her pay her household employees? She never demurs at the extra expense
entailed in giving luncheons and dinners in her friends' honor, nor in
taking them to places of interest and amusement. Why then should she
object to giving a little more money to her household employees upon
whose work the success of her hospitality so largely depends?

There are many women who entertain extensively, but they never
recompense a household employee for any extra work that may be demanded
from her on that account. They consider themselves fully justified in
exacting extra long hours of work because of the high wages they pay,
especially as it frequently happens that while the work is more on some
days, it is less on others, and they think in consequence that their
employees have no cause for complaint.

It is a mistake, however, to think that an employee who is obliged
to be on duty and has little or nothing to do on one day, is really
compensated for the extra hours of work she has been compelled to give
on other days. A saleswoman who on certain days has no customers or only
a few, is just as much "on duty" as if her work filled all her time, and
it is the same with a domestic employee. Indeed it is generally conceded
to be more irksome to remain idle at one's post than to be actively
engaged in work.

But on the other hand, there are many housewives who feel that they
ought to give their employees more pay for extra work especially when it
is connected with the entertaining of friends, and the following ways of
rewarding them have been tried with more or less success.

One plan that gained favor with several families was to give ten cents
to the cook and ten cents to the waitress every time a guest was invited