The National tribune., 1906-11-08
The FAMILY.
By SENORA SARA.

Among the dearest treasures of :
bride of nearly go years ago, still re.
nowned in her family circle as tn.
queen of good housekeepers. is a sheet
OF yellowed note paper, worn thin with
time and usage. upon which are in.
scribed, in the delicate Italian hant
cultivated by gentlewomen of that re-
mote period. the following lines:
Eight simple rules for making mar
ried life happy:
i. Bear and forbear.
-. Have no secrets which you canno,
share with each other
3. Have a place for everything, and
keep everything in its place
a. Apportion to each day it's duties
and see that they are faithfully per-
formed
''5. Do not let your expenditures ex-
ceed your income.
IS. Do not purchase I, anything for
which you are unable to pay.
7. Do not try to entertain people
who are wealthier than yourself.
%. Lay something byr be it ever so
little. for needy day" % n
These words of wisdom, handed to
their owner by her mother on her we'd
ding morning, and ever since treasured
with reverent and loving, care, are such
as every young housewife-and not a
take to heart. Containing practically the
sum and substance of domestic happi-
ness, they contain also the whole secret
of good housekeeping-with which,
indeed, domestic happiness is little
more than meaningless - phrase, a
mere figure of speech, having small
foundation in actual fact. There would
be fewer instances of marital infelicity
for the sensational newspaper TO gloht
over, fewer of the-matrimonial derelicts
that now fill city boarding houses to
overflowing, were some such homely
code generally adopted as the house
hold guiding star. Unfortunately, how
ever, it is not now the fashion, as it
once was. to bring girls up to be good
housekeepers above everything else:
hence it happens that the average girl,
when she leaves the home of her par
ents for one of her own, knows as little
about the true science of housekeeping
as she does about the Martian canals.
Like the blue-stocking in the song:
"She writes in handwriting clerky,
She talks with an emphasis jerliy;
Both Latin and Greek
She can fuently speak,
But-she doesn't know chicken from
turkey"
Were an experienced housewife re-
quired to sum up in a single word the
essentials of good housekeeping. that
one word would be System" The un-
methodical housekeeper, whatever her
social status. is purely and simply n
slattern, a fact to which every depart
ment of her household will bear clo-
quent, If silent, witness; for, like mis-
tress, like maid" and If the lady of the
house be careless of her manifest du-
ties it is scarcely to be expected of her
servants that they will be more re-
Cal Nf I,rs,- 60
no servant or body of servants. how
ever well trained, can keep the domes-
tic machinery running smoothly when
it's nominal director ignores her obvi-
Gus responsibilities. Late and irregular
rising, with an equally late and irregu-
lar breakfast and the other meals fol-
lowing in more or less erratic success
sion, is in itself quite sufficient to de-
the best-instructed servants in
the world; yet the households in which
a regular hour is set and rigidly ad-
hered to for each meal are decidedly
fewer than those in which the break
fast hour, at least, may extend from
half-past o'clock until within an hour
or so of noon, according to the indi-
viduaI whim of each member of tn.
family. How. under such unpunctual
the daily work of the house
is to be accomplished in proper sea-
SOn-beds made, rooms put in order,
dishes washed and other meals pre-
pared, to say nothing of special house.
cleaning, laundry work and the family
a question which some
more ingenious person than the pres
ent scribe must be called upon to an
swer. Certain 1t is that no servant who
has not the patience of Job and the
of an archangel can work
under such untoward conditions and
retain her amiability along, with her
usefulness.
In her first essay in housekeeping the
young wife is very apt totmake one of
two mistakes-both of themi serious in
their results; either she delegates too
much of her authority to- her servants, |
thus paving the way to her own ulti-
mate undoing or she governs them
with too autocratic a hand. so arousing
dislike where she would fain exact re-
spect The modern domestic is none
too easily managed, be, the hausfrau
never so diplomatic; but In no easel
can she be handled without due regard
for her amour propre. AS a rule, 1t is
true, the more worthless she Is the
higher is her own estimate of her value; |
but, worthless or not, she Is at least
entitled to consideration. Judiciousl
treatment may transform a poor SER
want into a good one; injudicious treat
ment will spoil good one and renderl
a poor one utterly good-for-nothing.
patience and the blessed
leaven of human sympathy and inter-
est go far toward winning faithful SER
vice from the hireling members of ones
but let the house mistress
beware Of overstepping the line Of de-
between sympathy and IA
miliarity. Once stoop to make a con-
idante of goth century Ab:gail-andi
hen forever bid farewell to peace. Per-
5onal dignity. family harmony andl
tranquil household governance vanishl
Is II by magic when the handmade isl