
better, for of course the china I have been speaking of is not china
really; that is to say, I would not see my fingers through it if I held
it up to the strongest light that was ever made, and young people who
are asked what they would like in the shape of a wedding present should
remember that Mortlock, in Oxford Street, has quite charming designs,
but even here I should distinctly advise, buy the plain ware, with
either monogram or crest, for of this one never tires.
I once saw a charming dinner set that had been made by Mortlock; it was
a beautiful pale buff ground, with a black monogram, and the china was
of a delicious feel and touch, and as light as possible. Each vegetable
dish was an artistic shape, and, in fact, if ever my ship comes home I
shall have one like it; at present I have plain white china with a pink
and gold band, and the crest and monogram in the centre of each plate,
&c.; of course, this was a gift, and the nuisance it is is dreadful, for
when a plate is broken I have to send the bits to Staffordshire to be
copied, where they keep me waiting months for it, and charge me so
highly that I am beginning to detest the whole thing.
The glass for everyday wear and tear should be as inexpensive as
possible. I like quite plain glass; tumblers cost about 6_s._ a dozen,
and the glasses for wine are equally cheap; but for best glass Salviati
ware is lovely, and really, if bought judiciously, is not so very
expensive after all. Besides which, it allows one to have a different
set of glasses for each person. I have a dozen different sets of three
each, so that if one be broken and cannot be replaced exactly like its
predecessor it is not a set of thirty-six that is done for, but only a
set of three, which after all need not be spoiled quite, as having odd
glasses one still more odd does not make the blot on the table that it
otherwise would.
The finger-glasses should also be Salviati ware. Another suggestion for
Angelina, should she be asked to write down a list of things she is most
anxious to receive as presents--a good plan, by the way, for birthdays
and Christmas, and one we always follow, as then one is sure of
receiving something one requires, and not the endless rubbish that
accumulates when well-meaning friends send gifts _quâ_ gifts to rid
themselves of an obligation; and who crack their brains pondering what
you would like, and at last send you something you not only don’t want
but think hideous, albeit it may have cost pounds. Water bottles should
invariable be coloured. The Bohemian ware--a lovely green hue--is
particularly useful for this purpose, and there is a charming shop in
Piccadilly where all sorts of coloured glasses and bottles are to be
procured--opposite Burlington House--Douglas and Co.--and nowhere else
is this charming glass as cheap and pretty as it is there. I got a sweet
blue bottle and glass for a bedroom for 9_d._, and another, quite a
beauty, for 1_s._ 6_d._ At these prices one can well remain ‘mistress of
oneself though China fall.’ The teacups and saucers can also be white or
pale buff, but my favourite ware is Minton’s ivy patterned china. We
used to have it at home, and I have it still, as it is one of those
delightful things that one can always match. It is a little expensive,
but then it is so pretty! The cups are all white, but the handles
represent a bit of ivy, the leaves of which are in relief round the
handle, and just give a pleasant, fresh look to the breakfast table. The
plates have a wreath of ivy also in relief on them, and breakfast
dishes, cruets, and plates that stand heat are made to match; so that
all can be _en suite_, except the hot-water dishes. These are plain
white, with a double dish holding hot water, that keeps bacon &c. hot,
_not_ for late comers--these lazy people should never be considered--but
for those who may prefer fish first, or like to have a second helping.
This tea ware is good enough for best as well as everyday wear; but be
sure and avoid the species that is not raised and has a gilt edge, for
no one who has not seen the two sets together could understand how
different they can be. I do not like gilt on anything; it is always
vulgar, always suggestive of _nouveaux riches_, and on china has a way
of washing off that is most trying, unless it happens to be burnished,
when it costs a young fortune, and one’s heart is broken every time a
cup or plate receives a jar. A very good way in schoolrooms or
nurseries, of which more anon, to secure the smallest amount of
breakages is to give each child its own cup, plate, and saucer, each set
to be of a different pattern. There are some lovely specimen cups, the
set of which costs about 7_s._ 6_d._--not a bad birthday present,
especially if a silver teaspoon is added, with pale yellow, marguerite,
and brown foliage depicted upon them. The same style of cup has also a
beautiful design of blackberries, and I have also seen a pale pink daisy
that was perhaps the most charming of the lot. If a child’s own plate
&c. get broken one hears of it at once, and they are at once replaced.
