The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-11-20
BOARDING HOUSE LIFE.
Bah ON RUNNERS THEREOF AND
DWELLERs THEREIN.

| Servants Like Ward Politicians.
Avoid Intelligence Office scum-Fair
Wages, Stiff Prices, Good Tables and
/ Abundant Common Sense Wanted.
! Cosby Domestics-Kitchen Detect
! ives-Gentle Mistresses Who Dote
! On Artistic Needlework - Mems
! Lodging Houses-Bab's Threatened
Cook Book.
/ (Co.sright.l
/ New YORK, Nov. 1o.-I am not az asso-
citation 70 tell women how to earn their own
! living, nor am one to give them discour-
agement. At the same time / have q keen
feeling that l am an authority on some
bjects one of which is boarding houses.
1t came about in this way: When l got
! her card looked at it, and said TO that per-
/ son, for whom have the utmost respect,
myself. "She is a lady" Then. when /
! looked at her and saw how carefully her
! gown was arranged to hide its s1abbiness,
how neatly her gloves were mended,
added, in this speech, to myself: 'She is q
! poor lady" And then my heart gave
! great thump. and thought to myself. and
l tho ught il with a f1rmness that would
have been creditsble to q larger person:
"If l can help her, will" Then
| listened.
THIS LADY GOT SOUND ADVICE.
She wanted to start a boarding house; che
! had the house and the furniture, and she
J wanted to know il could give her any sug-
| gestions as to how to make money. Unlike
| the angels, I rushed in and told her what
thought. Said l: Begin by thinking that
the people who board with you are hannah
beings and not merely boardsrs. Begin by
| asking high price and then giving people
| the worth of their money. Train your serv-
| ants 70 obey your orders as implicitly as IL
you were a ward politician, and IL one Of
them says she don't care TO dust Mrs. Dash's
boots, don't discuss the matter with her. but
tell:her that you don't care to pay her wages
| any longer and she can depart. The cry of
| the boarding house keeper 10 that there are
no good servants 10 be gotten. This is not
| true. 1t is merely question of paying for
| them and looking out for their references.
OF course, If you take in the SCUM of the in~
telligence office. you may expect bad
servioe. dishonesty and drunkenness, and
you will not be disappointed. Then give
your boarders what you promise them. II
your contract calls for warm
room and a good table, see that
that is furnished, and don't believe that
by sitting in:the parlor and looking hand
some you are going TO make your house
success. There Is nothing unladyltke in GO
ingkinto ones kitchen, and whysthe average
boarding house keeper should think there Is
passes my comprehension. Go into your
kitchen and superintend your own cooking;
make your own desserts and then you will
get an idea where your money goes. Serv-
ants are not apt TO be dishonest when they
realize chat a mistress is liza BILE TO drop in at
any minute. Discharge the first servant
that comes to you with gossip.
"As long as people behave quietly, pay
- Il Il
private affairs don't concern you. You have
hired your servants to work. not TO enter
tain you or your boarders. cannot under
stand why, hut as soon &c q woman in a
boarding house tries to make her room look
little homelike the dust accumulates at
the rate of an inch a day. In my own per-
sonAl experience have been told that IL is
the fire OF the dust from the WIN
dows. l now know 1t TO be due en-
| tirelY 10 the laziness of servants, for
| In an equally busy neighborhood. with a
greater number OF belongings. the dust does
not grow, as 10 is ruthlessly disturbed by
feather brush every morning. Servants are
| very much like children-they do well as
long as they know somebody is looking at
them, but the minute they are left to their
| own devices they shirk. Be the head of
your own establishment and let every serv-
ant distinctly understand that her going
or staying is matter OF indifference to you.
|
market, and the bait to catch them Is the
dollar.
LIVE AND LET LIVE.
"Now, am going to say something TO you
about your table. OF course, l am presup-
posing that you are taking boardsrs IL may
seem little more expensive at first to have
everything Of the best, but IL pays in the
end, for your people do not drift away, and
more are DESTROYS Of coming TO you. 1t is
just as easy to make good as it is to bad
coffee, and quite as easy to offer a variety,
instead of alternating wish roast beef and
turkey all the week. It only requires q
little thought about this, and little
thought about something else, for you not
only TO make success, but to make money.
Most women have an idea that the way to
keep boarding house is first 60 get house,
then to fill 1t with people, more or less un-
happy, and then, by series Of nagging and
food, to get them TO that extreme of unhap-
piness when nothing makes any difference
This is q sort OF boomerang policy. Some
day the
WORMS WILL TURN AND DEPART,
and then they will spread the reputation of
the house 80 far that nobody will want to
go to it. You can't keep f1rst-class board
ing house, and devote all your energies to
doing artistic needle-work. To earn your
living in this world you have got to work.
You can't play; and If you want to earn a
| kOON AANlhky IOu hhtS XIV W WI D AdEu L
have always thought that there would be
money in a properly conducted lodging
house; that is, one kept for
gentlemen only, and where the dodgers
could sleep all day, and stay out all
night, IL they wanted TO. II l were
running it, should let the gas In the hall
burn all night, and l should see that
the lock was 80 well oiled that nobody in
the house would be awakened when a key
was put In it. Then l should charge high
prices, furnish coffee and rolls for break
fast the best OF coffee and the lightess Of
rolls-and have only men servants. One Of
these should be good valet, and any man
who was willing to pay for it could then
have his clothes brushed and be regularly
groomed. My principle would be to keep
the best lodging house in New York, and to
charge the highest prices, and YOU can bet
The largest silver dollar you have that
would get it. Now, you've my opinion on
the subject Of boarding aud lodging
houses
FROM BOARDING. HOUSE TO HOME.
The lady went away, and l suppose is
keeping her boarding house; IL she has taken
any of my tips it is successful one, if not
it will only be one among the thousands