THE LOST ART OF HOUSEKEEPING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 21, 4 June 1908, Page 5

THE LOST ART OF HOUSEKEEPING.

The great, question', of the hour is un-doubtedly,-woman's iplaco in the social system. As .-.usual, a there .are. the . two. sides— sober conservatives?,who; regret 1 tho passing of the old-;orderjfand,'enthusiastic advocates of change'/Here .afo somo of the reflections of ;a . philoso^Ker^o'f-tho' old school, who longs for; t tho • lost'.' art).of, housekeeping:— Verily, times.have'changed. s 'Time,,was when a ,woman'lsept jhouse'in ithe full .meaning of tho woftl. <; She* clehhsed -it from: top to', bottom twice a/year./', She put up. preserves',; jollies, pickles, 'mihebnieat,; and, catsups. She know how toi'make bread; and shb .'made it, or had it ■ made, and her family was whole : , somely nourishod., Wo . had' not to .eat baker's bread, which is - bad enough, and baker's cake, which, is 'far worse.' Wo had cake, and such cake! You never, saw anything like tho /cake that grandmother used to make—whito layer cake with boiled - icing -—(not ono cook in five thousand can make a boiled, icing), and in it chopped almonds or grated fresh cocoanut, and -covered and smothcrod in more of it, till the-cocoanut cake looked like a young snowstorm,, and the almond cake, with its blanched almonds sticking in neat rows on the top, like a' sweet Tittle graveyard. ; Now. we havo women's clubs—just like tho men have—where women may smoke and eat arid - drink privately, just as men do publicly. Of cours6, it. is mainly the ser- : vant. question; which has driven - most women out of housekeeping,'but is it fair.'-to blame the unreliability and" ignorance of servants for tho growing lack of all home life? There: are ! two crying evils and abuses for which employers alone; aro to blame. ; One is that they expect too much of servants,'"and • the other is that ,the' employers do not stand together.. If,', householders • would, form a union and abide by its rules, .if women gavo honest references to servants, recommending .good ones and refusing' to give any at allto bad ones; if women were honest -with e'ach other and: never tried to steal servants from each .Mother; if women would refuse to,engage a servant who had a bad reference from her last employer; if a just' scale of wages could be set' down and .all would adhere to it; if servants had reasonable and regular hours of .work, and if thby got extra pay for overtime, and if, abovo all, women would make their, servants live up to certain requirements as-to neatness, politeness; responsibility, -etc;, 1 in return for, good treat-, raent at the hands of , their employers,. wo could have homes again; But the reason women won't, do these things, the reason we have n9 real homes,, the reason our .mothers are frivolous and ■ our/daughters are useless, is because everything seems .to; be : too. much trouble!' 'If you suggest• anything useful or worth while—even to yoiir friends—they say; "Oh, what's the use?" .You can't got up much enthusiasm among a certain, class, of' women except as to a new amusement. The wholo trouble is in our-own minds—in our attitude,;toward life. 'Our ideals have change!!.' - : y : A great wave.-of depression .and lowered' ideals and swept ovor tho country,; which in ' large cities, where money'flows freoly, has resulted in a fever- \ ish search for; excitement and a desiro to banish everything which doraands thought.