the refrigerator or meat-safe to note what is left and suggest the best
use for it; a glance at towels and dish-cloths to see that all are clean
and sweet, and another under all sinks and into each pantry,--will prevent
the accumulation of bones and stray bits of food and dirty rags, the
paradise of the cockroach, and delight of mice and rats. A servant, if
honest, will soon welcome such investigation, and respect her mistress the
more for insisting upon it, and, if not, may better find other quarters.
One strong temptation to dishonesty is removed where such inspection is
certain, and the weekly bills will be less than in the house where matters
are left to take care of themselves.

The preparation of dinner if at or near the middle of the day, and the
dish-washing which follows, end the heaviest portion of the day's work;
and the same order must be followed. Only an outline can be given; each
family demanding variations in detail, and each head of a family in time
building up her own system. Remember, however, that, if but one servant is
kept, she can not do every thing, and that your own brain must constantly
supplement her deficiencies, until training and long practice have made
your methods familiar. Even then she is likely at any moment to leave, and
the battle to begin over again; and the only safeguard in time of such
disaster is personal knowledge as to simplest methods of doing the work,
and inexhaustible patience in training the next applicant, finding comfort
in the thought, that, if your own home has lost, that of some one else is
by so much the gainer.




CHAPTER V.