PART FIRST.

THOUGHTS AND MAXIMS ON HOUSEKEEPING.

> THE
PRACTICAL HOUSEKEEPER.

> PART I.
THOUGHTS AND MAXIMS ON HOUSEKEEPING.

> CHAPTER I.

DR. STARK says, "The only test of the utility of knowledge is its promotion of the happiness of mankind." Viewed thus, the subject we are about to treat presents claims superior to most others, and is eminently worthy of study. The superintendence of a house, and the management, forethought, domestic economy, and good sterling sense requisite for the discharge of this duty, demand application and perseverance, and ought to receive as much, at least, as is bestowed on the acquisition of music, painting, or any of the ornamental accomplishments. Young ladies are educated to shine in society; would it not be well if they were also sedulously taught--by a system of training--to perform the homely duties which make home the abode of comfort?

It has been said that Americans in general have little attachment to home. Often, indeed, is the domestic comfort, so prized in England, absent from the abodes even of the wealthy, in our land. May not this undeniable fact, and the roving propensity of young people in this country, be attributable to the circumstance that girls, whose condition exempts them from servitude, are brought up wholly without reference to home duties? Even those who may depend on their own labor for a subsistence, are taught some trade, or superficially qualified as teachers, or instructed in various branches of needlework; while they know little or nothing of household matters; though such knowledge would enable them to command an independence. It is not alone the wife and mother who should be skilled in domestic affairs; every girl who has emerged from childhood, is liable to be called on to take charge of a house. If the mother is bedridden, or deceased, why should the father of daughters sixteen or eighteen years old be compelled to look elsewhere for a housekeeper, and intrust the management to the hands of a stranger?

The general cultivation of this valuable knowledge, too, would make the occupation of a "help," or servant, more acceptable to thousands who now prefer starvation in a garret, or the ruin of health in sedentary employments. The more attention is turned to this branch of learning, the more will its importance be recognized, and the higher place will it assume in the list of useful arts; and a degree of respect being accorded to those who excel, more will be found ready to engage in it as a profession. What an improvement would be made, by such a result, in our social and domestic life!

We would not be understood to say


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that we would have a woman merely an upper servant in the house it is her province to guide, or that we undervalue intellectual attainments and elegant occupations. But it will not detract from the charm of these, nor from the dignity of the well-bred lady--to be familiar with the routine of domestic duties, well acquainted with the minutiæ of household economy, and competent to direct, or if need be, teach her servants; ay, even, to do things herself in cases of necessity. On the other hand, will it not enhance admiration and strengthen regard, to see that she possesses these acquirements, and is willing to exercise them to promote the comfort of others? Who can tell that she may not, at some period of life, be thrown into circumstances where the mere fine lady would be utterly helpless, or where intellectual refinement and distinguished position may prove less available than industry, ingenuity, and practical common sense?

What is a kingdom, a merchant's counting-house, or a mechanic's workshop without a head? We do not mean a mere master, but a presiding intellect to plan, contrive, direct, and guide. Not less absolute or important is the rule of a sensible woman in her own home. She has full scope for the exercise of good taste, prudence, and refinement. She is invested with an amount of responsibility she perhaps never dreamed of, for her influence over the temper, habits, actions, and dispositions of those about her is very great, and great in proportion should be her self-government, for with self the command must begin, if it is to be worth having.

There is much talk, nowadays, about the "rights" and "mission" of woman. Without entering into the merits of the subject, we would only say, that if women, from the highest to the lowest, were systematically educated to wield properly the great power they indubitably possess--a power which can be made to move the secret springs of action and the machinery of business--they would have little reason to complain of the want of influence; and were they so trained to enter actively and energetically into domestic employments and affairs, that none could deem it a pursuit unworthy of them, they would find ample scope for the exercise of their faculties, and the acquisition of means to live.

There is a medium, however, in all things. A woman who worries all within her reach by her ultra-housewifery, who damps one down with soap and water, poisons one with furniture polish, takes away one's appetite by the trouble there is about cooking the simplest thing, and fidgets one by over-done tidiness and cleanliness, is almost as much to be avoided as a downright slut, or the veriest simpleton who ever took counsel with her stupid servant as to how long a potato ought to be boiled; she exercises a pernicious influence on all, and is a misery to herself and others.

Neither would we have domestic economy and home duties vaunted, or made the constant theme of conversation; they are the private employments of a woman; she must study other things in order to entertain her relatives and friends. Those who talk most of their duties are generally those who perform them most imperfectly. When a man returns to his home, or enters his sitting-room, fatigued and perhaps disappointed by the business of the day, he does not want to be annoyed by the detail of domestic accidents, the misdemeanors of servants, and the cheating of tradespeople; he has had his worries during the day, too, and, with that pride, or reserve, or want of confidence which is peculiar to most men, he perhaps keeps them to himself. Let his example be followed in all cases where advice, or support, or assistance is not absolutely necessary,


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and pleasant, cheerful themes be chosen, or some amusement selected which shall render the evening and leisure hours those of relaxation and enjoyment, and tend to give a charm and zest to home which no other place can possess. Men are free to come and go as they list, they have so much liberty of action, so many out-door resources if wearied with in-doors, that it is good policy, if nothing else, to make home attractive as well as comfortable.

An education in household matters should be complete--comprising the knowledge requisite for use in all departments.

Many a girl can make good pastry, jellies, &c., for an evening party, and being much complimented for her labors by those who relish the produce, forthwith fancies herself a capital housewife, while, in all probability, she scarcely knows how vegetables are cooked, is profoundly ignorant of the prices of the commonest articles of daily consumption, and could not tell of what material a housecloth ought to be made. And how few there are who could, in case of need, make a cup of good gruel, or a glass of white-wine whey, or even a little broth or barley-water! We do not say that they could not manage to produce something resembling these things, but the capricious appetite of the invalid would reject the tasteless messes. Many have suffered martyrdom from this one neglected branch of female education.

Perhaps few branches of female education are more useful than great readiness in figures. Accounts should be regularly kept, and not the smallest article omitted to be entered. If balanced every week or month, the income and outgoings will be ascertained with facility, and their proportions to each other duly observed. Some people fix on stated sums to be appropriated to each different article, as house, clothes, pocket, education of children, &c. Whatever may be the amount of household expenditure, a certain mode should be adopted and strictly adhered to. Besides the regular account-book, in which the receipt of money and every payment should be regularly entered, a common-place book should be always at hand for the entry of observations regarding agreements with servants, tradesmen, and various other subjects, so as to enable the lady at once to ascertain the exact state of the affairs under her immediate management.

A minute account of the annual income and the times of payment should be taken in writing; likewise an estimate of the supposed amount of each article of expense; and those who are early accustomed to calculations on domestic articles will acquire so accurate a knowledge of what their establishment requires, as will enable them to keep the happy medium between prodigality and parsimony.

Some aver that they have no capacity for this matter, no taste for that. But if the things referred to are duties, cultivate a taste--perserve in endeavoring to improve a capacity for them. This world is a beautiful one, spite of what grumblers say, and thousands would find it a much happier one if they studied more what they ought to do, and sought their pleasure or indulged their fancies less. Every human being exercises some influence on the character, happiness and destinies of others, and is accountable for opportunities wasted, and blessings neglected or transformed. This is especially true of women. Every sensible, high-minded, right-hearted woman, be she peeress or peasant--is, or may be, a blessing to many; if not by great deeds or achievements the world calls heroic, by a simple, quiet, straightforward performance of the duties which lie before her, and are therefore given her to do.

As it is the business of man to provide the means of living comfortably, so it is the province of woman to dispose judiciously of those means, and maintain order and harmony in all things. On her due performance of her part rest the comfort and social peace of home; while misery and ruin follow her neglect. Some women, it is true, are placed in an unnatural position by having the burden of supporting the family thrown upon them. They have double duties, and a harder part to sustain; but their toils may be materially lightened by care and method in what they have to do.

So much by way of exordium. We shall now proceed through the various matters appertaining to a house, endeavoring to present a clear chart of the necessary business, pointing out hidden rocks, and showing how these may be avoided, and the vessel sent to float in calm waters. With much labor we have collected information on all subjects that fall within the proper scope of housekeeping; and multifarious as these are, it is our belief that she who consults our index will be sure to find whatever she can wish to know.

> CHAPTER II.

