In large families, where there is much work, two or more house maids
are kept, but as the Upper House Maid has generally the superintendence
and responsibility of all, we shall include their principal labours
under one general head.
The UPPER HOUSE MAID should be fully competent to undertake the
management of all the household business of a gentleman’s family; and
to be perfectly qualified for her situation, she ought to have been
previously initiated in the capacity of _Under House Maid_.
In most families she has the care of all the household linen, bed and
table linen, napkins, towels, &c. which she also makes and keeps in
repair, and besides cleaning the house and furniture, and making the
beds, she washes her own clothes, and has sometimes to assist the
laundry-maid in getting up the fine linen, washing silk stockings, &c.
instead of the lady’s maid; but these latter are considered as rather
_extra_ labours, and are not, in all families, deemed a necessary part
of the house maid’s business. She also cleans all the coal skuttles in
use above stairs, and all the kettles used for warming water in the
dressing-rooms, &c. When there are dinner parties the house-maid washes
up the plate and china.
The house-maid, in a regular family, will find it necessary to rise
about five o’clock, and her first business will be to open the
shutters of the usual family sitting-rooms; as the breakfast-room
and library, whence she clears away all the superfluous articles
that may have been left there, and prepares for cleaning the stoves,
fire-places, and hearths, by rolling up the hearth rugs, carefully
carrying them out to be shaken, and then laying down a piece of canvas,
or coarse cloth, to keep the place clean, while she rakes out the
ashes, takes them up, and brushes up the fire-place. She then rubs the
bright bars of the stoves, and the fire-irons, first with oil, and
afterwards with emery-paper, No. 3, or with brick-dust, till clean and
bright—and, finally, with scouring-paper; and this should be done in
the summer time, particularly when the stoves may have acquired spots
for want of constant use.
The backs and sides of the fire-places are next to be brushed over with
black-lead, and then rubbed dry and bright with a hard brush kept for
the purpose.
The fires are next lighted, and the marble hearths washed with flannel,
dipped in a strong hot lather of soap and water, which must be cleaned
off and wiped dry with a linen cloth;—the marble chimney pieces need
not be thus cleaned above once or twice a week.
Common free-stone hearths may be scoured with soap and sand and cold
water, and afterwards rubbed dry with a clean house cloth.
By this time the footman will have done all his work in the pantry,
and have rubbed all the tables, chairs, cellerets, and other mahogany
furniture, and cleaned the brass and other ornaments, the mirrors,
looking-glasses, &c. in these rooms, when the carpets are to be swept,
on ordinary occasions, with a carpet mop to take off the flue, lint,
and dust; or more thoroughly, once a week with a long hair-brush or
carpet-broom, first having strewed them over with damp tea-leaves,
(see receipt for scouring and cleaning carpets.) The sides of the
carpet are then turned up all round the room, and the dust on the floor
swept away, or, occasionally, the floor scoured with soap and water.
The carpet is then turned back again; the chairs and other furniture
dusted singly, and removed from the middle of the room, where they were
cleaned to their proper places.
The window curtains and hangings may not require to be shaken and
dusted every day, but the dust on the windows should be removed with a
long hair-broom, and the cobwebs or any dirt on the ceiling, and in the
corners of the room, must be sought for and removed.
Every thing being adjusted in the rooms for the reception of the
family, the house-maid next opens the shutters of the dining-room, and
drawing-room, where she and the footman regularly proceed with their
respective business in the manner above mentioned. The house-maid with
the fires and fire-place, floors, carpets, &c. scouring, washing,
brushing, and dusting them; and the footman, rubbing and cleaning
the mahogany furniture, looking-glasses, and other articles in his
department, till all is made quite clean, and the rooms are fit for the
reception of the family.
At an appointed time she repairs to the dressing-rooms of the master
and mistress, and others in use, empties the slops, replenishes the
ewers and water-carofts with fresh spring and soft water, and fills
the kettles for warm water—cleans up the fire-places, lights the
fires, brushes the carpets, sweeps the rooms, dusts the furniture, and
puts the rooms in order before the lady’s-maid and valet come to make
their arrangements previous to the rising of their superiors.—Having
done these, she sweeps down the principal stair-case and goes to her
breakfast.
As soon as the best bed-rooms and dressing-rooms are at liberty, she
repairs thither, puts out the fires, or not, according as the weather
is,—throws open the windows, (or the doors only, in unfavourable
weather) to air the rooms, and the beds; opens all the beds, throws
the bed-clothes off, on the backs of chairs, placed at the foot of the
bed, shakes up each bed, and then proceeds to her other business in
the rooms, in order to give as much time as can be spared for airing
the beds. Meanwhile, she cleans up the fire-places, again, lays the
fires to be ready when wanted, and having washed her hands and put on
a clean apron, she makes the beds. (In this business she is usually
assisted by the under house-maid, as it requires two persons to make
a bed well.) This done, she mops or brushes the carpets, to clean off
the flue or feathers and dust,—sweeps out the rooms, rubs and dusts the
furniture, supplies the ewers and carofts with clean water, and then
retires; leaving the rooms properly arranged against the coming of the
lady’s-maid and valet to prepare for their master’s and mistress’s
dressing, previous to their going out.
She next proceeds to the other bed-rooms—opens the windows and makes
the beds—empties the slops—cleans out the rooms, rubs and dusts the
furniture, and puts them in proper order.
Having finished all the bed-rooms, the stair-cases, landings, and
passages, will next claim her attention, which are also to be swept,
the carpets brushed or swept, and the floor-cloths rubbed over with
a clean wet flannel, and wiped dry with a clean house-cloth. On the
appointed general cleaning days, the floor-cloths must be scoured with
warm soap suds, and afterwards wiped dry, with a clean linen cloth.
On the general cleaning days also, which are usually Tuesdays and
Saturdays, every branch of the household work must be thoroughly done,
in the best manner;—the rooms are then to be scoured instead of being
merely wiped or swept;—the carpets are to be well brushed or taken
up to be beaten or shaken;—the stoves and fire-places brightened and
cleaned with particular care;—the marble hearths and chimney-pieces
scoured;—the mahogany furniture and the brass or other ornaments in the
best rooms, and the mirrors and looking-glasses cleaned, with more than
ordinary attention;—the bed-furniture, window-curtains and hangings
well shaken, whisked and brushed: in short, the best practical methods
for thoroughly cleaning the whole house, must be resorted to on that
day.
If the house maid rise in good time, and employ herself busily, she
will get every thing done above stairs in time to clean and make
herself comfortable for dinner, about one o’clock; after which she will
attend to her needle work, under the direction of the housekeeper.
About four, in the winter, the fires in the dressing-rooms are to be
lighted—the slops emptied—clean water supplied, (hot and cold) and
the dressing-rooms again dusted and cleaned, preparatory to the lady
and gentleman dressing for dinner. While the family is at dinner, the
dressing-rooms must be again prepared; and in the evening the shutters
of the bed-rooms and dressing-rooms must be fastened—the curtains let
down—the beds turned down—the fires lighted, and the rooms put into
proper condition for the night. Wages from 12 to 16 guineas a year.