The governess has her own set too, and it is a good plan to have two or
three extra sets for schoolroom visitors, for in well-regulated houses,
where the governess makes herself pleasant, schoolroom tea is a
delightful meal, and, if shared by intimate friends, makes a pleasant
break for the governess, and gives the children an opportunity of seeing
outsiders, and learning how to behave when company is present.
The best dessert service that I know of is to be bought at Hewett’s
Baker Street Bazaar. It is Oriental-looking and most uncommon. It has a
green ground, and a raised pattern of flowers, butterflies, &c., and
looks so good, no one has any idea of its cheapness; for example, a man
who set up to be a great judge of china once was dining with us, and
taking up one of my dessert plates, he began to expatiate to the lady on
his left hand on the beauty and rarity thereof. I let him go on for some
time, and at last I told him the price--2_s._ each plate; and, though he
was silent and appeared to believe me, I am certain he did nothing of
the kind. The dishes are dearer, but not too dear, and are all low and
nice shapes, and tiny plates can be obtained to match for preserved
fruits or French bonbons, all of which look nice upon a dinner-table.
Mortlock has also a plain white dessert service, of which the edges of
the plate are pierced, and the dishes are like baskets, which are
charming, and not too expensive; but these are rather colourless on a
table unless a great deal of scarlet is used too in the flowers, and I
prefer a little colour introduced myself. Still, if we avoid those
terrible swans on sham ponds, with holes in their backs, like the Elle
women, to hold flowers, that used to be sold with the white service, we
might do worse than have this one. Of course, real china, Crown Derby,
and Worcester are all nice for this purpose; but we who cannot afford
this style of property can be consoled with the idea that there are
other things quite as pretty within our reach, although, maybe, they are
neither as costly nor as precious, nor as liable to be broken.
While we are on the subject of glass and china I should like to say a
few words more about the arrangement of the glass and china, and
especially about the everyday dinner and breakfast table management, as
in a small establishment it entirely rests upon the shoulders of the
mistress whether the table presents a charming appearance or whether it
does not. I will not suppose that Angelina burdens herself with
experienced maidens, but I will think she has taken my advice and
secured a couple of bright pleasant girls, of whom she can make friends,
and who are not already spoiled for her use in some large establishment,
and this being so, she will no doubt at first have to lay her table
herself. This may be considered a hardship by our bride, but I am quite
sure she will soon cease to regard it as one. Anyhow, I beg she will try
my nice girls, and if they fail, why, she can but fall back on her
‘experienced’ ones after all, but she must not take them haphazard, but
must select them as she does her personal friends, because then she
will, knowing something about their family, their inherited tendencies
and their dispositions, be able to know how to manage them. We do not
‘make friends’ with strangers unless we know something of their
forbears, and this rule should apply to strange servants quite as much
as it does to acquaintances who do not live with us, and only come in
now and then, and are easily dropped should they prove uncongenial and
disagreeable.
It is so easy to get your maiden into nice ways if she have no bad ones
of her own, out of which you have to take her first, and, beginning at
once to show her how you like things, you will soon be able to rely on
her, and she will take a pride in copying you, and you will soon have
your reward in service that is real, because it comes from the heart and
not from the eye.
I am a great advocate for white china, because the washing of this
cannot be scamped, and as far as possible all breakfast china should be
white, with just a pattern of ivy or daisies, as described above; and
the breakfast-table could be laid something as follows, putting the
mistress at the head of the table if she wishes, and the master _at the
side_, not at the foot--a most dreary arrangement, unless the breakfast
table is filled by others besides the host and hostess, which in
Angelina’s case is most unlikely. In front of Angelina is arranged the
breakfast equipage, and I strongly advise her to have either cocoa or
nicely made coffee, and to taboo that wretched tea that destroys so many
digestions and unstrings so many nerves. Coffee is not more expensive,
and a charming drink is made from equal parts of Mocha, East Indian, and
Plantation coffee at 1_s._ 5½_d._ a pound and 1_s._ 4½_d._ It
should be bought in the berry, and ground each morning; but as this is
too much labour in our small household, I should suggest buying half a
dozen pounds, two of each kind at a time, mixing them carefully and
keeping them in a tin biscuit-box, filling up a smaller canister that
holds a pound as required. I always do this, and the coffee is as
fragrant and good the last day I use from it as on the first. This
should be made for two people in one of Ash’s kaffee kanns, purchasable
in Oxford Street, the best coffee machine I know of anywhere, and, being
furnished with a spirit-lamp, it has always means of keeping the coffee
hot, and the cheerful song of the little lamp is very pleasant when we
come down on a cold wet morning. Of course the milk must be boiled, and
sent in very hot in a china jug to match the china, and Barbadoes raw
sugar is better with it than the ordinary lump. Very pretty basins, both
for moist and lump sugar, can be bought at the Baker Street Bazaar, in
Oriental china, for 1_s._ or 2_s._; butter-dishes at 6_d._, in blue and
white china, also marmalade and honey pots, for about 2_s._; and as the
blue harmonises with green, these pots can be used quite well with my
favourite ivy service, of which I spoke before.
