, 1885-03-25
WOMAN N HOME.
HINTS AND HELPS FOR KITCHEN,
PARLoR AND HOUSEHOLD.


When a servant first comes to me i say to
her something lil<s this; Let US begin right
Put at once out OF your mind any idea that
there are 20 DO two parties In this house. l
am not going to take any advantage OF you,
and / shall expect that you shall take none
OF me. II you find anything which you dis
like In the situation do not talk about 1t to
outsiders or to the other servants in the
house. Como straight to me and wo will
talk 1t over quietly, and II possible arrange
matters 50 that we shall all DO suited.
Whom a girl comes to me first for orders i
say to her: do the thing 1want done for
once In your own way. 1t Is very possible
that Is "a better svay than mine II 1t
proves 30, you may go on as you have been
In the habit of doing. but IL my way is the
better l shall expect you to change and do
1t henceforth exactly as l shall direct YOU
! lock up nothing. A housekseper who
knows what her weekly bills should be can
tell at once IL she Is being cheated, and will
take steps accordingly. do not think any
wntchfulness can prevent dishonesty IL a
servant chooses to cheat her mistress, and /
would not keep for a moment a servant
from whom 1 felt 1t necessary to lock up
anything, and l. certainly should insult no
young woman OF whom I knew no evil by
treating her from the first as II she were a
thief whom IL were necessary to circumvent
in her dishonesty.
About company I feel differently from
most mistrcsses. We have no right to shut
up young women in our dreary back kitch-
ems and expect them to work cheerfully and
heartily without some social pleasures and
privileges. II the girl feels that the house
she lives in is her homo she viii take some
interest in 1t, and II her homo she has GER
tafnly a right occasionally to welcome her
friends there. II this is freely admitted by
A. - - ILL - .I~w--~ A~I 81.
interest the girl takes in the household viii
prove a better incentive than the
eye Of a task-mistress. I feel this especially
in the case Of young mon visitors. 1 think
IL almost immoral to drive girls by our
strict rules 20 meet their lovers and admir-
ers In the streets. We married and we OK
poet our daughters to do so. We should
take interest enough in our servants to find
out something OF the character Of their visi
tors II the young men whom they desire to
see are sober and steady and mean honestly
by them they have, l think, as good a right
to receive Thorn at proper hours in their neat
kitchens as our daughters have to receive
their guests in the d-rawing-room- have
had a number of girls who left mo only to
marry, and ench one OF them had my free
permission to see her friend where she ought
to SOC him, in her own kitchen.
My servants very soon feel that / am their
friend. When they are Ill they come to me
for advise; whom trouble befalls them I am
interested 10 know all about 1t. hear of
the father down with fever, or tho little
idiot brother, or the sister who Is dying OF
consumption, the bad hnrvests, the pay
ments that must be made, or even OF the
lovers with whom they have quarrels. The
poor things are often very sad when they
only appear to be sullen.
Remember how young and unframed they
are, away from home and relatives and sur
rounded by many and strong temptations.
Try and help them II is easy TO break them
Of lying by uniform patience with their slips
and blunders. Set them such a good example
OF self-control that they will grow ashamed
Of their fits Of temper They will rarely say
anything saucy. unless provoked by hasty or
inpatient speech on the part of the mistress.
Perhaps IL seems that this involves a good
deal Of trouble, but not half 50 much as the
constant changing Of servan and the worry
and v~exation Of mind from which so many
mistresses constantly suffer. The servants
/ nave had have not been exceptional by
any means-just ordinary young women-
but with warm hearts, susceptible to kind
moss and rational treatment, and j can truly
say that ! have found in them faithful
friends and loyal servants, watchful Of my
interests, careful Of my goods. kind in sick
ness and sympathetic In trouble.