THAT sensible and oft-quoted old lady, Mrs. Glasse, begins one of her recipes thus: "First catch your hare." Following so good an example, we will first take a house and furnish it, before laying down axioms for its management.

Before any steps are taken, the income or pecuniary means of the parties about to commence housekeeping, should be well considered. It is not well to rush into matrimony without due attention to such sublunary matters as dollars and cents; for the notion that when once a couple is married, all will go right, is a foolish one. A young man with an income of four or five hundred dollars, every cent of which has been annually swallowed up by his own expenses, falls in love with a young lady who can sing and play well, speak French and produce marvels in the way of crochet or ornamental work, who loves sentimental poetry and romance, and can trim herself a neat bonnet; but knows little of the realities of life. Having never known what it is to want any thing--she has no idea that any thing can be wanted. The young man feels certain in his own mind that a wife will be an actual saving to him; and makes an eloquent declaration of his affection. The prospect for the future is but slender; for he ignores the fact that he has been accustomed to spend half his income on clothes and amusements, which he does not think of doing without; and she forgets how much she is in the habit of spending on gloves, ribbons, perfumes, et cetera. When they are married--the bridal dress and entertainment not being reckoned among their expenses--they find themselves fettered by a thousand inconveniences, and obliged to deny themselves travelling and many other kinds of recreation; more than that, they discover that the etiquette of this enlightened age, imperiously demands reckless expenditure, when common sense would advise more than usual economy; and without losing the social position they aim to preserve, they can do nothing but submit. What an effect on the success of after-life must be such a beginning!

However, we do not consider it our mission to enter on Quixotic quarrels with the ways of the world. It is, as our young people soon find--

"A very good world to live in,
To lend, to spend, or to give in;
But to beg, or borrow, or get one's own,
'Tis the very worst world that ever was known."

In taking a house, the first matters to


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be considered, are the rent we can afford to give, or the money that can be devoted to its purchase, and the locality that suits us best.

A dwelling in town affords many opportunities for social intercourse, amusement, and the acquisition of general knowledge; a suburban residence offers some advantages in healthiness of location and convenience. The remote country has a distinct class of enjoyments, though want of society often makes time pass slowly. Where locality is not specified, always choose one as open and airy as may be, and where the soil, or at any rate the subsoil, is not clay, where the drainage is good, and there is an ample supply of water, and no neighboring factories giving out noxious gases and poisonous smoke and vapor. Too close a vicinity to a churchyard is likewise to be avoided. Of course, the house must be capable of accommodating the family who are to occupy it, and there should always be a spare room or two which can be used for bed-rooms, or other purposes in case of emergency. There should be closets, cellars, &c., and good ventilation front and back. A fee to a well-qualified surveyor is often well bestowed; for he may detect serious faults in a house which, to an ordinary observer, seems well built and comfortable.

The agreement with the landlord should be clearly understood, and all liabilities as to taxes, local rates, house repairs, with charges for fixtures, &c., inquired into, and definitely arranged, before the agreement is signed.

It will be well for every house to have some shelter at its entrance; a porch or portico, in a style regulated by that of the rest of the building, will be found useful. A hall, vestibule, or entry, is essential, and the size and location of the staircases considerably affect the convenience of the dwelling. The dining-room should be so placed that the way to it from the kitchen is easy, and yet so that the noise or odors do not prove annoying. The general style of the drawing-room should be light and cheerful; that of the library plain and quiet. The bed-chambers should be as lofty and spacious as possible, and so contrived that a thorough draught can be obtained, to change the air completely. Each should have a chimney fireplace. Small closets and recesses are to be avoided as sleeping apartments. The nursery should be near the chamber of the mistress.

Dressing and bath-rooms should be as uniformly attached to bed-rooms as the size of the house and means of the owner will permit; the bath is an indispensable convenience. Every house should be provided with two water-closets at least. In large establishments, a breakfast-room looking eastward and with glass doors opening on a garden or lawn, a billard-room for exercise within doors, a room for hunting and fishing tackle, a gallery for music, paintings, or statuary, a lady's boudoir or sitting-room tastefully ornamented, a school-room, and domestic laboratory, with a conservatory, are convenient additions. A number of rooms for domestic offices are connected with the house, and various cellars, as well as separate buildings, appropriated to many different purposes--which we shall not describe particularly. The kitchen will be examined under another head.

In contriving the mode of warming a house, attention should be paid not merely to economy of fuel, but to the preservation of a salubrious atmosphere. A chimney fireplace or grate is preferable to a stove, which is apt to give the air a close or disagreeable smell, and produce headache and stupor. Count Rumford imagined that the hot iron roasted the dust that settled on it, which dust was composed of all sorts of animal and vegetable matters; others complain of


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the extreme dryness of the air. Stoves of brick or earthenware, used in various parts of Europe, are said to be better than iron; but all close stoves are liable to the objection, that in using them it is difficult to change the air continually, or procure proper ventilation. The same difficulties prevail, to some extent, in warming a house by a furnace, and the dryness of the air is often productive of discomfort. Steam might afford an agreeable and convenient method of warming apartments. Of all the modes usually adopted, the advantage seems to lie with the open fire. The temperature should be steady and not too high: say 60° or 62°. Apartments in our cities are generally kept at a dangerous degree of heat. Bed-rooms should not be warmed, more than to have the "outside chill" taken off.

Ventilation is a very important consideration. The atmospheric air in breathing loses the constituent that sustains life, and must be got rid of, and replaced by air that is fresh and pure. This change of air should be continually going on in our apartments. Windows that open at the top are useful, the vitiated air ascending to the ceiling. The practice of sleeping in rooms not sufficiently ventilated, is utterly destructive to health. It should be remembered also that the vital part of air is exhausted by a burning light. It would be well to have a ventilator in the centre of the ceiling, which can be concealed by ornamental work in plaster; and in the admission of fresh air, care should be taken that it does not come in a direct stream, so as to produce unpleasant draughts.

It is often necessary to fumigate or disinfect the air contaminated by noxious effluvia. Muriatic acid and nitric acid fumes have been employed for this purpose, and chlorine, a most effectual agent in destroying noxious qualities in the air, is generally employed. Chloride of lime and chloride of soda are used as the most convenient preparations. The latter is called Labarraque's Disinfecting Liquid. Vinegar is used in sick rooms, and quick lime, alone or mixed with ashes, in sinks, sewers, &c.

Having taken our house, it generally wants a thorough cleaning and airing. In spring, autumn, and winter, fires should be kept for three or four days, according to the time the house has been empty, and to the repairs it has undergone during that interval; for of course nobody ought to enter a house in the state of dirt and disrepair in which it is usually left by an out-going tenant, or if they do so under the notion that the landlord will set it all to rights after they are in, they will find out their mistake, and repent their confidence.

It sometimes happens that the chief rooms are not papered and painted until the house is let. In such case the in-coming tenant generally has the power of choosing the papers, or panellings, and paint. He will, of course, select such as will best harmonize with the color which the furniture and hangings should have.

We will now suppose the house taken, cleaned thoroughly, and well aired, and will proceed to furnish it. But first we must pause to observe that young people will do well carefully to consider matters before they take upon themselves the troubles and responsibilities of housekeepers. Where their joint savings, or some sum especially bestowed for the purpose by friends or parents, will enable them to make the necessary outlay for furniture, linen, &c., and yet have something left to put by for "a wet day," and the rent and taxes can be afforded by the income of the husband, it is all well and good. But if money must be borrowed, or debts incurred, begin life in the quietest way, rather than with these incumbrances. Take board or apartments


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for a time, until you see your way clear. From $150 to $400 a year will pay for part of a house in a city, and much less in a village. Board can be obtained in respectable houses at four or five dollars a week and upwards in our largest towns. There are some disadvantages in this mode of living. It is customary to say that boarders are victimized; one is sometimes brought into contact with disagreeable individuals, who become enemies if they find they are not received in a sociable or friendly manner; and on the whole, it is wiser to keep house with three or four rooms. There are always respectable families to be found, who will let a set of apartments.

Now to the business of furnishing a house.

> CHAPTER III.

HERE again the unsentimental consideration of dollars and cents obtrudes itself. The limit to which we can go is dependent upon the funds in hand which may be expended without incurring debt or causing inconvenience.

It would be curious to trace the history of furniture in different ages and countries. But we have no space for such a review. The taste has been revived of late years, for pieces of ancient furniture, and the skill of cabinetmakers has been brought into requisition to produce imitations of the antique style, or tasteful restorations, by the putting together of fragments, interesting from singular or historical associations.

