, 1873-06-08
Woes Of the Housekeeper---Inemf== :
cheney and Deficiency Of Do
mestio Help.
Attempting to Get a New Girl---The
Disagreeabil:ties Incident
=. Thereto.
Mistaken Ideas of "Geatility"--.HoW
They Should Be Corrected.

and vet ther say who sit in comfortable boudoir
of their own, or live in other peoples houses
that We are not houeckeepers. They write d
'Csctic eesays upon the subject, and treat th
present issues of housekeeping and servant
very much in the same way as old maids chil
dnen are proverbially brought up, and with Jus
about as much knowledge Of the matter as th
aforesaid wise virgins in their attempts at i'm
p7ovement upon maternal discipline. Every
body that could get chance has had his OF he
Little say about
TIE EERvAST~QuEsT1oS,
xnd has settled the matter to his or her own per
eonal satisfaction but, unfortunately, tht
whole thing ends there. No one else is sstis
fed, and the servant-girl is still the white e1e
plant Of modern ife,-quite as difficult to OBJ
tain quite as uncertain in her movements
quite as hard to keep after gaining psssession oi
the animal.
The CRY rises from all parts Of the country Fe~
epccting the ineficency OF tho help, and many
people are prone to ascribe it to the ineficlency
OF the mistress. No doubt this has much to do
with the matter bu. the great trouble seems to
be nov, not the ineficiency,
BUT TIE DEFICIENCY,
of the article in question. Being cosmopoli-
ten. and having resided in many cities having
seen the hired hindrauce in various phsses,-we
mus. say that, in comparison with her Eastern
ester-cities, Ohicago has the worst Of it. There,
ut 1oaet, something is obtainable from intelli-
gence-offces, through the advertising columns
Of the local medium or in some such way. We
do not propose to occupy ourselves with those
who keep large retinue Of servants, Of whom
tho housekeeper, butler, and French cook are
only the principal among them, but with the
great majority OF people, whose incomes permit
tucm ouiy one, or, at the most, two assistants,
These arc the portion Of the community who ere
suffering from the present condition Of things.
It is upon them falls the necessity Of coming
all the prose OF housekeeping, when the Mile
sian, the Scandinavian, or the Teuton,
LEAVE WITHOUT NOTICE,
cxcer< little freedom OF speech allowable in
Repubrc, s'end the place that hath known them
shall know them no 1rore," not it they know it.
Then "The grasehopper is q BURDEN and Life
does not seem worth what it costs.
To see those We love die, is sad enough, but
there is some pleasure in dwelling upon the
merits Ct the departed; if our best friend de-
ceives rs, We think what 3 good fellow be has
boon; it relstiYe detalcates, We consider how
much he has made by it, whether there is any
c1trsdiiion trenty between our country and the
one to which lie has fled, what the prospect is Of
olr being remembered in his will, and what Mrs.
Grundy will any; but. when that ssrTant-girl is
inpert:ncnt, and we renorstgate and discharge
Ter, and she ths1cupon cords her boz, dons her
t2st and gaycst dress and hut, puts
ca her oroide watch and chain and
the last sweet thi ng in earrings and shakes the
dust from of her shoes as she passes from our
bascment-door, there is not consoling refec-
ton to Tighten the heavy burden: We cannot
dwell upon her past virtues, and all that We are
likely to receive from her will never assume the
form OF teesa1nentary bequest, hut already lies
before Us in the shape Of an accumulation OF
Girt in various ways. Mea11ly the housekeeper M
eiaply appallinS It is indeed Protean under-
taking to aeeume ecch character,
F1ioM scu111oS 70 cHATE1AME 1ScLE.
And yet this is what lies before her, and tho
ecullon's work seems to require that she shau
Immediately accept that posltlon. There is, no
doubt, much of the poetic element in housekeep-
irg OF which we hope to write some day for the
benefit OF our yonng-lady readers whose ennuyed
With doing nothing and long for mission; but
re must admit tha+ it is not in sou1ion's work
An esthetic washing OF pots and pans containing
the dobris or the sediment OF breakfast or din
Eer, ia azd1y possible, and it certainly does not
improve the condition of tho hands OF tue CON-
rIex;on generally; while the rnEing out OF stoves
md building Of fires makes one long for an IN
permeable mask Of tar, that ehali turn one into
q Moor or Heather Chinee pro tenn, until that
scene of tl1a socai masquerade is over As the
LIi2bting frosts Of winter are to the rare exotic
that has blossomed in the heated greenhouse,
10 is tie enyeloping cloud Of kitchon-cinde1s to
the women who has boen quite as carefully per-
fccted under glass. However, here in Chicago,
Phe is frequently brought to test the strength Of
[4or constitution hy undergoing just such changes
cf atmosphere. That abe survives it, and still
Lourgeons into a certain refnsment Of bloom, is
Z wonder, and tells much for tho vitality Of the
choice natuTa.
But to get back to our sheep,-not the 1500
hat Hent up en- masse in the recent cyclone,
,ut to our one unfortunate little mutton,
,ho is solving tue problem Of scullion produci-
,]o TO c1atelaine. Not satisfied With the hypotl-
.z;s. much less with the probable Q. E. D. and !
o1olarics she gives it up, and starts in pursuit
II key to its solution,-
No: to the shops for school-books,
Not to the students coach,
ut to that outgrowth Of domestis demand,
TIE Ea1PLoYMENT-AuEScf.
here are no girls in just then that the presid-
ag genius OF the place thinks will suit you, but
,,e dwells upon the merits Of certain Mary !
nm, until you ara almost inclined to overcome
our prejudice to her national persuasion, when
on discover that there is another paragon in
:.etchen, and you decide upon the latter, You
sturn quite pleaEed- The Bcullion problem
,oks lass like the pous-asinorum thnn it did |
f1r, vf.u and vcn ntfArlr IL SLIGHTLY |