Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-06-25

ficult to lay down hard and fast rules
always, in her case, for her services
vary greatly depending on her DISPOSE
ton, her affection for the family, the
size of the house or apartment, and
the number Of mouths to feed.
An efficient maid should be able to
take care of six rooms, on an average,
and to serve a family of four people,
If they are not unreasonable in their
demands upon her. Remember, she
has only one pair of hands, and that
If extras are continually thrust upon
her the rest of the work must inevi-
tably suffer.
Some one to help with the heavy
cleaning must be engaged to come in
by the day, every so often, unless the
mistress of the house Is willing to take
some ofthe lighter work off the maids
hands on the cleaning days. 1t Is
well to plan out the work, on a week
~ and hourly schedule, with the CO.
operation of the maid-then every
thing will have its special place in the
scheme of the day and the household
will run more smoothly.
II X 4
CHE should come early enough In the
~ morning to be able to straighten
the living room before breakfast.
Nothing Is so depressing to the family
when they go in to breakfast as to
pass by living room with the blinds
still down, last nights ashes In the
trays and the sofa pillows limp and
souashed. If this is impossible for the
maid to do because she works for a
family that breakfasts "at the crack
of dawn" so to speak, the mistress OF
the house should see to it that, before
she goes to bed, some member of the
household raises the curtains, cleans
the ash trays and plumps up the soft
pillows.
The maid should set the breakfast
table, serve the meal, and, before
washing the breakfast dishes, take up
the matter of planning the daily
meals with her employer. That &C
complished, the dishes should be
done and the rest of the morning
cleaning got under way. Every MEM
Der of the family should be respon-
sible for the surface order OF his or
her room, and the maids only duty
there should be the actual sweeping,
busting and bed making.
Lunch should be, If possible, OF the
quickly prepared variety, so that the
maid will not have to rush through
- 30 nNyan0Nf alahnrof A
dish. Don't ask guests for lunch II
you are going to have guests for din
merit Is not fair to the maid to give
two parties in one day, unless you get
some one extra in to help her.
X X II
THE general maid m Washington
/ gets one afternoon and evening of
a week, and every Sunday afternoon
and evening. Before she leaves for
the day she should set the table for
dinner and prepare the meal as far
as possible-usually the food will be
simple on her day off and can be cas-
ily arranged and set in the ice box
until dinner time. There Is a ques-
ton In many households about what
to do with the dinner dishes On the
maids evenings off. Some house
keepers prefer to scrape and stack the
plates and glasses in the sink and
leave them there for the maid to do
in the morning, washing only the
silver. Personally, I have horror
of soiled dishes being left so over
night, and would much rather wash
them all, and leave the kitchen spick-
and-span, as q shining example Of
what I expect from the maid! If the
mistress Of the house appears lax in
such matters, the maid is apt 20 get
into lax habits also.
There is no reason that the dining
room table should not be as care