Window curtains contribute much to the comfort and elegance of apartments, tempering the light, and excluding the cold air. They may be of various patterns and materials.

The hall, or entry, should be furnished with an umbrella and hat stand, and chairs or hall seats. If there is a closet for hanging up hats, cloaks, &c., it should be near the door. Door scrapers should always be placed at the entrance.

> PICTURES ON THE WALL.

Pictures, if well chosen, add much to the appearance of a room, and impart to it an air of completeness, and a home look, which many people know how to appreciate. To produce this effect, the subjects of the pictures must be such as we can truly sympathize with, something to awaken our admiration, reverence, or love. All the feelings of our nature may be illustrated by pictures. There are some which we seem to make bosom companions of; others have a moral effect, and at times prevent our going astray by their silent monitions. It is, therefore, worth while to take pains and choose good subjects, whether in engravings or paintings, and to frame and hang them suitably when chosen. Gilt frames are most suitable for rather dark paintings, and on a deep colored wall; while prints look well in a frame of composition, oak, rose-wood, or bird's-eye maple, finished with a gilt moulding. Care should be taken to hang them in a proper light, so as best to bring out all the effects of the pictures, and to place them so that the light shall fall from the same side as represented by the painter. In picture galleries and great houses, brass rods are fixed all around the room close to the ceiling, from which the pictures are hung, but in small rooms it is often best not to show the lines or wires by which the pictures hang. This is done by nailing a strong cord across the back, about two inches below the top, and then suspending it from two nails standing out but a little way from the wall. When there are several pictures in a room, the ordinary rule is, to have either the upper or lower edge of the frames in a line, on whichever side they may be hung.

For bed-room furniture, mahogany, maple-wood, and oak, are the best and prettiest; there are also very serviceable, well-polished, stained wood imitations of all these three; and there are, too, very common and trumpery imitations, which turn shabby in a few months, and are generally badly put together, and do no service; two good chairs are worth a dozen of such rubbish.

As a general rule we should advise avoidance of all cheap, showy furnishing establishments: likewise, unless you are wealthy, of all fashionable upholsterers. Patronize good, old-established houses of business.

Never buy second-hand bedsteads, bedding, or hangings, unless you are well convinced that no more than you bargain for is included in the purchase.

Iron and brass bedsteads, which can now be had of every size, form, and price, are far preferable, both as regards health, cleanliness, and lightness, to any others.

It can scarcely be necessary to repeat how injurious to health are very small bed-rooms, and the same rule will apply to curtains which prevent the change of air, compelling us to breathe over again a portion of the air we have expired. The curtains should never enclose the bed. In low chambers, the bed should be near the floor, and the best place for it is at the middle of the side of the room, not touching the wall.

Chintz or dimity are better for bed-furniture than damask, moreen, or any fabric containing wool; they harbor less dust and are less liable to hide vermin.

Three-ply carpets are best adapted for bed-rooms. Never place carpet under a bed, or you provide a resting-place for all the dust and flock which daily falls from the mattresses, and establish a nice hot-bed for fleas. Let the carpet be made in about three pieces, in order that it may be frequently taken up and beaten or shaken, and the floor scrubbed clean.

Soft feather beds cause an undue warmth that weakens the action of the skin, and makes one susceptible to cold. A well stuffed feather bed, or a mattress, should be used. Good mattresses of wool, and wool and horsehair, iron bedsteads, and as little bed-furniture, curtains, &c., as may be, with a light quilt, are the best preventives against rising languid, inert, and unfit in the morning for the duties of the day. The covering should be light. A wide bed affords the luxury Franklin recommends, of moving from side to side, and a bed should have but one occupant.

Bed-room and dressing-room chairs should be light. Couches, tables, dressing-glasses, wash-stands, &c., are necessary articles, and the couches may be made of cheap materials, covered with chintz or brown holland. Bureaus and ward-robes will not be forgotten. Fireguards of painted wire are a security against accidents. Of the smaller articles in use a host might be enumerated; but everyday need will suggest them.

Never crowd a bed-room with furniture; have that which is really useful and requisite, and no more; and in fitting it up, always remember that illness often comes when we least expect it, and take care that your room shall possess such articles as will then be needful for comfort and ease.

A dining-room requires little furniture but that little should be good and handsome, and of mahogany.

About furnishing drawing-rooms we can give no directions, so much depends upon taste. We would only reiterate our warning to beware of showy, veneered, vamped-up furniture, or, when the room has had a fire in it some dozen times, you will be startled occasionally by reports as if small cannon were discharged, and on rising to investigate such alarming noises, you will find, perhaps a crack across one door of the beautiful rosewood


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cabinet, or a gaping chasm in that lovely centre table, or a piece of carved work flown off the card table, showing only pine beneath!

Here, again, a little furniture tastefully arranged is far better than a crowd of articles; besides, in one's course through life, furniture accumulates gradually, and if it is necessary to sell one thing in order to make way for another, that is a very losing business.

We now come to the kitchens, where the wants are multifarious; for here must be accumulated means of feeding, and cleaning, and keeping in order the whole house. Of course we can give no detailed account of what will be required, as all depends upon the extent and style of the household; all we can do, therefore, is to make one or two general remarks on the durability of different wares.

As few copper cooking utensils as possible should be had, and those few should be most thoroughly tinned in the inside, and always carefully cleaned and dried before being put away. We prefer block tin to anything else for saucepans, pots, and kettles generally. Iron does not so quickly or plainly tell any tale of dirt or neglect; cast iron is very brittle, and cannot be repaired when broken; and copper is likely to harbor verdigris. A good double block tin saucepan should always have the cover, the handle, and the back, kept bright as silver; and the top, spout, front, and handle of the kettle, should also be kept bright; for besides that a polished surface maintains heat better than an uneven, blackened one, it looks wonderfully better; and if the smoke is never allowed to gather on these parts, it is easy to keep the utensils as bright as they were at first.

For stewpans, iron tinned on the inside is most useful.

The ancients seem to have used lamps of various forms; an improvement on torches, certainly, but a more simple contrivance than candles, which in the twelfth century and afterwards, came into use throughout Europe. Wax, spermaceti, and tallow, with different kinds of oil for lamps of an improved fashion, are still in use. Spirit gas and camphene are cleanly substitutes, but extremely dangerous. The lighting of apartments by inflammable gas is one of the most useful results of the investigations of modern science. It is said that Murdoch, an engineer, was the first to make this discovery available on an extensive scale. He commenced his experiments in 1792.

Candlesticks for common house or kitchen use should be of tin or brass, and large enough to save grease spots. There is no wear in japan.

Wooden bowls for washing glass and china, and block tin or zinc hand bowls will be found most serviceable.

All utensils for the conveyance of water about a house should be of metal, as water-cans of different sizes, hot-water ewers with covers, shaving mugs, &c., as thereby much breakage will be saved, and these, if bought good at first, will, with ordinary care, last a very long time. The same remark applies to foot-baths. Very pretty toilet sets for the wash-stand are also now made in zinc, and beautifully painted or japanned.

Sarcophagus and other extraordinarily shaped coal-scuttles, are to be avoided as most troublesome and awkward affairs, out of which it is next to impossible to extract coal conveniently.

Soyer gives the following list of kitchen articles for a family of six.

Eight copper stewpans, two larger ones, holding one gallon and a half, and the next one gallon, the others smaller by degrees to one pint; one oval fish-kettle, holding about one gallon and a half; one middle-sized braising-pan; one preserving-pan; one round bowl for beating whites of eggs; two sauté-pans; one omelette-pan; one frying-pan; one bain-marie;


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six saucepans for sauces; one middle-sized tin pie-mould; two tin jelly-moulds; one tin flanc mould for fruit; one freezing-pot, with every requisite; two baking-sheets; one gridiron; one small salamander; one colander-spoon; one bottle-jack; two spits; one dripping-pan; one screen; one sugar-pan; two soup-ladles; eight copper spoons, two of them colanders; two wire baskets; one wire sieve; two hair sieves; twenty-four tartlet-pans; two tammies; one jelly-bag; twelve wooden spoons; two paste-brushes; one pair of scissors; two kitchen knives; six larding-needles; one packing-needle; one box of vegetable-cutters; one box of paste-cutters; one meat-saw; one cutlet chopper; one meat chopper; six meat-hooks, tinned; one rolling-pin; eight kitchen basins; six china pie-dishes; six earthen bowls for soups and gravies; four kitchen table-cloths; eighteen rubbers; twelve fish-napkins; six pudding-cloths; four round towels.

