Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1856-12-31
THE TWO wAsHERWoMEN.
on WHICH is BEST WORTH THE HALF DOLLAR.

OA WHICH ID BESI WORTH The HALF 1
The following extract from the new
book for servants, entitled "Plain Talk
and Friendly Advice for Domestics."
will commend itself to the approval of all
who have had experience of "help:"
Said neighbor to me the other day:
is it possible you pay Hannah Peck
half dollar every week for doing our
washing. when she goes only at eight
O'Clock. end gets done by noon? Why,
they say she goes in the afternoon of the
same day and does Madam Grey's IRON
ing ond gets half dollar more! That's
equal TO a mans wages.
"Yes, and she has mans energy
and powers of endurance. She knows
how TO do her work well and quick, and
spends no idle moments, indulges in no
gossip, expects to wash dirty clothes, not
all clean ONES. wastes no soap, burns
only enough wood to do her work. waits
upon herself instead of calling on the
kitchen girl to spend half her time run
ming for her. and, instead of being all
day in the suds. keeping the kitchen
drenched in slops and uninhabilable
from steam, as You say, she is done by
noon, her floor washed and dress chang
ed-and. having had her dinner. she
says a good bye, with pleasant smile,
and goes to Madame Grey's where she
bakes. and irons. and accomplishes more
than many girl with the whole day be-
fore her.
1.-TWO weeks ago Hannah could not
come 10 dc my washing, as she had her
sisters sick child 10 nurse. l sent for
widow Town. She comes al six. Had
an early breakfast prepared expressly for
her She could not drink coffee. must
have fresh meat, lat Judge Jones' they
generally had broiIed chicken asked
for cheese (lhey aiOoys had cheese at
Judge Jones' She started her fire,
uslug nearly as much wood for her first
kettle as Hannah would for her whole
wash-soap. ditto. She complained Of
the tubs, and Of hard water-said she
was sure the clothes had beeA worn a
fortnight-that it must be we had two
weeks washing-our bench was too
high-our clothes-basket to old to be de-
cent -our clothes line was in an awful
unhandy place-and ended by wonder
ing why girls would live with people
who kept two tables. and said she knew
lots of girls who had good. wages, but
had little to do, and could run in the
streets half the time.
"She wanted lunch al ten, with cold
byson tea, (only mean, stingy people
drank black. dinner at one, a cup Of tea
again at three, lat her regular wahing-
places they kept the tea hot for her all
the lime, supper at 6ve-and then, ask
ing for some sweet milk and few slices
of bread. as she had no time to cook at
home, Mrs. Judge Jones often gave her
whole loaf she took her departure
without having washed the floor.
The washing was the same size that
Hannah gets cut by noon. need not
ask which of the two is best worth the
half dollar.
The same Hannah lived with me sew
eral years ago. She is an American
woman; then thirty, strong. healthy.gOOd
tempered. busy as bee from morning
till might. obliging. respectful, thoroughly
educated 10 her work-she was "worth
her weight in gold" Blind and incon-
siderate was l She knew her capabiI-
ity and demanded higher wages-which
was well deserved. We did not give it,
and she went to the city, where she be-
came head manager of house full of
servants, and received three dollars a
week. High wages for a woman, |
know but it would have been money in
our pocket to have paid it from that time
to the present. The time and money,
and horse flesh, spent in running after
girls to replace the incapabIes and the
intractables-lhe cook stoves, iron ware
and crockery destroyed, and the wood
unnecessarily burned, would much more
Than pay the difference in expense, to
say nothing of the wear and tear of pa
tience, and the comfort of having a wo-
man SO capable and respectable in your
household.
Hannah is now a land holder, has
money in the bank-enough TO shield
her from poverty, S ould the evil day
come when she could not work. But
she is not idle. She har an aged mother
TO support, besides brothers and sisters
children to help on in the wOrld-and a
better, happier, or more useful woman.
in her sphere of life, one seldom meets.
Some wsg took drunken fellow,
placed him in coffin, with the lid left so
that he could raise it, placed him in