The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24
THE NEED OF HoUsEKEEPERs.

THE NEED OF HOUSEkEEPERS.
American Women Too Proud to Put
an EmpIOye at the Head of Their
Houses.
New York. Dec. 22.-"If you want to
know why we have no first class profess
slonaI housekeepers in this country" vol
unteered the importer of a real live Eng
lish specimen 'it is because the Amer-
can woman is too proud and far too indie
pendent to allow an emDloye TO manage
her home That is also the reason why we
with the best ordered, most luxurious
homes in the world suffer from criminally
wastful domestic management, and the
worst service OF any highly civilized PEG
pie. In France or England, where half
much money is spent, twice the work for
the servants 10 do aud third of the con-
yeniences nut at their disposal, the fash
ionabfe country or city house is conducted
with noiseless regularity that fills the
American visitor with nothing short of
amazement. In houses where he incomes
are by no means large a corps of finished
servants will be found, that only our mill
lionaires over here can afford.
"Just so long as the American woman is
head of a modest household. she is the
most all around capable housekeeper in
the world; she can face sitter odds and
rout them more utterly than any French
or English woman living. We are The only
women in the world who, when deserted
at a critical moment, can cook a meal and
yet sit at the head of The table, while
that same meal is being served. in a
fetching frock carrying on the conversa-
ton as though nothing had happened. 1t
is charming faculty but when she is put
at The head of corps of twenty servants
and a great country house her system
fails
The French Maitre D'HOteI.
"a big, fashionable household is just
like big ship. it's got to have a captain
TO direct it's course and an engineer to run
the machinery and in the foreign couu-
tries they realize and provide for this.
In France it is usually maitre hotel
who shoulders the domestic burden. He
has worked up in the service and his word
is law 10 the servants. He hires and dis
misses them, pans their work, sees that
it is done and he guarantees to keep the
men and maids well fed on a stated al
lowance. The mistress gives him a sum
every month and on This he caters for the
servants table that is by no means sup
piled from the harder that feeds the fam
lily. Every servant is entitled to the scraps
he or she leaves and has his or her own
plate, knife, fork, spoon, etc, and when a
meal is over these are washed and set
away by their owners in their special cup
boards. Scraps are am important item TO
the thrifty French domestic.
In England there is a woman who does
this, and every handsome English house
is built with special housekeepers' quar-
ters. a sitting room and bedroom. Some
American houses are now being provided
with these special two rooms
A Model British HOusekeeper.
my housekeeper is of the typical sort.
She is about 40. plump. pleasing and
al tarf1o nYbC
10 as a scutlery maid and has worked
up. She is addressed by the household
as Mrs. Brown, and every afternoon her
tea is served in her sitting room at 4
O'Clock by a maid. She drinks tea and
eats her dinner alone, later, wearing a
plain black silk gown, a muslin wreath
cap and a small lawn apron. Every serv-
ant in the house. with the exception of
the butler, is under her direct control,
and for the good or evil that every servant
does she is responsible.
"She accepts my directions with a hui
mility no decayed gentlewoman would
show and with a respectfulness no con-
fdental lady's maid eyer feels. She gets
$50 a month and an allowance for paying
the servants wages and catering to their
table, and she it is who sees that no
waste goes on. in my house.
with a prayer of thanksgiving and a
quiet mind can now nightly lay my head
Oh my plhOW anu 1 hOll I expect 10 COME
down with nervous prostration at the end
of the season, The storm and stress of
housekeeping has passed by me and no
longer must | cody count off 5000 month
to waste as most fashionable hostesses do;
no longer do l haunt intelligence offices
when a dozen engagements press, and no
longer do I set down to weep on coming
home from hard afternoons calling. to
hear that the cook has left in a rage. the
narlor maid has smashed my best bric-a-
brac and the laundress seorched a hole
in my best tablecloth.
The American WOman's Makeshift.
But let me tell you what lots of our
rich women do. They don't mind handing
their babies into the care of kinlergar-
tens. but they deeply resent sharing the
command of their households with a COM
peteut woman. For my part l think every
| big American household where there is a
| great corps of servants should have ona
| OF these competent women az the head,
and very soon. in consequence, we would
| see a marked Improvement in the Amer
| lean maid servant, for training domestics
| is one of The important missions of the
| English housekeeper. She takes in ignor-
| ant girls and teaches them first 10 he
| competent kitchen maids and then rro-
notes them as their value and knowledge
| increases and thus the generation of
| English maid servants, the deftest most
| accomplished domesticS in the world, ara
trained In their profession. Clever and
! versatile as the American woman may be
when thrown on her own resources, she
| has no gift Cor educating crude talent.
| When she has wealth and luxury she sim
! ply solves the difficulty by paying fabu-
| lous wages overlooking a good deal OF in
| competence and retiring to a hotel every
now and then to recover from the battle
| with servants" Milicent Arrowpoint.
--s-@---
| al,
| field. Utah, has just completed Il wonder
| LII nln.E Lnhleh- In alll.l.-1 ~. ..rLL--. :.