> CHAPTER IV.

WITH regard to all those articles which fall under the general denomination of "plate," we should advise that all imitations be avoided; let those who cannot afford silver be content to use simple metal, which does not pretend to be more than it really is. All the imitations of silver will, even with the utmost care, betray themselves in a very short time, and have a would-be-genteel-if-I-could sort of air, which is ten thousand times more ridiculous than the plainest of all materials; besides, the money they cost would purchase a few real articles, which are always worth their weight in silver, whereas the imitations have only a nominal value, and lose even that as they become discolored and dull.

Metal tea and coffee pots may be had very good, and in handsome patterns, and are far more durable than china, drawing better, and retaining heat longer.

The following is a list of the usual articles in silver required to furnish the table.

Dishes and covers.

Table knives and forks.

Dessert knives and forks.

Table spoons.

Dessert spoons.

Gravy spoons.

Soup ladles.

Sauce ladles.

Salt spoons, with gilt bowls.

Fish slice.

Trays and waiters.

Bread baskets.

Cake baskets.

Decanter stands.

Decanter labels.

Liqueur and bottle stands.

Cruet frames.

Egg frames.

Asparagus tongs.

Cheese scoops.

Knife rests.

Nut crackers.

Grape scissors.

Tea urns.

Coffee urns.

Tea pots.

Coffee filterers.

Sugar basin.

Cream ewers.

Sugar tongs.

Tea spoons.

Toast racks.

Butter coolers.

Snuffer trays.

Snuffers.

Candlesticks.

Cheap cutlery is mistaken economy. Good knives and forks will, with ordinary care, last for years; common ones have no wear in them, and never can be made to cut well.

Crockery, china, and glass, we need say little about, for they may be had at all prices and of all qualities. The moulded or cast glass looks as well as cut glass, if not placed in contrast with it, and wears as long, and costs considerably less. For dishes, pitchers, butter-coolers, &c., we should always use it; decanters, wine-glasses, and tumblers, do not look so well in it.

As regards ornamental china, or glass, or what not, little can be said, these things being so much matters of taste; but it is better to have but one, and that one really handsome and good, than a crowd of cheap, showy trifles; besides, these are things which gradually accumulate, and therefore it is always better to devote the money in hand to necessary articles, and leave the more ornamental ones for after consideration. A good clock for the kitchen, and a handsome one for the drawing-room, are useful and necessary things, especially the former.

In household linen, again, it is false


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economy to buy common or cheap materials. For sheets, linen, cotton, and Swiss twilled calico are used; these substances are now woven wide enough to render a seam unnecessary, and all we have to do is to measure the width of the beds and allow an extra half yard; the ordinary length of a sheet is three yards and a half. The pillow cases must be of the same material as the sheets. Marseilles quilts are too heavy to be beneficial to health. Any industrious housewife may knit very serviceable and pretty counterpanes in squares or shell-shaped pieces, during those periods when she is chatting, or between the lights, or at hours when she would otherwise most probably be doing nothing. It is for such useful purposes as these we value knitting, crochet, &c., for they can be made the means of economy and usefulness, instead of being, as they too often are, employed on useless expensive trifles.

The most durable sort of linen for sheeting is the Russian, German, or Irish fabric, a good stock of which should be laid in to avoid the necessity of frequent or irregular washing.

An inventory of furniture is given by Soyer as follows:--

Twelve pairs of sheets; ten ditto pillow-cases; three dozen napkins; two dozen and a half various-sized table-cloths, including breakfast, dinner, &c.; six servants' table-cloths; three dozen towels; six round towels; three dozen kitchen rubbers; two dozen napkins for fish, vegetables, and fruits; six pudding-cloths; two dozen damask d'oylies; one dozen Berlin wool ditto. I also have occasionally in the wash the cover of the carpet, the anti-macassars, which I have knitted at my leisure, and the netted window curtains. Of glass and china, I have the following; they are counted every month, and the broken ones replaced:--three dozen wine-glasses; two dozen champagne ditto: two dozen claret ditto; three dozen goblets; six water caraffes; six decanters; one liqueur-stand; twelve liqueur-glasses; two glass pitchers; one celery-glass; one trifle-bowl; eight dessert-dishes. China: one full dinner service; one common set for kitchen; one common tea service for kitchen; one good tea service; one breakfast service; one good dessert service.

The following is my list of plate:--three dozen prongs; two ditto table-spoons; one and a half ditto dessert-spoons; one and a half ditto dessert-forks; two ditto tea-spoons; six salt-spoons; one cheese-knife; four butter-knives; one asparagus-tongs; two sugar-tongs; two soup-ladles; four sauce-ladles; two gravy-spoons; two sugar-ladles; two salvers; one bread-basket; four candlesticks; one hot-water dish for haunch of mutton.

Table-cloths, tray-cloths, and dinner napkins will of course come under the category of "linen," and can be obtained at very reasonable prices compared with what they were twenty years since. Towels, too, are included in this list. In the case of chamber towels, again, comes diversity of opinion; some preferring a soft, others a hard, some a rough, and some a smooth towel; damask and diaper are not soft enough for some delicate skins. For our own part we like towels which administer a certain amount of friction to the skin, and all medical men agree that this is requisite to health. For the kitchen, round towels, tea-cloths, and glass-cloths, will be required, as well as dusters, pudding-cloths, knife-cloths, house-cloths, and flannels for cleaning. These will have to be purchased at the same time by young housekeepers newly furnishing, who "have no rags--poor things," and therefore may as well be mentioned here. Old sheets make good glass cloths; old table-cloths make nice soft towels; all


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dresses of cotton, or old dress-linings, will serve for dusters, and old blankets for house-flannels.

There are also needed toilet-covers for chamber tables, and chests of drawers, &c., carpet covers, muslin for chamber window-curtains, muslin for drapery for the toilet-table, coarse sheeting for dusting-sheets to cover the beds or drawing-room furniture when sweeping and cleaning; a yet coarser sheet to lay down in front of the stoves when they are being cleaned; chamois leathers for cleaning the plate, brass, steel, and windows; and bags for the best brooms.

Then we come to brushes, and their name is legion. Oh, this furnishing a house is a serious affair! a carpet-broom, a short-handled one for the stair carpets, a hair-broom for the bed-rooms, and another for the passages and kitchens; feather-brushes, dusting-brushes, stove-brushes, hearth-brushes, shoe-brushes, plate-brushes, paste-brushes, clothes-brushes, a hat-brush, and a table-brush to remove the crumbs from the table-cloth, are all needed; and these should be bought at a good warehouse, and of good quality, if we would have them do us service, and not fall to pieces, or lose their hair, as soon as they are fairly brought into use.

There are many items yet unmentioned, but it will not be requisite for us to waste our time, or that of our readers, by enumerating them all seriatim; we will therefore proceed to other matters.

> CHAPTER V

SUPPOSING now that we have our house, and it is furnished, the next thing to determine is how many servants can be afforded. Must we be content with one, a "general house-servant;" or can we afford a cook and housemaid, or even aspire to the gentility of a man-servant or a butler?

The expenses must be determined by the sum which can, without incurring debts or living too closely up to one's income, be devoted to "housekeeping," under which head we include rent, taxes, wages, and every outlay appertaining to the house. Now, in reckoning the expenses of a servant, the question of wages is not the only one to be considered; there is the board and washing; and $100, exclusive of wages, is the lowest at which the keep of each servant can be estimated.

In hiring servants always be particular in inquiring their character, and, if possible, learn something of the people with whom they have lived; let all stipulations as to wages, extras, holidays, and such matters, be clearly specified and rightly understood.

