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exact a grateful return from all whose dispositions are tractable; she will also find such conduct tend much to her own comfort, and greatly to promote the interest of her principals. She will never discharge a good servant for a slight offence; but will remember, that "to bear and to forbear is the great art of living." She will endeavour to govern with suavity and mildness; ever stimulating to good conduct, by admonition or praise, when deserved, rather than seeking by threats or harsh measures to correct trifling faults or inadvertencies;-imposing no commands that are unreasonable, nor reproving but with justice and temper. If servants have hardships to undergo, she will let them see, that she feels for the necessity of urging them. To cherish the desire of pleasing in them, she will convince them, that they may succeed in their endeavours to please her. Human nature is the same in all stations. Convince the servants that you have a considerate regard for their comforts, and they will be found to be grateful, and to reward your attention by their own assiduity: besides, nothing is so endearing as being courteous to our inferiors. A most excellent maxim is,

"Be to their faults a little blind,.

And to their virtues very kind.”

By these, and similar means, bad servants may be converted into good ones, and the whole household rendered comfortable and happy..

The prudent housekeeper will carefully avoidall approaches to familiarity; as that destroys subordination, and ultimately induces contempt; and then, "Her occupation's gone." When servants are indisposed, she will best

consult the feelings of her superiors, as well as her own, by remitting their labours, paying them attention, giving them advice, and the assistance of suitable food and comfort. Tenderness and assiduity, in such cases, have great effect;-and in the language of humanity, is half a cure.

Female servants who would pursue an honest course, have numberless difficulties to contend with, and should, therefore, be treated kindly. The housekeeper in a great family, has ample means of doing good; and she will, doubtless, recollect that it is a part of her duty to protect and encourage virtue, as the best preventive from vice.

It behoves every servant to maintain a good character, nor ought it to be refused when due. -Servants have nothing to depend on but their good name, which it would be the height of injustice wantonly to deprive them of.* It ought to be made a point, by all persons hiring servants, most scrupulously to enquire into their characters, from their last places. -To refuse countenance to the bad, and to encourage the good servant, are indispensable duties which we owe to society.

In families where there is a house-steward, the marketing will be done, and the tradesmen's bills will be collected, examined, and discharged, by him; but in many families, the business of marketing, and of keeping the accounts, devolves on the housekeeper. It is, therefore, incumbent on her to be well informed of the prices and qualities of all arti

For an abstract of the law respecting character, and all other laws respecting servants, to which the housekeeper may have frequent occasion to refer, See Appendix, p. 9.

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cles of household consumption in general use; and of the best times and seasons for procuring them, in order that by comparing prices and qualities, she may be able to substitute those that are most reasonable, but equally to her purpose, and best attainable, for others that are more costly or more scarce.*

Before the housekeeper goes to market, she will look over the larder with the cook, especially when company is expected, and on a Saturday, and consider well what things are wanted, not forgetting even the smaller articles, that so there may be no necessity for sending out in a hurry, or on a Sunday, for any thing.

The best and most economical way possible for marketing, is to pay ready money for all that you can, especially for miscellaneous articles, and to deal for the rest with the most respectable tradesmen, whose bills should be settled weekly, or, at any rate, frequently, to prevent mistakes; without these precautions, even those of much experience, may chance to be cheated by unprincipled strangers, with old poultry-stale fish-tough mutton-or cow beef. It should always be recollected, that without good provisions the skill of the cook will avail nothing.

But, by whomsoever the provisions may be bought, it behoves the housekeeper to examine them as they come in,-to see that in weight and measure they agree with the tickets sent with them, and to make the necessary ar

*The best Directions for Marketing that are, perhaps, any where to be found, are given on p. 75 and the subsequent pages; and excellent Marketing Tables for calculating quantities and prices will be found in the Appendix, p. 1, &c.

rangements, in conjunction with the cook, for their due appropriation.*

Besides being a good market- woman, the housekeeper ought to be ready at figures, and to understand the nature of common accounts, as it will generally be her business to keep the detailed accounts of the family, to examine the tradesmen's bills by the checks, to pay them, and pay for all miscellaneous articles as they are brought in, for which vouchers must be given, to be produced when the account is settled; and to avoid the possibility of mistake, this should be done weekly, or at short and stated periods; for this purpose, a book must be kept, in which entry should immediately be made, of all monies paid, and in the evening, the book should be cast up, and compared with the cash in hand, by which means, any omission that might have taken place in the course of the day may easily. be recollected and set right, and the account will be ready for inspection when called for.

The elegant and tasteful arrangement of the table is a very essential object in every Establishment; and when that department devolves on the housekeeper, will require her very serious consideration; as much of the credit and respectability of the family will depend on her.-Economy, taste, and tact must necessarily be displayed, and its execution. involves much judgment, great attention, and unceasing assiduity. In order to have a table well served, and tastefully arranged, the skill

The management of the butchers' meat, poultry, &c. when brought in, being in the department of the Cook, See instructions for that purpose, under the head LARDER, in the department of the Cook.

and ingenuity of the cook, as well as the housekeeper, will be required-of the cook to dress it according to the fashion, and of the housekeeper, afterwards, to see that it be dished and served up according to the present cos-tume.*

The etiquette of the table being arranged by the bill of fare, previously made out, and the dishes laid in order below stairs; it is the province of the housekeeper, when dinner is served up, to see that the butler has placed them properly on the table above; this requires a quick glance of the eye, and a correct taste to measure distances, and to see that the dishes accord with each other, and thereby form a pleasing, inviting, and well-grouped. picture.+

The housekeeper will employ the little leisure time she may have before the servants' dinner hour, which in most families is generally early, in preparing the best pastry, or in doing any other things she can assist in, preparatory to. the family dinner; at any rate, she will look around and see that the household business is, every where, going on regularly, and the. culinary preparations getting forward. then takes her seat at the head of the table, in the steward's, or her own room, with the principal female servants and the men not in.

She

* Further observations respecting the management and arrangements of the table, will be found in our introductory Address to the Heads of Families, p. 14, where also will be found other useful hints respecting servants, and onother points deserving the attention of the Housekeeper.

✦ For the information of servants when waiting at table, and to save trouble to their masters and mistresses, we have given a correct list of the precedency of ladies and gentlemen, in the Appendix, p. 34, &c.

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