THE ART OF DOMESTIC MANAGEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13491, 18 May 1907, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE ART OF DOMESTIC MANAGEMENT.

'.'.•'.'.'— — ♦ —■ — The real worth of .domestic management is so little known that ;it is difficult to e rate it at its true value. Every house- " keeper can talk, long, loud, and feelingly e of the carelessness and general delinquent . r cies of the modern servant, but the really good mistress, who looks well to the. ways " of her household, is equally hard to meet s with. The difference between . the two l ' is,* of course, infinite ; for while . a ser- ! vant's duties are naturally limited, those " of a mistress are without limit, and can '< be measured neither by time nor quantity, lhey vary in every house and with every . person.- ; ''_\ -,=";. ' ' ' . ' The duties of a servant are usually de- " fined • and it depends on her disposition • how she is treated by her mistress, the -i respect the ' one lias for the other, and i many more reasons, whether .'or not she ; {exceeds her real duties and renders those JI little services which make the relations bcMtween mistress and maid so much plea- ' i santer. . : : ' . ■|.-0f the mistress who so' lar forgets her 'dignity and the respect due to her to go . and personally call up her servants every _ morning, who allows her angry disputes " with her husband to be overheard, and who 1 condescends to discuss her private affairs '■ with- her maid, nothing need be said. , Suffice it to say she is not fit to be a , mistress over anyone, and she can. be . summarily' dismissed from all considera- ' tion.' ... , ".. • ' It takes a clever woman to make even a E small household "run on wheels." Out 'lof a certain weekly sum put on one side , for housekeeping she is expected to provide food, drink, cleanliness,; comfort, and sometimes fuel and flight, -not to mention 1 the small items, such as washing, etc., : I which sometimes in'themselves amount • to quite a large sum, comparatively speak- , ing. : ! She must, or at least is expected to, . provide for a little i enjoyment out of the ■ household purse, and has to guard against spoiling and waste in everything. Yet L there seems little to show for all her • labour. Everyone looks on her daily , work as the trivial round," the common i task,' and only those who thoroughly . understand domestic management appreci- ' ate the thought, work, and self-denial [ that the mistress gives to the house that is commonly said "to go on wheels." ( j She must also, among other things, have [la .knowledge of ~ amateur., gardening so as j to know when to buy at their cheapest - ; the perishable fruits that flood the market 1,1 for a few days only, and which made into J jams - form such'; an important i item : in , bringing down her winter housekeeping i accounts. . She , must, be : a good needle- . vvomau, and able to convert out of yards [ of material the many articles of use neces- , sary in a ; house, and which- nought ready--made cost double and. wear/half the time. ij Husbands rarely appreciate these coni slant efforts of thought and work at their Ii true value. Very frequently they com- . pare their household expenses with their • bachelor ones, forgetting the fact that their i,! present life is, in every way, enlarged, i more refined and comfortable, that their liviews in . general are being l broadened, and i that most truly their, characters are being [ beautified :by daily .intercourse" with an- • other, a '.■ thing '.'■which',* in •', itself makes i necessary many little acts of self-denial [ and' tender thought.'"'; n ' "■■/";;"■' ;.'); .'.'>:•;; [ '-.■■ Again, a" well-ordered;-well-kept house is l an indescribable help. to a business, man. Supposing a. customer," "his -chief, "or any < official in authority'' over him finds busii ness' necessitates -a; call, will not a tidy, comfortable"house '" and a l well-dre>sed i wife raise- him infinitely in .his estimation. i Perhaps unconsciously, but the fact re- : mains that the Impression left in his mind of the house and its inmates '.-will be of a ... pleasanter ■ one . than.-. previously existed there. •'' i. ._ ■ '-' - ".''•.>■ A woman's work in, a home cannot be valued from a money point of- view, for ■o although she has chiefly the spending of § the income, there exist many modest talents which go towards' the making of ;■ a real home, and which are scarcely missed f. until they are gone for ever. v It is not -':■ enough that a woman can cook, even :if she can do it like a professional she must ' 'also be able to make her ■ husband's house a home to all who dwell in it, a haven of irest and peace, comfort and plenty. .