The greatest trouble in housekeeping in this country, is the difficulty of procuring and retaining good servants. In the Southern States this difficulty is not realized; their servants having been trained for the labor allotted to them, and being contented and happy in their condition without aspirations after change. But elsewhere, both in the city and country, the case is different. Men and women born in America look upon service as degrading to them, and will prefer any hardship or privation to engaging in it as a business. Those who do so for a time, are usually tormented with jealous fears that their dignity will be infringed on, or are found neither qualified nor trustworthy. Housekeepers are mainly dependent on the Irish and German emigrants, who as a rule are utterly ignorant of household service, and have to be taught everything; often receiving wages for months before they begin to make themselves useful. By the time they can be trusted to do the work, they are corrupted by intercourse with other servants,


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or persons who prompt them to make exactions on your time for visiting their numerous relatives from the old country, as well as to fill your kitchen with strangers, till the annoyance becomes intolerable. A complaint on this score from the employers is followed by an outbreak of insolence, and the abrupt departure of the servant you have taken such pains to teach;--and so unusual is it to find one who knows any thing--that she will readily get another place, perhaps with one of your neighbors who has envied you her possession.

An English lady gave this account of the progress of a favorite--"The first year she was a good servant; the second an indulgent mistress; the third an intolerable tyrant."

A good maxim is to select servants not younger than thirty; they are, as a rule, less fond of change, and better satisfied when really comfortable. But change is the order of things in the United States.

Respecting servants, there are a few things which cannot be too strongly urged; one is, never to retain a cook who is not fond of her occupation; for unless she take pleasure in her art, she cannot be depended upon for accuracy in the preparation of dishes with which she is well acquainted, and will not easily be induced to acquire any thing new. She also must possess a natural regard for cleanliness, or all the pains in the world will never render her cleanly: where dirty habits are manifested, dismissal should follow, for in almost every instance they will be found incurable. Another point of main importance is her temper; for if that be not good, she will be disinclined to receive instructions, and, if found fault with, may, out of pique, spoil a dinner; whereas a good-humored, intelligent servant, when made acquainted with the habits of the house, and equal to her common duties, will hardly fail of success when called upon by her mistress to try any of those receipts which she has not already used.

The low character of servants heard of at common intelligence offices has caused such places to be held in small esteem; for their recommendations can in no case be depended on. There are institutions in Great Britain which have for their object the security of housekeepers from the evils of disreputable and dishonest inmates. The officials are so minute in their inquiries into character, as to preclude the necessity of those who hire from their office taking any trouble themselves in the business. Servants whose characters will not bear the strictest investigation will scarcely apply to such institutions. They are sorely needed in this country.

It may be curious to see the list of servants which form the household of a British nobleman of high rank, or a wealthy citizen, who keeps from twenty to thirty domestics.

> Women.

Housekeeper.

A lady's maid for each grown lady of the family.

Cook.

Upper housemaid.

Laundry maid.

Under housemaid.

Under laundry maid.

Still room maid.

Kitchen maid.

Scullion.

(To this establishment that of the nursery is added.)

> Men.

House steward.

Groom of the chamber.

Valet to each gentleman in the family.

Man cook.

Butler.

Gentleman's footman.

Lady's footman.

Under butler.

Gentleman's coachman.

Lady's coachman.

Couriers. Outriders.

Grooms, in number according to the stud.

Under servants. Errand boys.

Steward's boy.

In the United States so many servants are rarely kept in one family, even among millionnaires, or in the Southern States;


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where, however, it is customary for each member of the family to have a separate attendant. An extensive establishment would perhaps number a coachman, groom, porter, footman, gardener, butler, and perhaps a valet and French cook; the female servants consisting of a housekeeper, cook, scullion, lady's maid, chambermaid, laundrymaid, nurse, and one or more maids-of-all-work. Indeed the most wealthy families keep less than half this number; and the average not more than three women and one man-servant. Those of slender income are content with one for "general house-work."

In all large establishments in England the men and women servants, in the intervals of their employments, are never allowed to sit in the same room, but have their separate places of resort, assembling together only at dinner and supper. It is the duty of the steward and housekeeper to see this regulation observed.

In servants generally we look for the essential qualities of integrity, sobriety, cleanliness, and general propriety in manner, with knowledge of their duties in the departments they profess to understand. A glance at some reprehensible practices among them may be useful, as every instance of pilfering and trickery accumulates odium on the whole class. One of the chief anxieties of housekeeping is the apprehension of the dishonesty of those who are under our roof and receiving bread from our hands; and suspicion, for which there is often just cause, injures both the employer and the employed. Cooks have been found to dispose of provisions in other ways than for the use of the family they serve. Presents are sometimes demanded by servants from the trades-people dealt with by the master. The so-called "honor," which prevents a servant from exposing the frauds and misconduct going on among others, is but another name for deception and dishonesty. The servant who knows of frauds and is silent, becomes an accomplice.

Though it is very disagreeable to suspect any one's honesty, it is yet prudent to weigh meat, sugar, &c., when brought in, and to compare the weight with the charge. Scales should be placed in the kitchen, near the door used by the tradespeople. The knowledge of such things as weights and scales being in use, will operate as a check to any petty fraud which might otherwise be contemplated.

In large establishments abroad the servants have sometimes an allowance of food, or are kept on board wages. The former system prevails on plantations at the South, among field laborers only; the servants in families, as in the Northern States, taking their meals immediately after, and on the remains of the family meals.

The perquisites of servants are, in many cases, so many encroachments on the property of their employers, who tacitly allow, while they in principle condemn the practice. There is no doubt that perquisites tend to corrupt the morals of domestics, placing their own interests in opposition to those of others, and offering temptation against which their integrity is not always proof. Among these objectionable customs, one that particularly calls for attention as an odious kind of taxation, is the practice of servants receiving vails, or presents in money, from visitors. It is a species of bribery for services which ought to be performed without it, and tends to make servants less attentive to those who cannot give them great pecuniary rewards. This custom has grown into disuse in England, and most highly respectable families make it a condition in hiring their servants, that they shall accept no such gifts, but when they are offered


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shall inform the visitor that it is contrary to the rule of the house to take them. It was formerly so usual in hotels in the United States for the attendants to expect gifts from the guests, that one could not obtain any service without it. I knew a party of travellers visiting Niagara, to leave the dining-room, unable to obtain any thing to eat, the waiters not attending to them. One who had been longer in the house, informed them they would not be served unless each person gave fifty cents to one of the waiters--who, in fact, were paid no wages, but allowed to extract all they could from travellers! This is downright swindling on the part of hotel proprietors, and no respectable landlord now permits such impositions. In all the first-class hotels in our cities, persons should be particularly requested to give no fees to servants. The charges per day at hotels certainly ought to cover ordinary attendance; extra services may be paid for. As some country people, and Southerners, when they travel, continue to give gratuities to servants, proprietors of public houses ought to be the more resolute in abolishing a practice tending to produce murmuring, discontent, and neglect of duties among their domestics. The caution should be inserted among the printed rules of the establishment, and the servants discharged who is known to receive any thing in this way.

Still more onerous and odious is the custom that inflicts a tax upon visitors in private families, in violation of the sacred obligations of hospitality. Such a burden is this felt to be, that many are compelled to refuse invitations to the houses of their friends on account of it. A Southern lady informed us that the expense of a short visit to one of her neighbors was made, by this necessity, to exceed what she would have paid at the highest rate of hotel fare. We found this the case on spending a day or so on a Virginia plantation at the invitation of the owner; each servant on the premises expecting gratuities. They learn, of course, to estimate the worth or standing of a guest by the amount bestowed on them, and frequently to treat with insolence or contempt those who cannot give so much. A "help" in New Jersey, was highly indignant at receiving a present of a mousseline de laine dress instead of a silk one, and declared she would not have it made up. We knew of another lady who emptied her purse to give five dollars each to several flaunting girls in the house where she was staying; though she was obliged to deny herself many things for want of the money. "If you do not give them something very elegant, they will make fun of you; nothing simple will please them;" said another lady when consulted on the subject. What a motive for liberality!

There are very few who have moral courage enough to be independent in such things, even though their charities have to be stinted in consequence; especially when it is known that the mistress frequently asks her servants what they received from her guests, and even draws conclusions founded on their information! So at the risk of inconvenience or impoverishment, the tax must be paid; though as a rule it is always paid with with secret dissatisfaction. What an insult to the name of hospitality is this!

The prevailing motive for this kind of liberality is not the charity which delighteth in giving--but a selfish fear of being thought penurious by one's friends, or of being ridiculed by saucy servants. We do not remember a single instance in which the custom,considered imperative, when the custom, considered imperative, when mentioned at all, has not been mentioned with condemnation. It should be utterly and for ever abolished. The mistress, in hiring a domestic, should make known her invariable rule that such


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things are not to be allowed, and should let it be known among all her friends.

