The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-12-12
CANNOT too, strongly urge upon
any student OF the best social

LIZ CSlSSill VI dOliColiS
ployes.
Do not scorn or ignore this wide and
important field for the promotion of a
popular personality. | have lived we'll
over into the sunny side of fifty, ana
enjoyed my fair share of the out
spoken admiration and frankly eX-
pressed good will of my equals, yet
am willing to confess that, in all my
social experience, no compliment L
ever received gave me more pleasure
than that paid me by my cook.
The madam is q lady l once over
heard the head of the kitchen an
nounce to her fellow servants 4
know she is a lady by the way she
speaks. and most particular by the
way she speaks to all of us.
/ went quietly out of the pantry.
pleased and f1attered beyond words.
I felt elated and satisfied to know that
/ bore so excellent reputation among
my domestics, and I carried my head
just a trifle higher all day.
The dictum Of my servant proved
to me what I have always believed.
namely, that there Is just as much Of
an art in being exquisitely affable to
a cook as to a countess; also, that
when social culture Is really deep and
truly wide, every one alike not only
recognizes its existence, but is sensi-
tive to it's beguiling power.
A laundress can, and will, appre-
ciate tact and civility as promptly as
a lady; she feels It, and responds to It..
a gracious, graceful kindness of
manner In the mistress leaves it's
marked impression upon the servant.
/ am daily made more acutely aware
of the fact that the reason the aver
age woman is rarely or never a
heroine in the eyes Of her housemaids
is because she so very seldom stops
to realize that the fine and agreeable
q mi n nfoa
comfort in the kitchen as in the
drawing-room.
You may be as neat as the tradi-
ttonal pin, as thrifty as a Frenchwo-
, man, and as ambitious as Napoleon,
and for all that the very worst of
housekeepers and hostesses, unless
you take seriously to heart the i'm
portance of maintaining the very hap
piest relations with those who are in
your household service.
Kitchen Courtesy.
It was but yesterday that this self
evident truth was made manifest
when I listened to the old, old story
ever new, from the lips of a caller
She had been having her troubles with
her servants. There were tears in her
voice and ire in her eyes as she told
In very graphic detail, of her encoun-
ter with the cook. of giving the saucy
waitress a Roland for. her Oliver, and
bestowing a liberal piece of her mind
upon the parlor maid.
She is young, my caller, just a be.
gtnner at housekeeping and entertain.
ing. She has come to me more thar
once for suggestions and advice, fol
she is deeply imbued with the i'm.
portance of making her home one Of
the centers of attraction in her neigh
borhood.
Not exactly a pleasant state OF
household affairs was that which she
revealed. Her little dinner party has
had to be postponed because Of the
rebellion and mutiny prevailing below
stairs, and she was evidently shocked
and not little offended, because
did not join her in wholesale denuncia
ton of the outrages put upon her by
her entire domestic force.
But they were, one and all, hor
ribly insolent to me; I was simpl,
obliged to discharge them" she in
sisted in ready exoneration Of her owr
conduct. ..
But. my dear lady. were you no
also distressingly discourteous t
them?" I fastened to assert, in m,
mostly gently positive tone. "Perhap
you never realized before that there il
q. code of civility, known as kitchen
courtesy that the mistress should al
ways be the first to abide by it's rule