The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-28
TO KEEP HOUSE, OR NOT?
IS TIE ART A FAILURE AMONG
AMERICANS?

Hotel Life Rapidly Increasing-Marion
Harland and Jeanette L. Glider Say
Women Have Themselves to Blame.
From the Netc York Herald.
Is housekeeping failures
Well, it depends good deal upon how
the work of housekeeping is carried on.
There are plenty of good housekeepers who
do not fail, but, alas, there are many more
who find the duty distasteful, and they are
never successful
There is no question that there is large
increase in boarding house and hotel life in
this CITY. Whole blocks of buildings are
occupied by boarding house keepers, while
restaurants are multiplying in every direc-
tion. Furnished flat and apartment houses
are springing up, and there are large num-
her of hotels which are almost entirely de-
voted to domestic life.
The Aston, st. James, Fifth Avenue,
Hoffman, Victoria, Albemarle, Grand
Union. Grand Central, Coleman and SINH
lar hotels depend almost Q tirely upon
transient patronage, though in all of them
there are families who know no other life.
While transient guests are welcomed at
the Buckingham, Windsor Murray Hill,
Clarendon, Westminster. Vendome, Nor
mandie, st. Cloud, st. Marc, Gilsey,
Grand, Sturtevant, st. Clair, Continental,
st. George and other houses, many of
them are almost entirely filled with perma-
nent boarders.
Families occupying flats go to the cafe or
neighboring restaurants for their meals,
findi it easier to do SO than to bother
about cooking.
WHAT HOTEL CLERKS SAY
have had many conversations with hotel
clerks, and they all declare that permanent
boarding is on the increase. They explain
it by saying that servants are troublesome,
and wives do not know how to keep house,
or seek to escape from what they deem a
drudgery. In no case did l find these hotel
people to say that hotel boarding was
cheaper or more comfortable, but they
agreed that it gave the wife more liberty
and greater freedom from care. When the
subject of child life in hotels was touched
upon [ was met with a shrug, and the con-
fession that children brought up in a hotel
had no idea of home or the tender assoca-
lions belonging to it. One clerk of long
experience remarked that hotel would be
the last place he would bring his children
to, and he thought private boarding houses
even worse.
Still the question whether housekeeping
is failure or not was not decided, though
several hotel keepers held the opinion that
it was rapidly becoming SO among a certain
class in this city. He meant those who could
afford to do it well, yet preferred hotel life,
because they could go from the city to the
country and return without inconvenience,
according to the season.
Wishing to get further information on
the subject, went to those who had made it
study, and soon found that they did not
consider housekeeping TO be failure.
MARION HARLAND SAYS IT'S A PLEASURE.
''Success or failure in housekeeping de-
ponds entirely upon how you go about it, ~
said Marion Harland Mrs. Terhune), the
editor of the Home Maker and lifelong
writer on domestic topics
'lf married couple commence in the
right spirit, and in a business-like and COM
mon sense manner, they will be successful,
but if they are careless or slovenly, why, of
course, the attempt will result in a failure
For my own part, | consider housekeep-
ing the only true way in which to live. I
have kept house for thirty years in the
south and in the north, and even in Europe
when l could do so. In all my life only
boarded six months, and remember even
yet the sad discomforts of that brief expert
ence. have always found it a pleasure to
keep house, as every true woman does, and
] do not find it in any way wearisome or
irksome The trouble with those who are
work is that they have no system, and do
everything at loose ends, SO to speak. You
must have business methods, Just as in any
thing else. A housekeeper should have
patience, and not do things in q hurry. She
should be perfect mistress of herself, and
then she will be mistress of her servants
Having system, they will soon learn it,
and find their work easier.
Zone of the principal elements of success
is to do your own marketing. By doing SO
you save money, get better supplies and a
wider variety. Servants are a good deal
like horses. They are curious to know what
kind of a hand there is on the reins and act
accordingly. Firinness is essential, and
there should be some practical knowledge
of the details An ignorant housekeeper is
at the mercy of her servants; her table is
not good, her expenses are increased, for
there is an awful waste, of which she knows
nothing, and, If she suspects it, cannot cure.
THE QUESTION OF SERVANTS.
" know there is general cutlery against
American domestic servants and it may
surprise you when / say that | think there
are as good servants to be found here as in
any country in the world My own
servants remain with me for years, and ]
have had only three bad ones in all my ex-
perience. They often need training and
education, but once that is over they can be
relied upon. The great trouble with our
maid servants is that they will get married.
have three maids now and each of them
has beau. They all say that they will
never leave me, but l know better. They
are just as good girls as you could find. but
their beaus are spelling them for domestic
service, and the sooner they get married the
better: OF course you cannot stop girls
from falling in love.
Take it altogether, 1 do not consider
housekeeping to be failure. | should be
very sorry to believe that of American
women. But when we consider the ques-
ton we come down to the fundamental
principle of education. Americans right
fully consider it a disgrace that their sons
should drift into the leisure class, and we
all know that the majority of young men
OF leisure are absolutely good for nothing.
They cannot even kill time intelligently.
let how large is the class of our leisure
womenl There are thousands of young
women who receive good Quotations, yet
know nothing of domestic work or its
Pleasures and responsibilities. They could
not sweep room properly or make bed
II they tried, and as for cooking, they are
absolutely ignorant of it. They do not
Know the value of money or the methods of
saving it.
AN IGNORANT WIFE TO BE PITIED.
"a young wife coming from this class is
TO DO pited She finds herself confronted
with problem she cannot solve, and is
terror stricken at the task before her. OF