We do not object to the largest kind of liberality in giving. The poor and needy have claims that meet us at every turn; and the most rigid self-denial to satisfy their just demands, is commendable. It is an excellent rule--"My superfluity must give way to my neighbor's convenience; my convenience to his necessity; my necessity to his destitution." In instances where our regard is attracted by a kind and faithful domestic in a friend's family, or where circumstances would render a gift peculiarly acceptable, it is pleasant to give and right to receive. We object to the system which makes present-giving compulsory without regard to the feelings or means of the donor, or the necessities of the receiver. And what well-bred lady who invites her friends for the pleasure of their society, would willingly have them feel under the necessity of putting themselves to inconvenience to give large fees to her servants, already well paid for the trifling services they render?

The custom which we have understood is actually prevalent in some places, of visitors "making up in presents" the expense incurred by their friends in hospitably entertaining them,--is certainly "better honored in the breach than the observance." What hospitality can there be, when an equivalent is offered and received? It would be more fair and open to make the bargain regularly in dollars and cents. The indirect exaction of compensation in this way, frequently beyond what could reasonably be charged, appears to us to be speculation without the s. Yet we occasionally hear of this as expected from visitors. A lady in Illinois once said to her guest: "I know you will want to make me some nice present before you go away; I will tell you what I would like: &c." A lady from the country who staid a fortnight with a city friend, left money when she went away to purchase "some sort of a present." All we have to say of this and every other practice tending to make gifts (which should be free as the love that ought alone to prompt them) in the slightest degree compulsory, is, that it is wrong, and entirely subversive of true friendship.

To return to our subject. It is in vain that societies are formed for the encouragement of faithful domestics, by giving premiums and high testimonials to those who serve a reasonable time in the same family. These last are not valued, where a choice of places can be had without them, and the roving disposition is fostered by the notion of independence and the certainty of being well paid for doing as one pleases.

The only protection to housekeepers from this endless source of discomfort, is to be found in correcting the mistaken notion among American girls that a place in domestic service is less honorable than the severer toils of seamstresses, binders, shopkeepers, or milliners' workwomen. If they could be persuaded, instead of wasting away their lives in health-destroying needlework, miserably paid for by speculators in female servitude,--to engage in the active and varied duties of domestics, secure of a good home and abundant wages--a new era would commence for American housewives.

Something might be done towards this end by regulating the hours devoted to household employments, in such a way as to leave a portion of the day for the girl's own time, which she is at liberty to employ as she pleases; and by encouraging her to use it in the acquirement of useful knowledge. "It requires a refined mind to dust properly;" and the cultivation of intellect will not be thrown away in any department. Let the humiliation of servitude be thus taken away, and persons who have seen better days will engage in the occupation.


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We would recommend the establishment of an Association in our large cities--to find suitable places for persons of a respectable class, stipulate for suitable privileges, and persuade them to this easy mode of earning a livelihood. The gratitude of the community would be due to such an institution.

> CHAPTER VI.

As a country cannot be governed without laws, neither can a household; and the mistress should be as absolute in her own house as a sovereign in her dominions. Order and regularity are the key-stones to comfort, and our housewife must carefully arrange and digest her scheme of government in the first place, and be always alive to any modifications which emergencies, or prudence, or circumstances, may call for. And she must understand what she is about, or her scheme will be worthless; she must be able to teach, nay, to demonstrate upon occasions; she must be regular in her own habits if she would have those about her regular, neat in all that concerns herself, attentive to the details of housekeeping, economical, just, active, and considerate. She must neither hold the reins of government loosely and negligently, nor too sternly, but must quietly exercise a general and regular surveillance over every part of her house and household; and this can be done without tyranny, without vexatious interference, or exhibitions of temper. Let the servants once feel that this is her habit, and they will act accordingly; and if the place is good, conduct themselves so as to endeavor to please and keep it. And it is the interest, as well as duty, of every mistress, to make her servants comfortable; to see that they have a sufficiency of good food, that they are well lodged; that they have time to mend and wash their own clothes, nay, that they know how to do so, and do it.

"Do not send your clothes home to your mother to wash and mend," said a friend of ours to a new servant; "you will have plenty of time to arrange them yourself."

"Please, mum, I don't know how!" replied the girl.

"Well, Mary, you shall be taught, then, for it is time you did know how!"

"But please, mum, I don't want to learn!" said the girl; and learn she would not, for the foolish indulgence which leads mothers to spare their children all occupations they do not like, is as prevalent among the poorer as among other classes.

To return: a mistress need never forget herself, nor weaken her authority, nor show any false indulgence; but in numerous ways she will have the opportunity of endeavoring to guide, to advise, and to benefit those dependent upon her; but she must be patient, if she would really do good. She must remember what may have been the early education, the trials and temptations, the experiences of those girls, and must not expect too much from them. As we have before said, she must hold the reins of government with a firm hand; she must not overlook neglect of duties, irregularities of conduct, want of order or cleanliness, or inattention to her commands; but she can notice these things quietly, without loss of temper, and when alone with the offender; and she can also notice and praise neatness, attention, obedience, and such like, and not accept the good as mere matters of course, and only mark the evil. She should likewise endeavor to induce her servant, by example and precept, to be regular in attendance on religious worship, and make Sunday to them in some degree a day of rest, instead of one of extra cooking and


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work, and should have a supply of those excellent little works to lend them, which are published by the religious societies. While she inculcates economy in things relating to herself, she should try to induce them to save; to put by regularly a certain portion of their wages, and not be extravagant in clothes, but make and mend their things properly.

There is little saved by giving paltry wages; a useful servant will not accept them, and those who do, cannot clothe themselves respectably, and will too often eke out their means by peculation. It is well to begin with moderate wages, and promise an annual increase, which promise both induces a wish to please, and takes away one great excuse for leaving, viz., a desire of "bettering herself." Even in the present "degenerate age," attached servants are to be found, and may be created. We are all more or less human, and human affections and home ties act upon us; we learn to love those who are kind, courteous, and considerate; we value the notice and regard of our superiors, and we take a certain pride in deserving their good opinion. The fault lies in that antagonism of classes, that want of understanding each other, that forgetfulness that all are fellow-creatures, that tendency to regard each other as mutual enemies to be conquered or circumvented.

But we will pass to another topic. The amount of the income will determine what sum can be allowed per annum for housekeeping; for besides, there will be clothing expenses to be provided for, sundries of various kinds, expenses of illness, on which we must all reckon, and there ought to be a reserve fund regularly laid by to provide for any unforeseen emergency, or form the "nest egg" of a provision for a rising family. Well, suppose the sum determined! the next question is, how to apportion it so as to combine economy with comfort, and secure a regular and uniform style of living; not luxuries to-day and parsimony to-morrow. Now, how can our young housekeeper do this, if she knows little or nothing of the prices of provisions; if she scarcely remembers when things are in season and may be purchased at a reasonable rate, and when they are actual extravagances; if she has no idea what quantity of this or that ought to be consumed, by a family of a certain size, per week or per month; and, above all, if she has little aptitude for domestic management, and considerable contempt for all such vulgar details? Few who have read that truthful sketch of Dickens, the "child-wife," will forget the pretty helplessness of Dora; but, although this reads well in a novel, very few such girls, and there are many of them, will meet with husbands as indulgent; for men like to see their home well ordered, and to feel the comforts of good management. Every girl, or almost every girl, looks upon marriage as the great aim and end of her existence; but unfortunately, she regards it, as it is treated in novels, as the concluding chapter, the entrance to that "and-lived-happily-ever-after" state of bliss which we read of in fairy tales. And certainly it is the entrance to a new life, though not one so rose-colored as she dreamed; it takes her from the home where she has been nurtured, cared for, provided for, perhaps petted and indulged, and places her where she will have to be the presiding intelligence; where all will look to her for guidance and instruction; where her happiness and comfort, and that of her husband, will depend upon how she is qualified to fulfil the duties she has undertaken. Mothers, wishing to have your daughters well married, how have you prepared them for the duties you well know they will have to perform? Perhaps you were domestically educated, for our grandmothers were more careful


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in their generation, and thought it no degradation to be good housewives! Perhaps you have had to fight your way through a host of painful lessons, of annoyances, losses, and domestic worries. Do you never look back upon that miserable time, and feel anxious to spare your children a similar probation? Life, even at its best, has enough of painful experiences, without our doubling them by neglecting to teach each individual, in proper time, the things she will be expected to know when she reaches woman's estate.