In the centre of the table there should always be an art pot with a
plant in. Of course I know people _will_ consider that expensive, and
will sometimes even put another enemy of mine (a worse enemy even than
that terrible hat-stand!) in this place of honour--I mean a cruet-stand.
But let me tell you what this expensive item has cost me since this time
last year--just five shillings. I had my pot for years, naturally, and
this is not included in the outlay, but this some years ago cost 3_s._,
so no one can object on the score of expense. In this pot I had planted
a cocos palm, 3_s._ 6_d._, a most graceful plant, and the other 1_s._
6_d._ went for three tiny ferns, all of which are flourishing mightily,
and will soon have to be transplanted and make room for smaller ones
again. Any lady fond of gardening could have planted these herself, and,
naturally, cheaper plants are to be had; but the fine, graceful foliage
of the cocos is so pretty, and the plant lasts so long, that I can
heartily recommend it from long experience.
Of course, round the centre plant can be arranged three or four specimen
glasses of flowers; but this I have never time to do except on special
occasions, yet it adds much to the effect of a breakfast-table, and no
young housekeeper who has not a settled occupation, such as keeps me
employed from nine until one, should ever allow her table to be
flowerless or ugly. In front of Edwin should be placed any hot food
provided for breakfast, on nice china hot-water dishes; the bread should
be placed on a wooden bread platter, that has neither a text nor a moral
reflection carved on it--two things that always seem to me singularly
out of place on a bread-stand; and the knife should be one of those very
nice ivory-handled ones, made on purpose by Mappin and Webb, I believe,
that cost 7_s._ 6_d._, but that last years.
At the corner of the table, between Edwin and Angelina, should be neatly
arranged salt, pepper, and mustard. A tiny set of cruets for breakfast
can be bought to match the ivy festooned ware, and is as pretty as can
be. Very pretty white china salt-cellars &c. can be also purchased, with
white china spoons to serve with; and Doulton makes charming sets also,
which go with any service, and are very strong, but these have plated
mounts; and I am not nearly as fond of them as I am of plain china, as
these always look and are clean; and either plated ware or silver
tarnish very soon, and make a great deal of work for our one pair of
hands; which is one very strong reason why Angelina should put away all
the pretty silver salt-cellars she is sure to receive when she is
married; reserving these and other handsome possessions until she can
afford a butler, or until she has trained her maidens well, and is
justified in taking extra help, under the housemaid, when, if she likes,
she can bring it out and use it daily.
As in every other department, in the housemaid’s department should rules
and regulations be found. She should clean certain rooms on certain
days; she should never leave her silver in greasy, or her knives in hot
water; she should keep soda in her sink just as the cook does; and she
should be instructed how to keep her glass clean and bright, a smeared
glass or plate being at once returned to her for alteration should she
bring it up to table.
Let the housemaid, moreover, have two or three coarse dust-sheets for
covering the furniture when she is sweeping and dusting (and see she
uses them), a large piece of ‘crash’ to place in front of the fireplace,
when she is cleaning the grate, and a housemaid’s box and gloves. She
must, furthermore, have three dusters, three glass-cloths, a good
chamois leather, a set of brushes and plate-brushes, a decanter-drainer,
a wooden bowl for washing up in, which must be kept free from grease of
any kind, and she must wash out her dusters for herself. This makes them
last much longer than they otherwise would, and if she has only a
certain number she cannot waste and spoil them. Little things like these
are what almost ruin a young housekeeper, because she does not know how
to manage, and because she is too proud, as a rule, to ask any one why
dusters vanish into thin air, and why the washing bill adds up so
mysteriously.
Silver can be kept beautifully clean if washed in clean soda water
daily, and then cleaned with a little whitening; which glass should be
always rubbed bright with a leather.
These items appear insignificant, but I am sure they will be useful
hints to many of my less experienced readers.