The record-union., 1892-11-19
HOW TO RUN THE HOUSE.
Problems Which Women Could
Study With Profit.
The Need of System and Economy in
Management Recognized by House.
wives-Housekeepe Clubs as Or
ganized in a Western City-The OBJ
ject OF Them.

In America life has grown complex
and exacting quite oat of proportion to
our means for coping with it. We have
inherited the experience and culture of
the oder nations without the discipline Of
growing up to it slowly as they did.
We are in the embarrassing position of
an heir who inherits with wealth duties
to whose proper fulfiilment long appren-
tlceship is necessary: or of one who comes
into the possession of a kingdom without
an army, or a castle without retinue.
Our social and domestic life lacks the
safety and conservatism that comes from
permanent classes, and from customs
sufficiently enduring to tide over the
changes that generation brings.
Scientific workers tell US that in the
fine laboratories we are modelling so
closely after the Germans they are
greatly hampered by lack of the trained
helper who is proud of knowing the
best way OF cleaning utensils, OF mending
a piece Of machinery, of blowing glass.
lifting screws, and practicing all the other
small arts that make experimental work
possible. In the same way we are con-
tronted with the almost absurd spectacle
of land of homes" while housework
has nowhere among US the dignity of a
trade to be thoroughly learned and fol-
lowed.
This is the chief reason, but not the
only one, why life is so difficult to cope
with.
We are constantly experimenting in
forms OF architecture and heating and
lighting and furnishing, and many of our
bnllGnG AZ
and there are many unforeseen expenses
and diScomtorts.
Another important fact is the broader
life that American women live. The
mother who can find no person with
whom to trust her baby, and whose cook
or general iactOtum is a bird-of- passage.
would yet find time for the afternoon tea.
the evening party, the literary club,
church and charitable work; she will read
what her growing boys are reading; she
Will keep touch with her husbands in
terests.
Now why is our housekeeping the back
breaking straw when laid upon this al
ready full load?
There are many reasons, but it is chiefly
because we lack system and organization
Women must combine, at least in their
counsels, and so multiply the unit value
that is so poWerless by itself This is not
matter of sentiment or of ''woman's IS
sphere" We should claim for the sub
ject the dignity that its importance justi-
ties. There are some S,Q00000 homes in
this country, and the expenditure to
maintain these homes reaches into the
billions. It is granted on all sides that
there is a great waste of money, of time,
and of energy in these homes; to put it
as one OF our economists has done, the
money-earning capacity of this people is
excellent, but their money-spending ca
pacity is poor-that is, in the sense of
spending wisely and securing a Just re-
ward.
Housekeepers. as a class, are puzzled.
wearied, with the compleXity of the task
before them, but it is not too much to say
that an astonishing advance could be
made if housekeeping problems were
really studied.
Thanks to Professor Salmon of Vassar
College, house service is beginning TO be
studied as a division Of the subject of
capital and labor; upon every depart
ment of housekeeping should be brought
TO bear the same careful collection OF
facts and the same dispassionate drawing
of conclusions.
THE FIRST REQUIREMENT.
In every thriving business it is ex-
pected that a certain amount of money
will be sunk yearly in experiment. Long
journeys are made to examine the work
of rival firms, expensive machinery is
tried, WOrkmen are put at various kinds
of work till their best capacity is reached.
All good business men know that this
liberal policy is the only one that paws,
Experiment must always be conducted
at a loss, but it is the only foundation of
real advance.
But in the running of the household
there is no allowance of this kind. An
immediate return is expected for every
dollar of pXnpnGTtnrp and hn1r If
time.
Ought not the housekeeper to say: 81
too, am conducting a business, and how
can / over term of years wisely expend
my income unless now and then venture
into new fields ?'
Should number of housekeepers come
to this conclusion, resolving to invest at
first in their own better education. what
could they do more advantageously than
to make common cause, and form a sort
of training school for mistresSes which it
would seem must precede the other train
ing schools that we hear so much of?
Each household may be too small to form
basis for any new work or conclusions.
but dozen households Will furnish suf-
ticient material if put at the service Of all
for comparison and discussion.
THE HOUSEKEEPERs' CLUB.
1t is this study that should be the work
of the housek keepers club, and the proof
that such an organization and such work
is feasible is at hand.
During the past winter in a Western
city club of ten women met weekly for
the discussion of purely domestic topics.
The number was made up largely by
accident, method to be highly recon-
mended for bringing to bear on subject
the greatest variety Of opinion. Espe-
cially was this advantage seen when it
came to the discussion Of the average in
come.
The method of work in this club was
very simple; that each member should
present one of the ten subjects chosen,
either by paper or talk, and lead the
discussion afterward.
SUBJECTS DISCUSSED.
Among the subjects discussed were the
following, they being such as met the
present interests and needs of the mem
bers:
The service question.
Cooperative housekeeping.
House building as compared with house
renting.