The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1904-11-26
Methods In Housekeeping.


grow anu are DeSU trained INTO lives OF use
fullness and solid worth The man who
provides good house for his family, with
full and plenty of everything, may feel
that he is the prime factor in that establish
ment But what would all his thrift, as
a money maker and provider, stand for, if
there was no one within doors capable of
wisely managing and dispensing the means
at hand Moneymaking is not virtue
Of itself-it is the use that is made of it
that counts. Some people would raise
better children if they had less money
The value of a well-kept home cannot
be estimated Sweeping and cleaning are
not all of housekeeping cooking and eat
ing do not fill the entire bill; furnishing
and entertaining are only a small fraction
of it while music and art and literature
help, but do not make up the sum of good
housekeeping. The milliner, the dress
maker, the typewriter, the bookkeeper, the
doctor and the nurse can perfect them
selves, each in their own pursuit, and that
ends it but the housekeeper must be
professor %! dozen or more branches, if
she makes her calling complete. The pro-
tessor in college or university reads his lee
lures, and instruets his students in the
particular branch he has dwelt on for years,
but the housekeeper must not only theo
rize, but she must give practical illustrations
of the soundness of her system. She must
work She must do the thing she would
teach those under her care to do. She is
in a constant warefare with green help. or
must accept that other alternative, no help
at ALL The latter is the condition in which
farmers wives mostly are found 1t is on
record, as a fact, that only eighteen per
cent. of American families keep one ser
want, and only two per cent. keep more.
So it seems to be allotted to housekeepers
to paddle their own canoes, and it is the
better part of wisdom to learn to paddle
them in the easiest and most profitable
way
Zoo many women seem to be destitute
of method in their work. They have
meals when they feel ike getting them
read in the morning and bake in the after
noon are often caught in the suds and all
unkept when they could, by planning and
executing at the proper time, have been
found taking nap, or neatly dressed and
sewing or reading, or passing the time in
some tidy, pleasant way.
1t is not the woman who seems to be
always at it who accompishes the most
work Il IS the methodical woman who
finds time for everything She Is always
in demand people go to her for help when
they come to hard place, and she viii
assist them out of difficulty, while the
woman whose head never saves her heels,
Is waking up to the situation, and getting
ready To lend a hand
We are putting the cart before the horse
in the training of our daughters
Before even they have a smattering of
knowledge Of household duties we send
them away from hoIae Tor high culture and
polish, and expect them to be able to pre-
side over their homes-if they can hood
wink men into marrying them without
either instructions or practical skill in that
which i to be their liie-work.
The middle class woman has more
leisure today than she ever had before, and
the question she asks herself is, How has
she improved it2 said Jane Addams, foun-
der of the famous Hull House in Chicago,
and she proceeded to point out how it had
been used in literature and art and benevo-
leut work but their new leisure is not
bringing method and system into the homes.
Different organizations have sent out ques-
tions to ascertain what, if any standard,
existed in the conduct of domestic affairs,
the aportionment of expenses, the system
atizing Of the work and so on, and the
answers showed deplorable lacking in
those particulars. Miss Addams pertinent
lv suggested that women cease to imagine
that cultivation must begin afar off, and
improve themselves in the matter of do
nestle regime. If they would learn that
there must be art in chairs and tables, and
wall paper aud biscuits, before the higher
aud les useful branches Of art can be con-
served. domestic troubles would settle them
selves.
The help question has tormented many
housekeepers, but back of it all is largely
the lack Of method in housekeeperS them
selves While every woman is law unto
herself. aud the working girl must learn
newways in every home she enters, she can
never be efficient. five had some standard
in the homes. some methods Of work that all
would adopt, and regular hours for work,
/ believe tie help question would be solved.
The factory would cease to tempt girls from
the homes, and there would be some hope
of finding competent help.
Boarding schools and large institutions
Of all sorts have to systematic their work ;
they could not get along any other way.
Why could not the private home do the
same
The crying need of the country is for u
rational. national. healthful diet, and
methodical habits ON the part of the mem
bers of the household And let this state
and condition of things prevail no matter
who comes or what happens. The Ameri-
can housekeeper wears herself out, and sets
her servants, if she has any, in state OF
rebellion, entertaining company, She often
oyerfeeds her guests and underfeeds her
family in everyday life.
If we cannot have a national system Of
housekeeping, and training schools for the
same, we can at least be methodical under
present conditions Eating is the most i'm
portant of all things that concern the family
state. Let us have regular hours for meals,
and be sure to have them ready on time.
And let us train the heads of our homes
their work that they, too, must methodize
to know so as to be on hand at the appoin-
ted time. They are mostly hungry, and
there is n need to keep the table waiting,
and things spoiling as many inconsiderate
men do. If they once fully realize there is
storm brewing inside the house that may
raise the roof if they do not appear at
about the right time, they will get there.
Method and regularity tighten all work,
The woman who is constantly planning and
trying to find the very best and most ex-
peditious ways of doing things, comes to
be an expert in housework, and her bur
dens are greatly lessened thereby.
Method is a good thing to stand by in
all things. No housekeeping can be called