Every housekeeper should keep a strict account of all her expenditures; should see that each bill is receipted when paid; should file all receipts, and keep them for a year at least--we should rather say two or three. All housekeeping bills should be paid every week, for it is easier to pay small sums than large ones; and besides, the correctness of the bills can then be ascertained. The mistress should look over each one herself, and thus she will detect, and can check, any inaccuracy on the part of the tradesmen, or extravagance on the part of her servants. Should she be her own housekeeper, let her deal regularly with respectable tradesmen, for they will rarely risk losing a good customer by sending bad goods. Bargain-hunting is always perilous, even to good judges. Cheap tea, coffee, sugar, &c., are all adulterated; cheap vegetables and fruit are generally stale; cheap meat is that which has been sent ready killed to the market, and therefore is by no means as fresh as might be wished; and cheap poultry and fish are to be regarded with very great suspicion.

Those who have store-closets will find their advantage in purchasing some things wholesale. Candles should be bought in the latter part of summer, when they are usually cheaper, and a store laid in, for they improve by keeping. So does soap. Coal, too, should be ordered in July or August, and if there is cellarage, a stock for the winter laid in. Many groceries may be purchased in quantities at considerable saving. The same remark applies to bacon, butter, and cheese; but unless there are good dry storerooms, these latter cannot be kept. It is useless to make pickles or preserves unless the house is dry--in damp localities these things mildew and spoil; nor are we sure that in small families it is economical to make them at all, they can be bought so reasonably. All stores should be kept by the mistress, and given out as required.

All good homekeepers will provide themselves with weights and scales, and thus be prepared to check the quantities of stores sent them by their tradespeople, who are as liable to make errors in weighing as in casting their bills. We cannot too particularly impress this upon the attention of our readers, as an essential means of protecting themselves against errors in weight, whether arising from accident or design. Many heads of families are exceedingly particular about the price of their purchases, who are utterly regardless whether or not they have the weight they paid for. Tradesmen are aware of this trust reposed in them, and too often take advantage of it. Unlike the symbol of Justice, who, as she holds the scales in her hands, is blind to all partialities, some tradesmen (some especially amongst the class who are purveyors to the poor) are too open-eyed to see that they descend in their own favor.

In the realm which our housewife is to govern, order, cleanliness, punctuality, and economy must be the fundamental principles which, by precept and practice, she endeavors to enforce. It matters little whether her subjects are limited to a single maid-of-all-work, or general


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[Illustration: An illustration of a work table with a span that is with few needles stick on it.]

servant, as it is now the fashion to call this domestic, or whether she reign over two, three, or more "helps," still the principle must be the same; a certain routine of daily and weekly duties must be laid down, and it lies with the mistress to see that not only these are performed properly, but that all incidental matters are likewise attended to. However wealthy a family may be, they are not willing that their houses and furniture should be injured by neglect or mismanagement. Money can enable a man to hire more domestics, but it cannot provide that these persons shall be cleanly, diligent, trustworthy, and painstaking; it cannot secure him from the consequences of their ignorance, their carelessness, their extravagance. Nothing but the supervision of the mistress, or a good housekeeper, can do this. If, then, a rich man, who can pay the best wages, and hire the most experienced servants, finds still that he lacks something, how much more will one of moderate income or of limited means suffer, should he not find in his wife a housewife?

What I am now about to say, some of my readers may think perhaps out of place; nevertheless I shall say it. A woman cannot really do her duty as a wife, mother, or mistress of a family, unless she is fully sensible of the importance of health, and gives to all sanitary measures their due attention. With loss of health come diminished powers of usefulness. Languor and delicacy in a wife may call forth the sympathies, but do not increase the comforts or happiness of a professional or business man; neither do they render a woman more inclined for, or equal to, the performance of her part in domestic life. And too many of our young girls render themselves languid, feeble, and delicate, by inattention to the commonest requirements of human nature. The crying evil of small towns is usually the want of baths attached to houses, and the small size of bed-rooms; now these are in general accepted as things which must be endured, and little or no attempt is made to palliate them. All medical men, however, agree that plentiful ablutions of the body with cold or tepid water, and a good supply of fresh air in every sleeping and sitting-room, do more to preserve health than all the drugs in the pharmacopœia. And next to these come early rising, avoidance of late hours and crowded assemblies, regular exercise in the open air, attention to diet, and abstinence from pernicious viands, as pastry, sweetmeats, rich gravies, unripe fruit, &c. Pork, veal, and various kinds of vegetables can only be eaten sparingly and occasionally by some persons. Spirits should only be used medicinally, that is to say, at times when common sense tells us they might be of benefit. To take them habitually is equivalent to slow poison.

Besides the benefit a woman derives in


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her health and person from attention to all matters relative to personal care, she will gain another in the effect of her example upon her dependents; for we are all, to a certain extent, creatures of imitation and prone to follow example, be it good or bad. Servants who see before them one who consistently practises the virtues of economy, regularity, personal cleanliness, and general neatness, will never run diametrically counter to all this, but will in some degree shape their conduct accordingly, while all the precepts in the world, without practice, will but go in at one ear and out at the other.

Where only one or two servants are kept, the mistress will do well not to leave her chamber before she has opened her windows, and laid the bed-clothes back over two chairs so as to insure the sheets and blankets, heated by contact with the body all night, being well aired and cooled. No bed should be made, or night-dress folded up, until it has been aired, and suffered thoroughly to cool for at least two hours. Nurseries should be aired while the children are at breakfast, and while they are taking their morning walk. Dining and drawing-rooms require a current of fresh air passed through them at least once every day, to dislodge all the stale atmosphere tainted by the smell of food, flowers, &c., and by having been inhaled by those using the rooms. Many of our readers have doubtless been struck, on entering some houses, by the close, faint, unwholesome smell they, coming from the fresh air, at once perceive. Those who dwell in it habitually are not conscious of it. They dread the chill of fresh air, or the dust it will bring with it into their rooms; and therefore shut it carefully out, and cherish in its stead a species of slow poison--a heavy atmosphere loaded with all sorts of pernicious gases.

Light, too, is another forbidden luxury in some houses. Heavy Venetian blinds jealously protect the delicate hues of the curtains and carpets from its influence, and the inmates consequently fade instead of their upholstery; for a human being can no more do without light than can a flower, and we only need place this latter in a cellar for a few days, and we shall see how it will look. It must not, however, be supposed that we would recklessly suffer the noonday sun to shine on our damask curtains or tapestried carpets, or that we should open our windows when rain, hail, or snow beat full upon them; all we wish to do is, to advise such a use of the choicest gifts of Providence, as health requires and common sense would dictate.

Nor is it only with a view to exercising a salutary influence upon her domestics and strengthening herself, that we would counsel our housewife to pay strict attention to all matters of sanitary importance. A female writer of some celebrity has said, "If before marriage, a woman has been deluded into the notion that a multiplicity of small ailments invested her character with an interesting kind of delicacy, the sooner she becomes well after marriage, the better for herself and all around her."

Now we do not intend to assert that there are not many men who are unwearied in their tenderness in time of illness; but this we must say, that there are thousands more who "vote sickness a bore;" who have little sympathy with, little tolerance for it; who married to have a cheerful companion, not a drooping, languid invalid, to come home to; and who soon begin to seek elsewhere that companionship and cheerfulness they have failed to find at home. And alas! when a man's love has once been dimmed, or alienated from his wife, it never wholly recovers its lost lustre, but remains a mere mechanical matter of duty or honor, and too often not even


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that. Matrimony may bind a man to his wife legally, but herself only can retain her empire over his heart; and to do this, she will need even more than her former charms and attractions and fascinations, besides a vast variety of other attributes which her new position will require of her.

Women little dream what they peril when, after marriage, they neglect the accomplishments, the tasteful dress and adornment, the charming coquetterie of manner, which enthralled the lover. They not only risk their happiness, for it depends on him, but they neglect what ought to be their highest ambition, that of proving how much dearer is the wife than the mistress, and of rendering his home a refuge from cares, a scene of tranquil happiness, of social enjoyment, and of real comfort. Milton is not uttering a merely poetical exclamation, but a great truth, when he says-- "For nothing lovelier can be found
In woman than to study household good,
And good works in her husband to promote;" for a woman who is true to herself will inevitably be the better angel of her husband. Contact with her true heart, her gentle pursuance of all her duties, and with her cheerful, rational, and earnest spirit, will restore the tone of his mind, defiled, saddened, rendered morbid, it may be, by contact with the outer world and all its chicanery, its worry and its debasing influences. Wisely are all things ordered, if we would not, by our follies, our impatience and self-seeking, derange them. Beautiful is the mission of woman, if she would but see it in all its holiness and brightness.

