Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-10
"KnoWing

AuOWluS-
How to throw away said a man who
helped his wife TO apply certain principles
OF his business to her house. lis the whole
secret Of successful as well as peaceful
living This was seconded by the wife CT
a railroad man who had moved an unheard-
of number of times, and who believed that
the best secret she had learned from the
nomadic experience was the getting rid of
the useless accumulation.
The japanese count that man rich who
has nothing of property to hamper him and
who is free to go and come to enjoy every
thing in the world. The home dear to the
American heart which ties him to a certain
corner of the earth in one of these older
civilizations would be deemed poverty in
stead of riches
In a small way the housekeeper has the
best chance to put the worth of this prln-
cipIe to the test. The being hampered, the
missing of opportunities and the cares
which women regret of themselves are,
most of them, due to the many possessions
dear to the feminine heart. and which all
women believe are necessary to their hap
piness.
'"rheems to me you're pity wealthy"
said a little girl dancing around at the
opening of the endless trunks and boxes
which had accompanied the arrival of an
aunt. And she voiced the idea of wealth
of the older ones of her sex, The woman
of leisure may get enough out OF her
equipment OF dainty feminine belongings to
make it pay her to take care of them. The
business woman has TO learn what the
business man does. that she cannot afford
10 have them. \ golden mean between the
two seems to be the best plan for the
housekCeper who would eliminate some of
the complexity that holds the time-taling
care Of her daily life,
one woman began the work of casting off
letters by cutting out the storeroom en-
tirely from the attachments of her fiat on
the ground that 1t was Just the battle
ground for moths and the repository of
bundles of things to be made over and that
never are made over.
Another obiterales the extravaganza of
a. luxurious outfit of accessories to her
clothes in the belief that life holds too
many live things to be interested in to
spend it in their care. Still another cuts
out the collection of doubtful ornaments
in her house because of the time that was
taken from real accomplishment in busting
and handling them over. One woman whose
parlor. although 1t had taste in coloring
and something OF an atmosphere, was stiil
plain enough to provoke the criticism from
q luxury-loving friend;
Did you ever see such looking parlor
for anybody to have that was anybody
she said. What she did not know was
that the joy Of possession had been given
up by her friend In the beautiful spirit that
there was work TO be done in the world
that demanded the price she would have
clItl WISE iti- 4itNS Ati--N4AiN7'
Only
Broad laws can settle problem which is
lived under the differing American con-
dltions which apply to the servant girl. 1t
Is Impossible 10 make definite rules apply
to every type of the American household,
and they would still less be elastic enough
10 apply to different cases. One of the
frequent rules urged is that the servant
should be allowed 10 do her work in her
own way, SO that she does it and 1t is
satisfactory This plan will work in a
house where the servants do all the work
and where the mistress never needs to
step into the kitchen except to give orders.
and where the waste or economy that
necessarily results from different ways of
doing things is of no object. The woman
who wants TO live this carefree life is wise
to let her servants have their own way of
doing things, especially as they are prob
ably more expert than she is.
It is different with the woman who does
part of the work herself. Her work and
that OF the maids must supplement each
other, and the ease with which one is done
depends upon the way in which the other
IS done. The woman who is an expert
cook and who goes into the kitchen to do
the fine part CT the dinner herself depend
ing on a comparatively inexperienced maid
TO do the time-taking part, has need to find
each little uteusi at the spot which she
has worked into as the most convenient
for it. The plan Of allowing the maid TO
according to her own working plan would
not fit in with this kind Of a household.
Economy both of time and material de-
pend upon some one understanding applied
domestic science, and as the average maid
does not know il, those houses which live
by economy have the best hope In the mis-
tress learning it and teaching Il to the
maid. Especially as the mistress becomes
expert does she learn the broader law Of
making il easy where possible for others
as well as herself A little book of house
keeping on the Riviera hints how different
~ the servant girl problem IS worked into
under different conditions. English people
living there cannot break the local do
nestiCs into English ways. The cook does
the marketing for ready money, and there
is a coalition with shOpkeepers that makes
It impossible for the family to market for
themselves as Cheapiy as she can do II for
them, even though she gets a profit which
she calls 'I'ause du panier."
The salvation of the American is that
there can be 10 fixed code. and the bet
terment of the service viii come about
when the mistress understands that over
reaching" no matter how pleasantly done,
reacts in disaster. and that justice, lib
crafty and kindness in happy combination
always exact the best service
"If-
You want a ladys hat. madam, let me
recommend this said Il French man mil
liner referring TO one of the veIyety, fem
in!ne and eXquisitely shaped chapeaus