The Kitchen — Servants

Servants are one of the thorny household problems. Finding them and dealing with them is a source of anxiety and concern to the housewife more than anything else. We have therefore decided to publish below some information that may help a woman solve certain aspects of this problem.

There are three kinds of servants, which we shall discuss below:

First — the day-worker: a woman who helps with the housework day by day. Of her type is the servant who works half-time (a system followed in Europe, especially in England, unknown in the Eastern countries, though it may perhaps be adopted in the future).

Second — the general servant, whether a man or a woman, a boy or a girl.

Third — the cook, the chauffeur, the gardener, etc.

And I believe that, in spite of all that has been written about household problems, there are two essential truths that remain unclear. It is no wonder that a servant's competence, skill, and willingness depend a great deal upon the competence of the mistress of the house, upon good understanding between her and her servant, upon her tenderness and compassion toward him, and upon her position and attitude — in matters of opinions and ideas concerning the house — toward the servant, man or woman, who works in the house. These two truths are understanding between master and servant, and the servant's loyalty to his master. If the lady employs a servant whose work is poor, or who hates doing his duty, or whose mind is turned to some work other than the work assigned to him in the house, or who is dirty by nature, or reckless and most often overcome by temper, then I think that no remedy, nor any amount of instruction or tenderness, will avail with such a servant.

In general, the housewife of intelligent heart must make good understanding and faithfulness mutual between herself and her maidservant, for they are both charged with one task: the management of the affairs of the house within whose walls they live together, or in which, at any rate, they pass no small part of their time. It therefore does not befit either the lady or her servant to do anything that would keep the wheel of work in this house from turning — as when one of them hinders the other and a fight or quarrel arises between them; and if some kind of trouble does break out between them, its source is most often trivial causes.

The lady must not despise her servant nor belittle her, for she is her arm and her helper in ordering the house, beautifying it, and providing the means of comfort for those who live in it. She should look upon that servant with appreciation for the effort she puts into her work, which may be considered, to some degree, an art; and much of the contentment, happiness, security, and peace of the house may depend on the servant's work.

The General Servant

The general servant is usually a young girl who does not undertake the cooking in the house, though she may know something of it, at least to some degree. The lady should have her help in the kitchen — in preparing the vegetables, for instance — and should also try to teach her to cook, if only to make two dishes for breakfast in the morning; and teach her likewise how to make good coffee or good tea, how to serve tea and coffee gracefully at the table, and how to prepare the sandwiches and pastries that are offered with tea. For an unexpected guest may knock at her door, and how great her delight would be if she could rely firmly on her servant to prepare the tea and coffee and set the table, while she herself is in the reception room greeting the visitors. In any case, a skillful maid may spare her mistress the trouble of preparing a small table in the best possible fashion.

The daily work of the general servant in the house may vary according to how much of the housework the mistress of the house does herself, and in proportion to the number of meals served to the members of the family.

The maid must attend to certain measures of neatness and tidiness before setting the breakfast table; after it is eaten she performs some of the cleaning and washes the vessels and dishes, and she assists her mistress in the housework. If the housewife has invited some visitors to eat at her house at about one o'clock in the afternoon, for example, the servant may in that case clean and arrange some or all of the rooms of the apartment or house while the lady is busy preparing the food in the kitchen. All the tidying and cleaning needed in the house should be done in the morning. The tasks of the afternoon and evening depend on the arrangement of the rest periods that the lady fixes for her servant; for she must enjoy free time of at least half a day a week in the morning, and two afternoons or evenings — either beginning in the afternoon, right after luncheon is eaten, until dinnertime, or beginning in the late afternoon, that is, after evening tea, likewise until dinnertime. She does the washing of the vessels, plates, and pots, and the setting and preparing of the table, and she must always be ready to open the door and receive visitors if anyone rings the bell. She must also make the beds in the bedrooms and tidy them, then clean the table utensils and polish them — the spoons, forks, knives, and all the rest.

The lady should allow her servant to attend to her own reasonable affairs alongside the work she does in the afternoon — to read, for instance, or to write a letter to her family or relatives (if she knows how to read and write), or to sew a dress — provided that she is ready to open the door if a visitor rings the bell, and that she joins with the household in whatever work may arise in the house.

The Rest of the Servants

The number of servants in a house is measured by the income the housewife has and by the size of her house. If the mistress of the house employs a cook, that cook may, in addition to her work, do some simple tasks about the house. The general servant does the general work, whether in the kitchen or in the reception rooms. If the lady employs a servant especially for the kitchen, her work is to assist the cook, clean the kitchen, and wash the vessels, pots, and all the other kitchen utensils. The housewife may also employ a special servant to look after the garden and the planting of trees and flowers in it (a gardener), and she may also employ a driver for the automobile (a chauffeur); one man may perform both tasks together, and this man may also do other additional jobs, such as cleaning the shoes, coating them with polish, and then shining them, as well as cleaning the table utensils. It is well for the woman in charge of managing the household to employ a man and his wife, as they do in Europe, where the man does the work outdoors and also performs the duties of the private servant or valet and the table servant (the sufragi), while his wife does the cooking in the kitchen, with or without the help of another servant, according to the amount of work she is required to do.