Those who have a home which they can make happy, will not sigh for contact with the outer world, to be permitted to wrestle and contend among its fierce trials and the fiercer spirits that struggle there for daily bread; or despise the peaceful path of domestic duty, which, although it has its trials, is yet in a great degree sheltered; or reject the gentle ties of wife, mother, sister, to study some learned profession, and rush into those haunts and paths already too crowded with the sterner sex. Such must be the lot, nevertheless, of many women, whom necessitous circumstances have forced into an unnatural position.

Our "model housewife" believes with us that we should endeavor a "Well ordered home, man's best delight, to make:
And by submissive wisdom, modest skill,
With every gentle, care-eluding art,
To raise the virtues, animate the bliss.
And sweeten all the toils of human life;
This is true female dignity and praise." So turn we now again to more practical matters.

There are few things more perplexing at first to young housewives than the momentous question of dinner. A social dinner party, and a quiet family dinner, require equal consideration. We once heard of an old bachelor who, to save himself the daily trouble of stating what he would have for dinner, drew up a programme of dinners for every day in the year, and handed it over to his housekeeper; and a lady has lately published a pamphlet, entitled, "What shall we have for dinner, in order to save idle folks the trouble of thinking."

Now, a good cookery book, a short walk round the region where the marketing is done, and a knowledge of family likes and dislikes, will generally enable even a novice to arrange this important matter, at least so far as the ordering goes, the cooking being another consideration. Joints should always, when weather permits, be purchased fresh, and then hung as long as is deemed requisite to fit them for eating. A knowledge of the sauces and condiments appropriate to every dish, is a subject well worth attention. The cooking of vegetables is an


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important point, and one in which we may derive much useful instruction from the French. Vegetables cannot be too fresh; in large towns we can form no idea how little we know of the real flavor and delicacy of green vegetables, accustomed as we are to have them at least a day after they are cut.

Fish should be chosen by touch and look. If it feels flabby, and looks pale about the gills, and dull about the eyes, it is to be avoided; firmness of body, brightness and fulness of eyes, and ruddiness of the gills, are signs of freshness. Crabs and lobsters must be selected by weight, not size, and the olfactory organs employed to test their sweetness.

We have already spoken of the desirableness of dealing regularly with respectable people, but no rule is without its exception; and those who are pretty good judges of articles of provision, may often obtain some variety by looking about them. Practice and habitual attention and observation, and the wholesome annoyance of one or two blunders, will soon give experience.

We would advise that our housewife should see occasionally that all the cooking utensils are kept clean; that there is no waste or extravagance, that the ends of loaves, spare bits of cut bread, bones of meat, cold vegetables, &c., are not recklessly thrown about. There are in every neighborhood only too many poor to be found, who will most gratefully receive the scraps from the richer man's table; and a little inquiry will always find some family on whom such odds and ends may well be bestowed. The tea-leaves should be regularly put by in some vessel, to be used in sweeping.

Perhaps there are few things in which the respectability of a man is more immediately felt, than the style of dinner to which he may accidentally bring home a visitor. Every one ought to live according to his circumstances, and the meal of the tradesman ought not to emulate the entertainments of the higher classes; but if merely two or three dishes be well served, with the proper accompaniments, the table-linen clean, the small sideboard neatly laid, and all that is necessary be at hand, the expectation of both the husband and friend will be gratified, because no interruption of the domestic arrangements will disturb their social intercourse.

Hence the direction of a table is no inconsiderable branch of a lady's concern, as it involves judgment in expenditure, respectability of appearance, and the comfort of her husband, as well as of those who partake of their hospitality. Inattention to it is always inexcusable, and should be avoided for the lady's own sake, as it occasions a disagreeable degree of bustle and evident annoyance to herself, which is never observable in a well-regulated establishment. In doing the honors of her table, the mode of carving is also of importance, and will be treated of in a future chapter.

The mode of covering the table differs in taste. It is not the multiplicity of things, but the choice, the dressing, and the neat, pleasing look of the whole, which give respectability to her who presides. The table should be furnished with more than the necessary quantity of plate, or plated ware, and glass, to afford a certain appearance of elegance; and if accompanied by a clean cloth and a neatly dressed attendant, it will show that the habits of the family are those of gentility. For a small party, or a tête-à-tête, a dumb waiter is a convenient contrivance, as it partly saves the attendance of servants. The cruets should be looked to and filled every day an hour before dinner; and much trouble and irregularity are saved when there is company, if servants are accustomed to prepare the table and sideboard in similar order daily. Too many or too few dishes are extremes


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not uncommon: the former encumbering the dinner with a superfluity which partakes of vulgarity, whilst the latter has the appearance of poverty or penuriousness.

[Illustration: An illustration of a basket that looks like a boat from the side view.]

Servants should always be accustomed to lay the cloth and serve dinner as neatly when the family is alone as when company is expected; they should likewise be taught to bring up and place on the table or sideboard everything likely to be required during the meal, and not have to leave the room repeatedly on trifling errands. The mistress should glance around to see that all is there; and if she perceives omissions, mention them before dinner commences. Servants should also be taught to wait at table without bustle or noise; to remove plates, &c., without rattling them; to open and close the doors gently; to lift covers from dishes so as not to let the drops of condensed steam fall on the table or those seated at it. If these things are ordinarily insisted upon, the mistress of the house will not, when she gives a dinner party, sit on thorns, trembling lest some gaucherie be committed.

Those who would give dinner parties, must, generally speaking, if their ménage is small, hire a professed cook. A small, well cooked, well chosen dinner, is far preferable to a table crowded with dishes. Symmetrical arrangement of the dinner table, too, is a powerful adjunct. The silver should be bright, the glass sparkling, the table-linen pure and snowy, the room well lighted, of comfortable temperature, and well ventilated. The pleasure of eating a good dinner is greatly enhanced when comfort is studied, and taste gratified.

[Illustration: A large vegetable dish with a lid.]

The wines, if you give any, should be good; it is better to give only one or two kinds, and let those be good, even though they be only old-fashioned port and sherry, than to aim at greater things, and set before the guest those "cheap and nasty" imitations of other vintages.

[Illustration: A large two tiered serving dish with a lid.]

Choose the company and arrange them as carefully as the dishes. Ill assorted guests are difficult to please, while persons who assimilate find additional zest in their social enjoyment.

[Illustration: An illustration of a pan with with four legs.]

The dessert should be well selected, and more choice than plentiful. By choice, do not let us be understood to mean extravagant, consisting of fruits not yet in season nor having their proper flavor, or of preserved fruits, or fancy confectionery. All these are prejudicial to health, and we cannot understand why people who dine out should be tempted to eat indigestible things; why what ought to be a means of social enjoyment, should be made a matter of form, ostentation, and discomfort. Let the dessert consist of fine specimens of the fruits in season, backed in winter by a few dried fruits and biscuits.

[Illustration: A tall, three legged, ornate plate warmer.]

[Illustration: A large oblong baskt with a tall handle.]

[Illustration: A circular dish with steep sides and a decorated rims.]

Soyer's housewife thus describes her dinner:--The first thing to be looked to is the lights; these ought to be so placed as not to intercept the view of any person at the table, but at the same time they ought to be enough to show everything off to advantage. I prefer removing some of the lights from the table to the side-board when the cloth is removed, as the light after dinner ought to be more subdued. In laying the cloth, we place it over the baize and remove it after dinner, as Mr. B. says he likes to see the mahogany; for when he asks a city friend to come and put his feet under his mahogany, it looks rather foolish if he never sees it. I have, as you know, my table rather wide, that is, six feet, and I generally place a vase of flowers in the centre, as I think their freshness and odor add greatly to the appearance of the table, and admit a flanc on each side. We prefer the old English plan of taking the top and bottom of the table, instead of me and Mr. B. together at the side.

[Illustration: A bell shaped dish cover with handle.]

"The cloth being laid with its proper side uppermost, I order a napkin, two knives, two prongs, two tablespoons, and two winegla