Dear Penelope : You have no idea how your plaintive little “wail” in the form of a letter went right to my heart, or what memories long forgotten it brought back to me of my early married life. You are perfectly right in thinking that I too had my “experiences,” and I am so pleased that you came to me to see if I could help you by recalling what I actually went through myself and what those “experiences,” almost tragic to me at the time, brought about in the way of remedies. I have no doubt that

Dear Penelope : Your letter came this morning and you needn’t apologize at all for writing me again so soon, for I am always delighted to hear from you. It is very evident that you have an attack of the blues, so I am writing you at once—now that I have a little spare time—to see if I can’t help you out of them as quickly as possible. Being terribly busy this week you must forgive me if I plunge at once into the subject and end when I have said my say, without any bits of gossip to enliven the l

Dear Penelope : It has been so long since your last letter that I feared you were ill and was at my desk starting to write you when yours came and explained the whole situation. What a picture of misery, and to think that that nice-looking Mary turned out so unsatisfactory and that you have had such a succession since her departure! So you feel degraded and as though there was something the matter with you personally, do you? Well, there is nothing the matter with you, and you are the same dear

Dear Penelope: Your ears must have burned this morning, for I have been thinking so hard of you. It is an entrancing day after a storm, and the sound of the slow, dreamy washing of the waves on the shore, as I sit here knitting on the piazza, seem to carry me far away from everything about me to your dear self. The girls came home yesterday from visiting Mrs. Gardner with all the latest news of you, how sweet and pretty your surroundings are, and, best of all, Tom’s devotion to you and your happ

Dear Penelope : Your sense of the ludicrous is going to be of the greatest help over rough places, for often little troubles seem to vanish if we can only laugh over them. I was very much amused with your clever devices to cover up from your maid the fact that you could not remember in what order her work ought to be done. It is surprising, isn’t it, how we can go on living for years in our mothers’ well-ordered households without ever thinking what the method is that makes everything go so like

Dear Penelope : After I sent off my letter to you, I turned over your last page and found a scrawl that I didn’t notice at first,—a polite little request for the details of serving one’s every day meals. Why, of course, I will give it to you, and shall take it for granted that your maid’s mind is a perfect blank on the subject. So much the better, for now you can put into it just what you want her to have there. I would begin by impressing on her how important it is to have the tablecloth smooth

It was after I had been married for several years and had become weary of recalling afresh for each new servant the details of her work in order to train her into my ways of doing it, that I decided to write a small blank book for each one of them, containing her daily duties, her weekly duties, the arrangement for her Sundays and her afternoons out—something that I could keep permanently and thus save myself much trouble. If you dislike detail as much as I do these books will help you too. When

Under this head was told, in paragraphs, thus dividing the subjects so that they could be more easily seen and understood, what rooms, halls, stairs, etc., she had charge of, whether she made up the rooms of the other servants, washed her own clothes, bed-linen, etc., or had any of the duties of a lady’s maid, such as mending, brushing, and taking out or putting away her master’s and mistress’s clothes, or washing their brushes and combs (which she can do if the family is small), or polishing he

Be up early, throw mattress and bedclothes over the foot of your bed to air. After dressing, open windows top and bottom in your room, put pillows near window to air, closing the door of your room and always of any room you are airing (if the family is up) so as not to chill the rest of the house. On your way downstairs open the windows in your halls top and bottom to air. If desired, wake your mistress at the time specified. Have your own breakfast. If none of the family rooms are vacated when

Under this head she was told what rooms, halls, stairs, etc., she had charge of (so that there could be no discussion between the maids); also, if the vestibule was under her charge, she was reminded that, as the entrance is the first impression people get of a house, nothing will make them think the waitress incompetent so quickly as an untidy vestibule and front hall, and that every morning the doormat should be shaken, the floor brushed clean, and the woodwork dusted; also the brasses rubbed

Be up early, throw mattress and bedclothes over the foot of your bed to air. After dressing, open windows top and bottom in your room, put pillows near window to air, closing the door of your room and always of any room you are airing (if the family is up), so as not to chill the rest of the house. On your way downstairs open windows top and bottom in the part of the house which is in your charge, closing them after your breakfast in time for the dining-room to get warm for the family breakfast.

In washing the dishes, always do the cleanest things first, in this order; glass, silver; then cups and saucers, plates, and other dishes. Empty every glass and cup, and scrape clean every plate or dish (with a plate scraper, that comes with a rubber edge and is consequently noiseless), before putting them in the water. Don’t let pitchers or glasses stand with milk in them, but rinse them at once before putting them in the water so that it will be easy to wash them. Don’t put many things into th

If the dining-table has a high polish, be careful always to put a tile or tray or a linen mat lined with asbestos under anything that is hot, otherwise a bad spot will be made. If the table has an oil finish heat will not injure it and a damp cloth will remove any spot. Two or three times a week such a dining-table should be rubbed over well with a soft cloth on which two or three drops of boiled linseed oil have been put. Too much oil will only make the table sticky and in condition to catch du

Under this head the cook was told definitely just what rooms, closets, halls, steps, etc., she was expected to clean; whether she was expected to put any coal on the furnace or look after its drafts between the visits of the furnace man; whether she had any washing and ironing to do; how careful she should be to scrub out every part of the refrigerator once or twice a week with soda and hot water, household ammonia, or some such thing, airing it well afterwards and taking the opportunity before

On getting up, throw mattress and bedclothes over the foot of your bed to air. After dressing, open windows top and bottom in your room, putting pillows near window to air and closing the door of your room so as not to chill the house. Have the range fire going in time to have plenty of hot water for the family baths. The range fire burning brightly, prepare the maids’ breakfast (if that comes first) and put the family cereal on to cook during your meal and anything else that requires long cooki

About half an hour before leaving the kitchen for the night, put coal on, open the drafts, and, when the fire is hot, fill up well with coal, then check the drafts and leave them checked so that the fire will smoulder all night. In the morning, open the drafts, shake down the grate, put on a little kindling and fresh coal, and the fire will burn brightly in a short time....

Shake the ashes out thoroughly, picking out pieces of coal only partly burned to be used again and putting ashes in ash can to be taken away. Put loose rolls of paper in, then kindlings laid crosswise and far enough apart for a draft of air to go through freely, then light the papers, turning the dampers to make a draft. When the kindlings are burning well, put the coal on in small quantities at first, adding more when this is well started. Before starting the first fire after the house has been

Cook is in, gets lunch and prepares as much of the dinner as she can. Waitress is out from 10 A.M. till time to wash lunch dishes. Chambermaid is in and in addition to her own work does any of the waitress’s work that is left unfinished after 10 A.M. and serves lunch. Cook is out, after she has washed up lunch things, till 11 P.M. Waitress is in, prepares and serves dinner. Chambermaid is out, after she has served lunch, till 11 P.M. Cook is out, after washing up breakfast things, till time to c

Fifteen minutes before the hour for dinner, the chambermaid, in neat black dress, with cap, plain white collar and cuffs, and apron, all immaculately clean and fresh, sees that the lights are lighted in the dressing-room, and stands ready to help the ladies off with their wraps. When they have all arrived and have left the dressing-room, she turns down the light and goes right to the dining-room ready to help the waitress. Fifteen minutes before the hour for dinner, the waitress, after having li

Should the dinner turn out to be one of twelve instead of eight, it will make a difference in your arrangements, because, while the preparations made before and after the actual dinner are identical with those made for a dinner of eight, yet certain changes are necessary in the service; namely, the chambermaid should be relieved that day from doing her weekly cleaning, and, as soon as the bedrooms are finished, she should help either the cook or waitress as they may need her; also some one will