FOOLISH YOUNG HOUSEKEEPERS.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 1907, 12 February 1875, Page 3

FOOLISH YOUNG HOUSEKEEPERS.

Too often the young and inexperienced woman begins married life with the idea, that haying terrants and a house of her own means simply doing just what she likes. She probably, commences with a protracted fit of thtee-volume novels, the first fruits of her emancipation from her mother and. schoolmistress. IShe reads them reclining on her sofa, and often hurts fh« health by alternately spending all the day in. a close atmosphere and taking long walks on damp afternoons to look in at snop windows—another pleasure hitherto forbidden. She is addicted to wearing tight stays and bigh-heeled boots, and eats chocolate between her meals. She rises so late that breakfast is always a scramble; and as she has net remembered to order it the night before, her is often obliged to be off before vth'eeggs or the ham have been procured. 'if he is at. all demonstrative, the chances are that he goes to his day's work leaving • " the wife of his bosom in tears; and there are men so weak that a scene in tte nonu&gr and a bad breakfast will

unhinge them for the day. But such feelings become blunted betore long, and the husband who does not die ojf having to work almost fasting survives to make his wife wonder how she could have married him. After breakfast and the departure of her husband, she descends to the kitchen. Her temper is already ruffled. Her dress, owing to the hurry of her toilet, is unbecoming, often untidy: and disordered herself, she proceeds to order dinner. Her own condition is admirably reflected in that of the kitchen and the cook. Having made no plan beforehand, and having no idea of how best to lise the things already in the house, she leaves it to the cook to suggest what will give her the least trouble, and is not sorry when her own part of tke business is over. t She departs with relief when the invariable mutton and rice pudding have been proposed by the cook and adopted by the mistress. No thought of going out to see what may be had in, the market, no idea of choosing vegetables and meat, ever crosses her mind. She is quite content that the greengrocer and the butcher should serve her. at their own will, and".allows; her cook, who by this time should be busy with the ser vants' dinner, to go out for^what is required, while she herself retires to her room. Her education has only taught her the necessity of following the fashion, and she probably puts Off her novel-read-ing while she occupies -her time with.try - ing to imitate in cheap materials a d' ess she has seen on some one else, though its beauty may have-consisted in the cunning cutting out of an experienced hand, or in the appropriate adjustment of costly lace. Meanwhile her servants get through the r work as theytpleaSe, their slovenly hands learning no neatness irom her example, and their experience teaching them only bow/to do as little as possible ftp their wages. The cook is trusted with money: to pay the tradesmen, and if she pockets the money and leaves the bills to be paid when she has gone to another place, no one is more surprised than her mistress. Such things happen even in well-regulated ■ households, and they are common occurrences where the mistress knows nothing of the valut of ready money, ihe blame seldom falling where it should. Servants are taught dishonesty by neglect, and are often as much demoralized by too little trust as by too much. Unthrift and waste are the precursors of peculation, and the mistress who locks everything up, and then leaves her keys lying about, can -hardly be brought to see that it would be much better to leave all her cupboards open and depend . for security on her knowledge of what is in them., .Such housekeepers never have a hammer where it may be found to knock in a nail; they never puf; by apiece^f string ; they never keep a little store of wrapping-paper for parcels. There are no neat covers pro vided for the furniture at night, nor clean dusters and brushes for private use. The handles come off the doors and remain' loose for weeks, and the door-keys are always lost, or are fitted into the wrong locks;- The cat has easy ingress to the, meat-safe through a hole in the canvas; the mice and the bluebottles revel in the larder. There is running to and fro if a friend drops- in for luncheon* and the visitor is always kept waiting a quarter of an hour before the lady of the house comes down. The kettle is never boiling for afternoon tea, and the bread and butter is always cut with a knife redolent of onion. The' clock on the mantelpiece has always r«a down, or strikes half-eleven when the hands point at four. Bradshaw is never to be found, and if found it would be useless. The holes in the table-cloth or the . chair povers are never darned, ihe dish covers aie always broken. The mustard is dry in the mustard pot, and the coffee is full of grounds. The'housemaid's duster lies on the drawing-room hearth-rug, and the ornamental handles of the fire-irons are always, loose. The tap of the beer-barrel sever fits, and the hot water is served up in a milky jug. The bells will not .ring, and orders are given at table in a stage whisper., and are often reiterated before . they receive any attention. The husband who brings an unexpected friend to dine has to supplement his indiscreet hospitality with apologies, and afterwardi to pay the penalty of his rashness by receiving a private lecture. The buttons are always off his thirts. He has to make a favor of getting his boots in the morning,'and should he be so unwary as to descend to the lower regions to-fetch them, for himself, the chances are that he finds the cook superintending the toast with' one hand, while the other is plunged into the ■ recesses of a Wellington. The splashes of mud remain on his coat and trousers till'he invests a penny in the good offices of a shoeblack at seme windy corner. He is summoned by the police because his chimneys take fire, or because the lid of the coal hole is left unfastened. The servants of such a household are not remark able for civility. They take their tone from those whom they serve, and no unnecessary efforts of pplitenjtjadorn the social' usages^of thY ?streeib^dboiv The mistress of such a household is necessarily the most useless person in it. , She can do nothing herself, ancl is quite unable to see anything properly done by her servants. She cannot put up a blind, or fit a chintz cover to a chair. Het orders are contradictory, and her complaints loud and many. She blames her domestics for her own neglect, and, while she grumbles at their inefficiency, she cannot herself show them how to do anything. A drive in a cab involves a fight about the fare, and she brushes the muddy wheel with her dress in getting out. She expects her servants to do everything without instructions, and usually speaks of them as "wretches.". /While she exacts obsequious respect from them, she talks before them of their shortcomings. Shelves them needless trouble by her laziness or carelessness, and, while she does nothing

for their comfort, expects them to study hers cons; aritly. She never interests her : self in their welfare, hardly knows their names.—Saturday Review.