The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-18
NEW OCCUPATION FOR WOMEN
Visiting Housekeepers Now Go About in New York


When to the catering is added the
supervision of the house, it is best not
to have regular hours of coming, or the
servants will prepare for you. But I
make it a rule to have one or two hours
a week when the mistress can be sure
of seeing me.
Households which can afford the
services of the visiting housekeeper are
the kind who usually employ five or six
servants, and the oversight of these
servants constitutes an important part
| of the housekeeper's duty. Servants
are quick to gather their impressions
of the people who are over them in au-
thority, and if the housekeeper is a
woman of refinement and education, of
tact and energy, they are not slow in
finding it out.
Servants Know a Lady"
Servants know lady, and they
as well as the mistress of the house
would rather have lady for house
keeper than one of the other sort. A
houSekeeper frequently manages the
servants far more successfully than the
mistress herself, for it is a queer thing
that a woman who will be entirely rea-
sonable in dealing with a. visiting
housekeeper will be quite the reverse in
her relations with the servants them
selves.
"One great cause of the trouble be-
tween mistress and maid lies in the
distrust and suspicion with which the
former often regards the latter Serv-
ants are human beings, when all is said
and done, and they have a sense of
honor. They will do much better if
this is appealed to, and they do not
feel they are being spied on. BY this
l do not mean that they do better when
left to run at loose ends, or when the
affairs of the household are neglected
by the mistress of it. AS soon as
servants see that things are neglected
they will be sure to take advantage Of
it. But between distrustful espionage
and easygoing Indifference there is a
golden mean.
IF woman gives orders in a civil
tone of voice and in the way a bust
ness man gives his orders at his Office
that is to say, firmly and emphati-
cally-she is pretty sure to find they
will be carried out. The reason that
servants mind men better than they
mind women, as a rule, is because the
! former give their orders in a business
| like manner, without repeating or al
tering them.
They Lack Appreciation.
"On the other hand, servants as a
class display certain qualities which
| IHClIl IldTO " uGdl Will. 1nGX
| lack appreciation, for one thing, and
are apt to take for granted and as a
matter of course the consideration and
| the kindness that are frequently shown
! them. But should not say that as a
class dishonesty is one of their failings.
am constantly surprised at the hon
esty among them. Of course every lit
tie while the papers record some big
| robbery, where trusted servant makes
! off with hic ictr o1e h,,&
are thousands of homes where valua-
bic and attractive objects are lying
around carelessly in the greatest pro-
fusion, and yet nothing is ever stolen.
More than any other quality, tact
is required in the management of serv-
ants.
"The opening of houses is another
department Of the visiting housekeep-
er's province. She goes through the
house from garnet to cellar with a
| corps of charwomen, cleaning every
| thing that will take soap and water or
/ polishing. She takes up cleans and
] relays the carpets; cleanses and hangs
| the curtains, hangs the pictures; sends
| off the mattresses to be made over, if
| they need it, and the furniture to be
renovated by the upholsterer. When
the family returns everything is in
readiness for them, even the beds are
made, the jardinieres are filed with
plants, and the pantry is stocked.
The one sine qua non of the visit
Ing housekeeper's equipment is a taste
for and knowledge of domestic arts
I No woman could make a success of 1t
who did not like domestic interests and
know lot about them. A woman who
was fitted for a teacher or stenog-
rapher. for example, would not be like
ly to make successful visiting house
keeper. But tact, energy and amiabiI-
ity are also Indispensable. And. fur
| Their, one simply must be cheerful and
look cheerful, too. Nobody wants q
woman around who is nursing a secret
sorrow or given to tears"