Directions for the Chambermaid

Sweep the sitting-room before breakfast on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Wednesday, give all the chambers a thorough sweeping, and wash down the
stairs.

Thursday, sweep the bedroom and nursery, and wipe the paint. Put up the
clean clothes, after the cook folds them.

Friday, wash the windows and the piazzas.

Saturday, sweep the chambers, wash the bowls and pitchers in hot suds,
and scald the other vessels, unless they are washed in hot suds daily,
when they will not need it.

After doing the daily chamber-work, collect the lamps, and fix them in
this manner:

First pick up the wicks, and cut them off square (and for this purpose
keep sharp scissors), then clean all the black sediment from the tubes.
Wash them in suds as hot as you can bear your hand in, and wipe them
dry with a cloth kept clean for the purpose, and used for nothing else.
Be careful not to fill them full, lest the oil swell and run over.
Screw them very tight, and see that the little air-hole is kept open,
or the lamp will not burn.

Wash the outside of the oil filler, and wipe the scissors clean. Wash
the cloths used in fresh, clean suds, dry them, and then put them in
their place. Wipe the basin used, and put it in its place.

After cleaning the lamps, wash and scour the knives, thus:

Wash them first, and be careful not to put the handles in the water.
Wipe them dry, and then scour them with Bath brick, and a cork dipped
in soft soap. Never rub a knife on a board in scouring it, as it wears
it out very fast.

After scouring, do not wash them, but wipe them with a dry cloth, and
be careful to get the brick out from between the fork tines. Use a
small stick prepared for the purpose. If the handles are soiled by
scouring, wipe them with a damp cloth.

Lay the large knives in one side of the knife basket, and the small
ones the other side, and put the handles of the knives one way, and the
handles of the forks the opposite way.

Always fill the boiler after you take out dish water, lest the cook be
disturbed by your neglecting it.

Arrange the china-closet in order, after putting up the breakfast
dishes. Dishes not often used must be wiped when used.

In doing chamber-work, turn up the vallance of the beds, set the
windows open, brush down cobwebs, move every moveable article, to sweep
under it, and _sweep with short strokes_.

Always hang the cloths kept for wiping bowls and pitchers on the towel
frames, and use them for nothing else.

Have a dust cloth with a loop for every room, and put it in the wash
once a fortnight.

Wash the breakfast dishes thus:--Rinse the cups, scrape the plates very
clean, put the bits of butter on the butter plate, and empty all the
slops into the slop bowl, and then empty it.

First wash the glass things with a swab in suds, as hot as possible,
wiping each one as soon as taken out of the water. When glass is very
cold, put a little warm water in it before putting it into the hot
suds, or you will crack it.

Next wash the silver and Britannia, wiping each as soon as taken out.
Then wash the other articles.

Keep the castors bright and clean, and well filled. Wipe the salt
spoons dry, and do not lay them so as to touch the salt. If the salt is
damp, take it out and dry it, mashing it to powder.

Wipe off the china-closet shelves every day, and Saturdays wash them.

Rub the silver and Britannia every Saturday, after washing them.

       *       *       *       *       *

In the Domestic Economy, at p. 318, will be found directions for
washing dishes _in the kitchen_, which are to be hung over the sink.

Every family must vary somewhat from all others in its routine of
family work, and it often is the case, that such written directions
will be of little or no use to domestics. But the fact of having them
written, and the reading of them over to all new-comers, as what is
expected of them, and occasional reference to them, as what was agreed
on when making the bargain, often will be of much service. And it is an
aid to the housekeeper herself, who is liable to forget many things in
teaching new-comers their duties.