Many large families in this country employ but one servant. Although
when life was simpler it was somewhat easier than it is now to
conduct a house with such assistance as may be offered by a maid-of-
all-work, it was necessary even then for the ladies of the house to
do some portion of the lighter domestic work.
It is a very good plan, when there are several daughters in the
family, to take turns each to test her talent as a house-keeper and
organizer. If, however, the mistress keep the reins in her own
hands, she can detail one of these young ladies to sweep and dust
the parlors, another to attend to the breakfast dishes, another to
make sure that the maid has not neglected any necessary cleansing of
the bedrooms.
A mother with young children must have a thoroughly defined and
understood system for the daily work to render it possible for one
servant to perform it all.
The maid must rise very early on Monday morning, and do some part of
the laundry work before breakfast. Many old American servants (when
there were such) put the clothes in water to soak, and sometimes to
boil, on Sunday night, that night not having the religious
significance in New England that Saturday night had.
Nowadays, however, Irish girls expect to have a holiday every other
Sunday afternoon and evening, and it would probably be vain to
expect this service of them. But at least they should rise by five
o'clock, and do two hours' good work before it is time to prepare
the breakfast and lay the table.
A neat-handed Phyllis will have a clean gown, cap, and apron hanging
in the kitchen closet, and slip them on before she carries in the
breakfast, which she has cooked and must serve. Some girls show
great tact in this matter of appearing neat at the right time, but
many of them have to be taught by the mistress to have a clean cap
and apron in readiness. The mistress usually furnishes these items
of her maid's attire, and they should be the property of the
mistress, and remain in the family through all changes of servants.
They can be bought at almost any repository conducted in the
interest of charity for less than they can be made at home, and a
dozen of them in a house greatly improves the appearance of the
servants.
The cook, having prepared the breakfast and waited at table, places
in front of her mistress a neat, wooden tub, with a little cotton-
yarn mop and two clean towels, and then retreats to the kitchen with
the heavy dishes and knives and forks. The lady proceeds to wash the
glass, silver, and china, draining the things on a waiter, and
wiping them on her dainty linen towels. It is not a disagreeable
operation, and all gentlemen say they like to eat and drink from
utensils which have been washed by a lady.
Having put away the glass and china, the lady shakes the table-
cloth, folds it, and puts it away. She then takes a light brush
broom and sweeps the dining-room, and dusts it carefully, opening a
window to air the apartment. When this is done she sets the parlor
in order. The maid-of-all-work should, in the mean time, make a
visit to the bedrooms, and do the heavy work of turning mattresses
and making beds. When this is accomplished she must return to the
kitchen, and after carefully cleaning the pots and kettles that have
been in use for the morning meal, devote an undivided attention to
her arduous duties as laundress. A plain dinner for washing-day--a
beefsteak and some boiled potatoes, a salad, and a pie or pudding
made on the preceding Saturday--is all that should be required of a
maid-of-all-work on Monday.
The afternoon must be spent in finishing the washing, hanging out
the clothes, and preparing the tea--an easy and informal meal, which
should consist of something easy to cook; for, after all that she
has done during the day, this hard-worked girl must "tidy up" her
kitchen before she can enjoy a well-earned repose. It is so annoying
to a maid-of-all-work to be obliged to open the door for visitors
that ladies often have a little girl or boy for this purpose. In the
country it can be more easily managed.
Tuesday is ironing-day all over the world, and the maid must be
assisted in this time of emergency by her mistress. Most ladies
understand the process of clear starching and the best method of
ironing fine clothing; if they do not, they should. In fact, a good
house-keeper should know everything; and when a lady gives her
attention to this class of household duties she is invariably more
successful in performing them than a person of less education and
intelligence.
On Wednesday the maid must bake a part of the bread, cake, and pies
that will be required during the week. In this the mistress helps,
making the light pastry, stoning the raisins, washing the currants,
and beating the eggs. Very often a lady fond of cookery makes all
her dainty dishes, her desserts, and her cakes and pies. She should
help herself with all sorts of mechanical appliances. She should
have the best of egg-beaters, sugar-sifters, bowls in plenty, and
towels and aprons _ad libitum_. She has, if she be a systematic
house-keeper, a store closet, which is her pride, with its neat,
labelled spice-boxes, and its pots of pickles and preserves which
she has made herself, and which, therefore, must be nice.
The cooking of meat is a thing which so affects the health of people
that every lady should study it thoroughly. No roasts should be
baked. The formulary sounds like a contradiction; but it is the
custom in houses where the necessity of saving labor is an important
consideration, to put the meat that should be roasted in the oven
and bake it. This is very improper, as it dries up all the juice,
which is the life-giving, life-sustaining property of the meat.
Let every young house-keeper buy a Dutch oven, and either roast the
meat before the coals of a good wood fire, or before the grating of
a range, in which coals take the place of wood. By this method she
saves those properties of a piece of roast beef which are the most
valuable. Otherwise her roast meat will be a chip, a tasteless and a
dry morsel, unpalatable and indigestible.
The cooking of vegetables is also to be studied; potatoes should not
be over-boiled or underdone, as they are exceedingly unhealthy if
not properly cooked. Bread must be well kneaded and delicately
baked; a woman who understands the uses of fire--and every
householder should--has stolen the secret of Prometheus.
On Thursday the maid must sweep the house thoroughly, if there are
heavy carpets, as this is work for the strong-armed and the strong-
handed. The mistress can follow with the dusting-brush and the
cloth, and, again, the maid may come in her footstep with step-
ladder, and wipe off mirrors and windows.
Many ladies have a different calendar from this, and prefer to have
their work done on different days; but whatever may be the system
for the management of a house, it should be strictly carried out,
and all the help that may accrue from punctuality and order rendered
to a maid in the discharge of her arduous and multifarious duties.
Most families have a sort of general house-cleaning on Friday:
floors are scrubbed and brasses cleaned, the silver given a better
cleansing, and the closets examined, the knives are scoured more
thoroughly, and the lady puts her linen-closet in order, throwing
sweet lavender between the sheets. On Saturday more bread and cake
are baked, the Sunday's dinner prepared, that the maid may have her
Sunday afternoon out, and the busy week is ended with a clean
kitchen, a well-swept and garnished house, and all the cooking done
except the Sunday meat and vegetables.
To conduct the business of a house through the week, with three
meals each day, and all the work well done; by one maid, is a very
creditable thing to the mistress. The "order which is Heaven's first
law" must be her chief help in this difficult matter; she must be
willing to do much of the light work herself, and she must have a
young, strong, willing maid.